Waubonsee Community College

Music in North India, experiencing music, expressing culture, by George E. Ruckert

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Music in North India

bibliography

52257638

by George E. Ruckert

Global music series

experiencing music, expressing culture

Music in North India is one of several case-study volumes that can be used along with Thinking Musically, the core book in the Global Music Series. Thinking Musically incorporates music from many diverse cultures and establishes the framework for exploring the practice of music around the world. It sets the stage for an array of case-study volumes, each of which focuses on a single area of the world. Each case study uses the contemporary musical situation as a point of departure, covering historical information and traditions as they relate to the present. Visit www.oup.com/us/globalmusic for a list of case studies in the Global Music Series. The website also includes instructional materials to accompany each study. North India is home to a wealth of musical traditions composed of many different styles, genres, and practices. Music in North India provides a representative overview of this music, discussing rhythm and drumming traditions, song composition and performance styles, and melodic and rhythmic instruments. Drawing on his experience as a sarod player, vocalist, and music teacher, author George Ruckert incorporates numerous musical exercises to demonstrate important concepts. The book ranges from the chants of the ancient Vedas to modern devotional singing and from the serious and meditative rendering of raga to the concert-hall excitement of the modern sitar, sarod, and tabla. It is framed around three major topics: the devotional component of North Indian music, the idea of fixity and spontaneity in the various styles of Indian music, and the importance of the verbal syllable to the expression of the musical aesthetic in North India. Featuring vivid eyewitness accounts of performances and descriptions of interviews with performers, Music in North India examines the form, structure, and expression of North Indian music while also illuminating its profound religious and cultural significance. A 70-minute CD containing examples of the music discussed in the text is packaged with the book

Modernity and tradition. A culture of bewildering variety ; Threads to follow in this text ; The old and new in an ancient land ; Indian music on the move -- Affect. Religious connotation ; Sacred texts ; Verbal syllables ; Song texts ; A musician's practice ; The nine moods ; Extramusical effects ; Conclusion -- Teaching, learning, and performing music. Teaching and learning music ; Old traditions in new packages -- Rhythm and drumming. Tāla ; Thekā: the tāl as a succession of drum ; Counting patterns in tāl ; The tablā ; Kāydā ; Tihāī ; Other drumming traditions ; Conclusion -- Song and performance. Composition and improvisation ; What is a rāga? ; Rāga in performance ; The on-the-spot development of the composition ; Song texts in classical styles ; Other song genres ; Conclusion -- Instrumentals, melodic and rhythmic. Drone instruments ; Melody instruments ; The sitār and the sarod ; Other melody instruments ; Ensembles ; Conclusion -- The old world joins the new. The postcolonial era ; The effect of the new democracy on music ; Electronics: preserving and spreading the traditions ; Some views form an old master