The Music of India and their Instruments

By Rosie Maunder and Sasha-lee Smith

Grade 8 Ogilvie High School

Music is a very important part of Indian life. It has been closely tied to religion since early times. Making and playing music is part of the offering to the gods. The Indian term music includes music, dance and drama. The Indian word for music is 'sangeet' which means 'putting it all together and expressing it'. Music is and important part of celebrations and festivals. It is also played at weddings. Each religion has its own special songs and dances.

Clasical Indian music has two traditions. One, Hindustani (North India) and Carniatic (South India). Both of these traditions have three main elements. The drone, the raga and the tala. Carnatic music is nearly unified whereas Hindustani has never really been.

Classical music follows strict rules which were invented thousands of years ago. These rules include religious hyms, called bhajans, which must be sung in temples. Classical music does not follow set pieces instead it is based on several melodies called ragas. A raga is a melodic principle, which contains the music. The ragas has five set rules that each one must follow to make each have its own profile, making it individual and unique. The indian people believe that a raga is not just a key, but an emotion, mood or feeling which is expressed by sound. There is almost twelve thousand different raga but only one hundred and thirty two are believed to have artistic potential. The musician makes up the rest of the music outside the raga. Each raga expresses a different mood.

instrumental group

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Site created: November 2001 Last updated: 18 December 2001