Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'North Indian classical music'

This thesis is an investigation of pedagogy in North Indian classical music. Historical, cultural, and philosophical elements of pedagogy in the Hindustani musical tradition are addressed in an overview of music education in traditional Indian contexts, the twentieth century, and in cross-cultural contexts. Themes include orality in Indian culture, the traditional guru-shishya parampara, the role of nationalism in twentieth century educational reforms, and the impact of technology in the latter half of the twentieth century. Trends in music education in India are then compared and contrasted with the state of education in Indian music in cross-cultural contexts in the West. From this data a model of the essential elements of Indian pedagogy is synthesized. This model accounts for pedagogical devices utilized to impart musical information as well as methods of transmitting cultural and social values. This model is applied to the experiences of five North American students of Hindustani music interviewed during the research process for this thesis.

North Indian (Hindustani) classical music is remarkable for both the sophistication and the diversity of its rhythmic organisation. Rhythm and metre are controlled by a number of concepts which, although developed over the course of many centuries, have acquired new meaning as a result of radical changes in performance practice over the last century. This work examines the rhythmic organisation of North Indian music on all levels- from large scale performance scheme, to metric structure, to the generation and variation of surface rhythm patterns. It does so by synthesising two research methodologies- combining the study of indigenous concepts and hence of the music's wider cultural context, with objective and empirical analytical techniques- in order to build up a comprehensive and culturally appropriate model of rhythmic organisation. Section I looks at various aspects of rhythmic organisation, proposing a flexible theoretical model of metric structure, and demonstrating its relevance with sudies of key rhythmic parameters. Chapter 1 puts forward the principal arguments for this theoretical model. The next four chapters cover the following topics in turn- tal (metric structure), lay (tempo, rhythmic density), performance practice and surface rhythm (including composition structure, and development techniques), and finally laykari (rhythmic variation). Section II illustrates the findings of Section I, by means of a case study. This study shows how two instrumental forms- the madhya lay gat and vilambit gat as performed in the repertoire of sitarist Deepak Choudhury- may be characterised in terms of rhythmic parameters. This characterisation is used to inform a discussion of the status of these gats as independent genres, and of their relationship with analogous vocal forms. The research generates a wide range of insights into North Indian classical music, demonstrating the application of Section I's theoretical model, and of the the analytical approach developed in the thesis as a whole.

This work presents a novel approach for the design of a predictive model of music that can be used to analyze and generate musical material that is highly context dependent. The system is based on an approach known as n-gram modeling, often used in language processing and speech recognition algorithms, implemented initially upon a framework of Variable-Length Markov Models (VLMMs) and then extended to Variable-Length Hidden Markov Models (VLHMMs). The system brings together various principles like escape probabilities, smoothing schemes and uses multiple representations of the data stream to construct a multiple viewpoints system that enables it to draw complex relationships between the different input n-grams, and use this information to provide a stronger prediction scheme. It is implemented as a MAX/MSP external in C++ and is intended to be a predictive framework that can be used to create generative music systems and educational and compositional tools for music. A formal quantitative evaluation scheme based on entropy of the predictions is used to evaluate the model in sequence prediction tasks on a database of tabla compositions. The results show good model performance for both the VLMM and the VLHMM while highlighting the expensive computational cost of higher-order VLHMMs.

This cross-cultural and cross-genre study considers the flat second pitch degree (♭2), a semitone above the tonic, in its significant functional role in tonal musics. The ♭2 appears variously in Indian raga, Ottoman and Arabian influenced music, and in Western music, including heavy metal and film musics. This study aims to balance the exploration of difference in connotations of the ♭2 across cultures with an understanding of commonalities in its use and significance. With the ♭2 as a central focus, I deploy combined methodologies to ask what structural use and connotations it has in various musics, and how it speaks to ideological worldviews such as Orientalism. Through interview, music analysis and literature study I investigate the melodic and harmonic use of the ♭2, its metaphorical associations and meanings past and present. I find that the ♭2 has as strong a ‘yearning vector’ as the major seventh ‘leading note’. Across many world music genres there are nuanced and complex connotations, with metaphors of verticality underpinning many interpretations of the falling cadence ♭2–1. To the Western listener the ♭2 usually signifies anxiety, reinvented in metal as positive and transgressive. Together with the Western signification of the ♭2 as Oriental, a hybrid may be created. I argue that this hybrid may portray the ‘East’ as a negative Other, as exploited in film’s ‘unheard’ soundtracks. In traditions such as Oriental metal and Bollywood, in contrast, hybrid connotations may support articulations of powerful, modern identities. By showing that the ♭2 is used in different yet comparable ways in multiple genres, I bring different harmonic practices, metaphorical associations and ideologies into the foreground, highlighting expanded significations across cultures. By focusing sharply on a specific musical feature as it appears in various contexts, this study aims to provide a well-defined site for disciplinary debates on cultural boundaries.

