14. VOICE TRAINING AND THHAT IN HINDUSTANI MUSIC

14.  VOICE TRAINING AND THHAT IN HINDUSTANI MUSIC

VOICE TRAINING:

This process of getting control over the musical notes is called 'Swara- Saadhana. In Indian music, it is called Swar-Saadhan and in Western Music, the technique of voice training is called Voice-Culture.

Hindustani Classical Music is based on Raagdari Sangeet. A Raga is a melodic scale, consisting of 7 (seven) Notes. The different combination of these 7 Swara's with various rules of permutation and the combination makes a "Raga".

Before learning a Raga the knowledge of Swar and Tala is very important because the correct position of the Swara (notes) in different Ragas can be recognized only after the practice of the 7 notes.

Practice and understanding of 7 Shuddha Swara is the first important part of Voice –Training in Hindustani Classical Music. It starts with the ability to sing the "Shuddha- Swaras" of an octave (from Sa to upper Sa). It is the same as the notes in the Major scale in Hindustani music.

Firstly in ascending (Aroh) and then in descending (Avroh) order and then gradually moving around them in all possible disorganized manners. Later, it starts with the learning to sing all the Komal [Flat], Tivra [Sharp], all the 12 notes of an octave. After a couple of years of Swar-Sadhana one should start learning Ragas in detail. The capability of seeing the correct positions of the notes (Swaras) and those Swaras in different Ragas can be recognized only after dedicated practice and discipline under a capable Teacher (Guru) and correct voice-training. Swara-Sadhana or voice-training in Hindustani Music differs from Gharana to Gharana. In Hindustani Classical Music, we have Gharanas (school of music), they have their own particular Voice-training and every Guru and each Gharana” has its own technique and method to train the voice and every voice has its own different quality.

THHAT:

Different Distributions of notes making different note structures are called Thhats. A thhat is a musical scale, conceived of as a Western musical scale can have, with the seven notes presented in their order of ascent (Aroha). These thhats are dependent upon the aroho of the raga. In Indian Classical Music there are 10 thhats from each of which many ragas are created.

The formations of the thhats are described below:

Kalyan – Sa Re Ga MA Pa Dha Ni SA

Bhairav – Sa re Ga ma Pa dha Ni SA

Kafi – Sa Re ga ma Pa Dha ni SA

Asavari – Sa Re ga ma Pa dha ni SA (Minor Scales in Western)

Bilaval – Sa Re Ga ma Pa Dha Ni SA  (Major Scales in Western)

Khamaj – Sa Re Ga ma Pa Dha ni SA

Bhairavi – Sa re ga ma Pa dha ni SA

Purbi – Sa re Ga MA Pa dha Ni SA

Torhi – Sa re ga MA Pa dha Ni SA

Marwa- Sa re Ga MA Pa Dha Ni SA

14.1.       LIST OF MELAKARTHA RAGA’s in HINDUSTANI MUSIC