Appreciating Hindustani Music

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.