Classical Music: Vihaan Bhatanagar

Comparing Hindustani and Western Classical Music – Vihaan Bhatanagar

It is often believed that Western Music has somewhat originated from Hindustani Music; however the tonalities of both the classical forms of music are very different from each other. The two forms have entirely different cultural aesthetics, reflect their cultures ' ethos, and set out from disparate intent to go at organized sound from utterly different perspectives. So far as Hindustani Music is concerned, music has always been an important part of Indian life. The range of musical phenomenon in India extends from simple melodies to what is one of the most well- developed "systems" of classical music in the world. There are references to various string and wind instruments, as well as several kinds of drums and cymbals, in the Vedas. Some date the advent of the system of classical Indian music to Amir Khusro. Muslim rulers and noblemen freely extended their patronage to music. In the courts of the Mughal emperors, music is said to have flourished, and Miyan Tansen too was one of the jewels of Akbar 's court.

The use of Voices in both forms of classical music is very peculiar to one another. Vocals are used in both Hindustani Classical and Western Classical Music, but the way they are treated in rela¬tion to other instru¬ments is dif¬fer¬ent. When vocals are used in Hindustani Classical Music, all the rest of the instru¬ments are mere ‘accom¬pa¬ni¬ments’ — there are Tan¬puras that act like drones, Har¬mo¬nium that fol¬lows the tonal¬ity of the voice by pro¬vid¬ing chords, etc. Whereas in Western Classical Music, when vocals are used, the instru¬men¬ta¬tion still car¬ries a lot of weight in the over¬all com¬po¬si¬tion. In other words, Voice forms the basis of the struc¬ture sur¬round¬ing an Hindustani Classical Music recital, whereas it is an addi¬tion to the instrumentally-generated struc¬ture of a Western Classical Music composition. The term ‘voice’ is hence used in a generic way in Western Classical Music and doesn’t always mean human voice. A ‘voice’ can be any theme played by an instru¬ment. Thus, one can have a four-voice fugue being played on the piano using two hands, where each hand is play¬ing one of four voices at any given

Sangeet in Hindustani Classical Music is described by many scholars as the way to converse with the almighty God as it is believed to have incarnated through the element of Nada. As the whole world depends on the element of Nada, Hindustani Classical Music is believed to have more spirituality than Western Classical Music. In Hindustani Classical Music, Ragas have spe¬cific times of day or sea¬sons of the year asso¬ci¬ated with them, while most of Western Classical Music doesn’t have any such char¬ac¬ter¬is¬tic. Hindustani Classical Music’s roots are spir¬i¬tual, while sec¬u¬lar works in Western Classical Music have roots in fac¬tors like indi¬vid¬ual expe¬ri¬ences, sig¬nif¬i¬cant his¬tor¬i¬cal events in human his¬tory, enter¬tain¬ment, occa¬sions with dance cel-e¬bra¬tions, and so