My paper defines and analyzes the use of Native American elements in classical piano repertoire that has been composed based on Native American tribal melodies, rhythms, and motifs. First, a historical background and survey of scholarly transcriptions of many tribal melodies, in chapter 1, explains the interest generated in American indigenous music by music scholars and composers. Chapter 2 defines and illustrates prominent Native American musical elements. Chapter 3 outlines the timing of seven factors that led to the beginning of a truly American concert idiom, music based on its own indigenous folk material. Chapter 4 analyzes examples of Native American inspired piano repertoire by the "Indianist" composers between 1890-1920 and other composers known primarily as "mainstream" composers. Chapter 5 proves that the interest in Native American elements as compositional material did not die out with the end of the "Indianist" movement around 1920, but has enjoyed a new creative activity in the area called "Classical Native" by current day Native American composers. The findings are that the creative interest and source of inspiration for the earlier "Indianist" compositions was thought to have waned in the face of so many other American musical interests after 1920, but the tradition has recently taken a new direction with the success of many new Native American composers who have an intrinsic commitment to see it succeed as a category of classical repertoire. Native American musical elements have been misunderstood for many years due to differences in systems of notation and cultural barriers. The ethnographers and Indianist composers, though criticized for creating a paradox, in reality are the ones who saved the original tribal melodies and created the perpetual interest in Native American music as a thematic resource for classical music repertoire, in particular piano repertoire.

In Indian Classical Music (ICM), the Raga is a musical piece's melodic framework. It encompasses the characteristics of a scale, a mode, and a tune, with none of them fully describing it, rendering the Raga a unique concept in ICM. The Raga provides musicians with a melodic fabric, within which all compositions and improvisations must take place. Identifying and categorizing the Raga is challenging due to its dynamism and complex structure as well as the polyphonic nature of ICM. Hence, Raga recognition—identify the constituent Raga in an audio file—has become an important problem in music informatics with several known prior approaches. Advancing the state of the art in Raga recognition paves the way to improving other Music Information Retrieval tasks in ICM, including transcribing notes automatically, recommending music, and organizing large databases. This thesis presents a novel melodic pattern-based approach to recognizing Ragas by representing this task as a document classification problem, solved by applying a deep learning technique. A digital audio excerpt is hierarchically processed and split into subsequences and gamaka sequences to mimic a textual document structure, so our model can learn the resulting tonal and temporal sequence patterns using a Recurrent Neural Network. Although training and testing on these smaller sequences, we predict the Raga for the entire audio excerpt, with the accuracy of 90.3% for the Carnatic Music Dataset and 95.6% for the Hindustani Music Dataset, thus outperforming prior approaches in Raga recognition.
Master of Science
In Indian Classical Music (ICM), the Raga is a musical piece's melodic framework. The Raga is a unique concept in ICM, not fully described by any of the fundamental concepts of Western classical music. The Raga provides musicians with a melodic fabric, within which all compositions and improvisations must take place. Raga recognition refers to identifying the constituent Raga in an audio file, a challenging and important problem with several known prior approaches and applications in Music Information Retrieval. This thesis presents a novel approach to recognizing Ragas by representing this task as a document classification problem, solved by applying a deep learning technique. A digital audio excerpt is processed into a textual document structure, from which the constituent Raga is learned. Based on the evaluation with third-party datasets, our recognition approach achieves high accuracy, thus outperforming prior approaches.

The purpose of this study was to determine the instructional methods of Oklahoma's elementary school music educators with respect to the inclusion of an authentic repertoire of American Indian music in the curriculum. The research was conducted through two methods. First, an analysis and review of adopted textbook series and pertinent supplemental resources on American Indian music was made. Second, a survey of K-6 grade elementary music specialists in Oklahoma during the 1997-1998 school year was conducted.

