The Score Magazine - Archive January 2015 issue! | страница 16

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Inside Music
A composer, playback singer, and inventor,
Ramesh Vinayakam is a multifaceted music man.
In this article he briefs us about the different
approaches of the East and West when it comes to
achieving aesthetic music, as well as the influence
of Western music in the Indian system of music.
Have you ever wondered why the east did not invent the Piano or the
west the Tanpura?
Tanpura and Piano, truly great instruments which mesmerise
the world with their beautiful sound. One, for its simple design
with a stroke of human ingenuity and the other, for its marvellous
engineering.
A perfectly tuned Tanpura generates the all pervading pure lush
drone which would engulf not merely your ears but your heart and
would leave you in a state of trance.
After all the genius of the instrument lies in the fact that it is
prepared, an ancient precursor to John Cage’s prepared piano! The
preparation being the small piece of a thin thread inserted at the
bridge for each of the strings; it gives the special twang so unique to
the Tanpura, that which simply triggers the sweet rich harmonics!
Oh! Haven’t I revelled putting my ears into the belly of such a
Tanpura and remained blissful even long afterwards! After all it is
the sound of heaven!
And the Piano!
An incredible instrument, at once harmonic and melodic. And it is a
percussion instrument too . That which produces the delicate of the
delicate, to the thunderous, of tones, the droplets of musical nectar,
with which it can drizzle or rain or pound a torrential downpour of
music ; And that which would always take you to another garden of
the same heaven!
Oh Yes!
These two instruments. Undoubtedly the pride of east and west.
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But to come back to the question... or rather to answer it.
No, the Europeans would not have designed the Tanpura or the
Indians the Piano. Ever.
Why? Because the direction in which their respective musical
evolution went would simply not allow it.
They just would not need them as the functions of these two great
instruments are diametrically opposite to each other.
The Tanpura. Built to anchor the music firmly to a tonic; while the
Piano. to constantly shift it!
They play these ‘opposing’ roles and can hardly fit in the ‘other’
music.
While the eastern ragas explore the various colours of combinations
of notes against the anchored “Sa”, the harmonic western music is all
about modulations exploring the colours of notes by changing and
moving the tonic, the “fluid Sa”,!
A culture evolves its own music, dictated, defined and directed by its
own philosophies and outlook, its own preferences and tastes, and
invents, builds and designs the instruments with the flavour that
suits best to it. Western music would never ever want an instrument
that grounds its music to one tonic while Indian music would
shudder using that which would meddle with the “Sa” and therefore
the colours of the raga!
Leave alone inventing, these two great classical music systems
would never even allow into their precincts, those instruments that
function against the grain of their musical foundations. There isn’t
any of a chance that it might design something that is suitable for the