Appreciating Hindustani Music

Hindustani Music includes the three vibrant genres of Dhrupad, Khayal and Instrumental Music which this course explores with a focus on Khayal. The course is primarily concerned with contemporary practice while also drawing upon historical and textual scholarship to place the music in perspective. The course has benefitted from inputs from highly regarded musicians, musicologists and scholars and will include live demonstration and guided listening of recorded music.PRE-REQUISITE:GraduateINDUSRTY SUPPORT:NilINTENDED AUDIENCE:General

Week 1: Brief introduction to Indian Classical Music; Hindustani Music as including Dhrupad, Khayal and Instrumental Music; concepts of Swara and Sruti, aadhaara swara or tonic; the tanpura.Week 2: The concept of Raga; Raga Lakshana - Swara in Raga, Sruti in raga, Ornament, Phraseology, and Chalan of ragas. Classification of ragas – the Mela/Thaat paddhati, Ragaanga paddhati, concept of prakaar. Association of Ragas with time and season. Raga and mood / rasa.Week 3:The concept of tala as a cyclic measure of time – theka, sam, matra, avartana, etc. Structure of talas - Khali, Bhari. Some important talas in Dhrupad and Khayal. How tala figures in Khayal and Dhrupad presentations.Week 4: Khayal as compositional form - its structure, language, themes, vilambit, madhya, drut khayal; Other forms of composition - tarana, trivat, etc Mukhada and sam of bandishes. Composer as Vaggeyakara. Important composers-traditional and contemporary; pedagogy, notation.Week 5: Improvisation: Nature of improvisation in Indian music – some issues, concepts of vistaar and badhat; elements of improvisation - alaap, bol alaap, taan etc. The ashtaanga (eight elements of Khayal presentation). Accompaniment in Khayal – melodic and percussive. Aesthetics of sur, avartan bharna, sam pakadna.Week 6: Dhrupad and Instrumental Music Construction of some important Guest lecture by Pt. Ritwik Sanyal - dhrupad, dhamar compositions, alaap, laya, bol bant, tala in Dhrupad - pakhawaj accompaniment, banis. Brief look at thumri and tappa.Week 7: Gharana as musical aesthetics; survey of a few important gharanas; Gharanas in transition; lecdem by Pt. Satyasheel Deshpande on gharana.Week 8: A typical concert of Khayal, dhrupad and instrumental music; important figures in the transitory period of Khayal in early twentieth century-Pt Vishnu Digambar Paluskar and Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande. Pedagogy - guru shishya parampara and institutionalised learning; Hindustani Music in a world of viral videos of millions of views.