Born in 1927 in Bombay, Vanraj Bhatia is an Indian composer of music for concerts, film, television, opera, meditation, and commercial jingles. His musical style is unique, stemming from his training in both Western and North Indian classical, or Hindustani, music. Little is known about Vanraj Bhatia in the Western classical world, and in India he is recognized primarily as a composer of film music. This dissertation aims to bring awareness of Vanraj Bhatia's significance as a Western classical composer, focusing on uncovering the cross-cultural influences of his only solo flute piece, Night Music, composed in 1964. This research offers Western flutists a better understanding of Indian music, specifically Hindustani and Indian folk music traditions, often not fully understood since Indian music is an aural tradition, rarely transcribed and notated, and relies on a guru/shishya (teacher/student) relationship. Such an understanding will elucidate the compositional choices made in Night Music, allowing flutists to be more informed in their performance of it. Although the focus of this study is on Night Music, other repertoire from Bhatia's concert music and film music will also be examined to illuminate Bhatia's compositional style, which includes elements of Hindustani music, Indian folk music, and Western musical traditions. An exploration of some of Bhatia's other compositions written for Western musicians will give readers beyond the realm of flutists a better understanding of his distinctive, cross-cultural style and influences, and will introduce larger audiences to this exceptional and little-known composer.

This dissertation is an exploration of the rhythmic concepts used in two South Indian musical theory concepts, solkattu and konokol. Konokol application largely depends on instrument limitations and musical contexts. The principle focus here is on my personal application of konokol to the guitar both through composed and improvised music. A detailed study of konokol was undertaken through private lessons in India and personal experimentation to determine how these concepts could be adapted to Western improvisation, harmony and composition, as well as right--‐hand classical guitar and plectrum techniques. This was done intuitively by exploring guitar techniques and konokol simultaneously. The outcome of this study was a process applied to guitar composition and improvisation. Graphic numerical tables and geometrical representations are outlined in this dissertation as a guide to understanding this process. The second outcome of this research includes a series of Western compositions improvised and through--‐composed. This outcome explores a fundamental concept, the practical applications of konokol and mrdangam patterns to guitar composition and guitar improvisation. The appendices include a practical reference guide to many of these concepts, providing a valuable and a beneficial resource for any musician who would like to use and understand rhythmic concepts outside the Western musical tradition. A compact disc of my original compositions demonstrating my application of konokol concepts and theories to guitar composition is also included as part of this research. This dissertation presents an alternative framework and methodology to the Western canon of rhythmic knowledge and involves rethinking numbers, rhythm and phrasing in a manner that is essentially different to the Western pedagogy of rhythmic knowledge. Possible future research on the collective memory and fractal design of konokol and how this is related to memory is also proposed.

Beyond the Binary explores the intersection of gender with cross-cultural identity in composer Reena Esmail's professional life and choral music. This intersection manifests in her musical style, which accesses the resonant spaces between Western and Indian classical music. I argue that it is through the convergence of Esmail's gender identity with her cross-cultural identity that her compositions challenge gender norms and break down perceived barriers between East and West, inviting her listeners into an intersectional feminist space. This project synthesizes musicological, theoretical, and ethnographic methods, and is meant as a starting point for choral musicians and scholars to consider cultural difference and its impact on choral music. What begins as a consideration of social themes within Esmail's life and work culminates in a practical musical analysis and performance practice guide to aid conductors in preparation of Esmail's music. The compositions discussed are I Rise: Women in Song (2016), Take What You Need (2016), TaReKiTa (2016), Tuttarana (2014), and This Love Between Us: Prayers for Unity (2016).

Music was the first mass-market industry to be completely restructured by digital technology, and today we can have access to thousands of tracks stored locally on our smartphone and millions of tracks through cloud-based music services. Given the vast quantity of music at our fingertips, we now require novel ways of describing, indexing, searching and interacting with musical content. In this thesis we focus on a technology that opens the door to a wide range of such applications: automatically estimating the pitch sequence of the melody directly from the audio signal of a polyphonic music recording, also referred to as melody extraction. Whilst identifying the pitch of the melody is something human listeners can do quite well, doing this automatically is highly challenging. We present a novel method for melody extraction based on the tracking and characterisation of the pitch contours that form the melodic line of a piece. We show how different contour characteristics can be exploited in combination with auditory streaming cues to identify the melody out of all the pitch content in a music recording using both heuristic and model-based approaches. The performance of our method is assessed in an international evaluation campaign where it is shown to obtain state-of-the-art results. In fact, it achieves the highest mean overall accuracy obtained by any algorithm that has participated in the campaign to date. We demonstrate the applicability of our method both for research and end-user applications by developing systems that exploit the extracted melody pitch sequence for similarity-based music retrieval (version identification and query-by-humming), genre classification, automatic transcription and computational music analysis. The thesis also provides a comprehensive comparative analysis and review of the current state-of-the-art in melody extraction and a first of its kind analysis of melody extraction evaluation methodology.
La industria de la música fue una de las primeras en verse completamente reestructurada por los avances de la tecnología digital, y hoy en día tenemos acceso a miles de canciones almacenadas en nuestros dispositivos móviles y a millones más a través de servicios en la nube. Dada esta inmensa cantidad de música al nuestro alcance, necesitamos nuevas maneras de describir, indexar, buscar e interactuar con el contenido musical. Esta tesis se centra en una tecnología que abre las puertas a nuevas aplicaciones en este área: la extracción automática de la melodía a partir de una grabación musical polifónica. Mientras que identificar la melodía de una pieza es algo que los humanos pueden hacer relativamente bien, hacerlo de forma automática presenta mucha complejidad, ya que requiere combinar conocimiento de procesado de señal, acústica, aprendizaje automático y percepción sonora. Esta tarea se conoce en el ámbito de investigación como “extracción de melodía”, y consiste técnicamente en estimar la secuencia de alturas correspondiente a la melodía predominante de una pieza musical a partir del análisis de la señal de audio. Esta tesis presenta un método innovador para la extracción de la melodía basado en el seguimiento y caracterización de contornos tonales. En la tesis, mostramos cómo se pueden explotar las características de contornos en combinación con reglas basadas en la percepción auditiva, para identificar la melodía a partir de todo el contenido tonal de una grabación, tanto de manera heurística como a través de modelos aprendidos automáticamente. A través de una iniciativa internacional de evaluación comparativa de algoritmos, comprobamos además que el método propuesto obtiene resultados punteros. De hecho, logra la precisión más alta de todos los algoritmos que han participado en la iniciativa hasta la fecha. Además, la tesis demuestra la utilidad de nuestro método en diversas aplicaciones tanto de investigación como para usuarios finales, desarrollando una serie de sistemas que aprovechan la melodía extraída para la búsqueda de música por semejanza (identificación de versiones y búsqueda por tarareo), la clasificación del estilo musical, la transcripción o conversión de audio a partitura, y el análisis musical con métodos computacionales. La tesis también incluye un amplio análisis comparativo del estado de la cuestión en extracción de melodía y el primer análisis crítico existente de la metodología de evaluación de algoritmos de este tipo
La indústria musical va ser una de les primeres a veure's completament reestructurada pels avenços de la tecnologia digital, i avui en dia tenim accés a milers de cançons emmagatzemades als nostres dispositius mòbils i a milions més a través de serveis en xarxa. Al tenir aquesta immensa quantitat de música al nostre abast, necessitem noves maneres de descriure, indexar, buscar i interactuar amb el contingut musical. Aquesta tesi es centra en una tecnologia que obre les portes a noves aplicacions en aquesta àrea: l'extracció automàtica de la melodia a partir d'una gravació musical polifònica. Tot i que identificar la melodia d'una peça és quelcom que els humans podem fer relativament fàcilment, fer-ho de forma automàtica presenta una alta complexitat, ja que requereix combinar coneixement de processament del senyal, acústica, aprenentatge automàtic i percepció sonora. Aquesta tasca es coneix dins de l'àmbit d'investigació com a “extracció de melodia”, i consisteix tècnicament a estimar la seqüència de altures tonals corresponents a la melodia predominant d'una peça musical a partir de l'anàlisi del senyal d'àudio. Aquesta tesi presenta un mètode innovador per a l'extracció de la melodia basat en el seguiment i caracterització de contorns tonals. Per a fer-ho, mostrem com es poden explotar les característiques de contorns combinades amb regles basades en la percepció auditiva per a identificar la melodia a partir de tot el contingut tonal d'una gravació, tant de manera heurística com a través de models apresos automàticament. A més d'això, comprovem a través d'una iniciativa internacional d'avaluació comparativa d'algoritmes que el mètode proposat obté resultats punters. De fet, obté la precisió més alta de tots els algoritmes proposats fins la data d'avui. A demés, la tesi demostra la utilitat del mètode en diverses aplicacions tant d'investigació com per a usuaris finals, desenvolupant una sèrie de sistemes que aprofiten la melodia extreta per a la cerca de música per semblança (identificació de versions i cerca per taral•larà), la classificació de l'estil musical, la transcripció o conversió d'àudio a partitura, i l'anàlisi musical amb mètodes computacionals. La tesi també inclou una àmplia anàlisi comparativa de l'estat de l'art en extracció de melodia i la primera anàlisi crítica existent de la metodologia d'avaluació d'algoritmes d'aquesta mena.

This dissertation explores the influence of regional cultures and, more specifically, of regionally based and regionally determined aesthetic preferences, on the Hindustani classical music tradition. The period from the late 19th century up through the decades following independence in 1947 saw a great deal of change both in Indian society as a whole and, by extension, within the Hindustani tradition. One of these changes was a transition in the demographic profile of the average Hindustani performer from Muslim, essentially low-caste, and hereditary, to Hindu, middle-class, and largely high caste. The other aspect of this demographic transition, namely that there was also a shift in the regional origins of the average classical musician from those native to North India to those native to the two historical regions of Bengal and Maharashtra, has largely been neglected by scholars, including ethnomusicologists. The primary assumption informing this study, then, is that, as almost every aspect of Indian culture varies markedly from region to region (including language, food habits, etc.), the regional cultures of Maharashtra and Bengal must have impacted classical music as it migrated to these regions. I approach this issue in two ways, which I term as the “Inside View” and the “Outside View.” The first represents a combination of the most common approach favored by scholars of Hindustani music, a generally objectivist approach that focuses primarily on biographies of individual musicians and on description and analysis of specifically musical processes, along with the viewpoint of the average Hindustani performer. The answers provided by this approach are partial. I complement this view of modern Hindustani music with the “Outside View,” which examines change in the tradition through the lens of larger social processes, particularly the influence of the tastes or aesthetic preferences of audience members native to these two regions, as well as by other aspects of regional culture, including the impact of semi-classical music genres native to these regions. As such, I not only demonstrate that specifically regional factors have impacted the style of classical music practiced in each of these regions, but also attempt to quantify and describe these changes.
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The Hindi author Phanishwarnath Renu (1921-1977) is credited with initiating the “regional” literary genre in India—a form characterized in part by its use of village song and performance. Renu's work is unusual for the deep debt it owes to his village's performance community; he described himself as a product of folksong, and there are hundreds of textual examples of village song in his writing. Both the songs performed in Renu's village, and also those performed in his fiction, are products of sensibilities local to the folklore region of northeast Bihar. This dissertation draws on textual analysis and on fieldwork in Renu's village, Aurahi-Hingana, and uses a performative approach to explore this Hindi author's unusual station on the border of written and oral tradition. Renu was no passive reproducer of song, but a performer himself, and for certain individuals in his village Renu was a singer first and writer second. Some illiterate village singers even claim him as one of their own. He had a direct hand in shaping the life of his community's folklore as a singer and teacher, and his influence is such that he has become a character within the twenty-first-century village performance repertory. If Renu was a performer, then there is something to be gained from considering his writing as a performance category. The songs in his writing inhabit space, geography, and history—they are worldly—in the same way that live performances of village song inhabit the world. This dissertation proposes a contrapuntal method of reading both fiction and performance that demonstrates the multi-layered complexity of one of Hindi's much-loved authors, and affirms the many layers, the complexity, and the importance of the song tradition to which that author belonged.
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This dissertation describes how state of the art computer music technology can be used to digitize, analyze, preserve and extend North Indian classical music performance. Custom built controllers, influenced by the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) community, serve as new interfaces to gather musical gestures from a performing artist. Designs on how to modify a Tabla, Dholak, and Sitar with sensors and electronics are described. Experiments using wearable sensors to capture ancillary gestures of a human performer are also included. A twelve-armed solenoid-based robotic drummer was built to perform on a variety of traditional percussion instruments from around India. The dissertation also describes experimentation on interfacing a human sitar performer with the robotic drummer. Experiments include automatic tempo tracking and accompaniment methods. A framework is described for digitally transcribing performances of masters using custom designed hardware and software to aid in preservation. This work draws on knowledge from many disciplines including: music, computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and psychology. The goal is to set a paradigm on how to use technology to aid in the preservation of traditional art and culture.

This diploma thesis disserts on Indian classical music which is generally divided into two main streams called hindustānī and karnāṭak. It starts with a brief introduction of the matter and definition of basic terminology that is associated with Indian music. Next, it introduces, by means of comparison, two main traditions, the principles on which they are build and musical instruments used in them. The theses then focuses on Indian song genres firstly from a theoretical point of view. Secondly, it presents a translation and analysis of several songs chosen from South Indian tradition karnāṭak. Main themes of this vocal tradition are demonstrated on concrete translations and commentaries. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

This thesis presents and analyzes the author's original jazz composition "A Hero's Journey," based on the ancient and widespread storytelling pattern that Joseph Campbell called the "monomyth." Using major concepts from the monomyth, the author composed a suite for ten-piece jazz orchestra consisting of six scenes divided into two acts. Although rooted in the jazz tradition, the piece borrows freely from classical music, African music, Indian music, and modern rock and hip-hop to create an adventurous and continually evolving musical experience. This thesis first provides an overview of the entire suite, then discusses its important melodic themes, and finally analyzes the techniques used for harmonic development within the piece.
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