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Indian Classical Music vs Western Classical Music The Classical Story

August 17, 2018

Indian Classical Music is all about ragas. A raga portrays a mood, a sentiment, expressed through a microtonal scale. There are a number of ragas, each with its own mood and its own corresponding microtonal scale that is based on the natural harmonic series – the natural law of vibrations.
Today, Indian Classical music is influenced by a foreign tonal system that is not based on the natural harmonic series. This is the Western tonal system that has had a big influence on Indian Classical music. Many Indian Classical musicians, nowadays, make use of Western instruments such as guitar and drums.
Most Western audiences find Indian Classical music to be quite exotic. Two major reasons are the differences between the two traditions in tuning and scales.
The subtle differences
Let’s straightaway delve into the differences between these two vast genres of music to get a better idea:
Indian Classical Music (ICM) is primarily homophonic, which means that it focuses on creating melodies using a sequence of notes, whereas Western Classical Music (WCM) is to an extent polyphonic, which means multiple notes are played/sung together, where the counterpoint, harmony, and texture created using multiple voices is very important.

WCM is composed, whereas ICM is improvised. WCM compositions are formally written using Staff Notation, and performers usually follow that. But in the case of ICM, the Teacher-Student tradition of learning leads to each performance being an improvisation.

ICM uses “Taal”, where Taal is a cycle of beats that is centered on “Sam” that repeats itself. In the case of WCM, there aren’t any complex beat cycles.

WCM is modal and so has a chord for each note of the scale. On the contrary, ICM is tonal and, hence, is based on a single scale (a single drone, chord, and key).
Fusion all the way
But then again fusion is a growing concept in India. So, their differences and some similarities make fusion music even more interesting and challenging. If we take a deeper look, we will actually find a number of similarities. Today, “guitar” has acquired prime position and popularity in Indian Classical Music with Indian Ragas being played on guitar.
There are two types of Guitars that is used for fusion in India: Spanish guitar and Hawaiian guitar.A wide variety and mix of instruments ranging from Guitar, Drums, and Saxophone to Sitar, Tabla, and Flute are used for fusion music/concerts.
My band, known as Kaivalyaa, is also a fusion band, where we fuse various western genres with Indian Classical music. The Western and Indian instruments we use include Guitar, Drums, Keyboards, Mouth Organ, Bass Guitar, Harmonium, Flute, Sarod, Tabla, and a number of percussion instruments. Some of the big names in the Indian fusion scenario are Indian Ocean, Avial, Advaita, Raghu Dixit Project, Mother Jane, Tabla Beat Science, and Bandish Fusion. With varied influences, experiments, scales, tones, and sounds, fusion is the next big thing. So, if you want to know more about the Indian Classical scales/Ragas, you are at the right place.

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Party Ideas For Music Lovers

August 12, 2018

Party ideas should always bring out the personality or the interests of the celebrant or the guests. For those who love music, your gatherings will surely be more fun and memorable if you organize them with a music-related theme. And you won’t run out of ideas with music. You can just do small touches of the theme in your games and decorations. But you can also go all the way including the invites, the guests’ attire, the food and drinks, and, of course, the sounds.

Music is also a very versatile theme. You can do this for your annual company party, a birthday party that you’ll be hosting, a bridal shower, a wedding reception, or your high school reunion. You can choose the particular theme depending on your guests’ taste or the celebrant’s.

The easiest way to go for a music-themed party is to go by the decade. You can start thinking from the earliest to the latest. You can begin with the Roaring Twenties. You can pattern your ideas for party invites and decorations from the Art Deco styles that flourished during that time. You can also include accents representing the movies, which were a big deal in that era – especially The Jazz Singer (1927). It would also be exciting to see your female guests dolled up in sleeveless knee-length dresses with sparkling beads. Naturally, you must have jazz in the house, particularly the works of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, and the other legends from that decade.

The Fifties is an interesting source of concepts for events. If you’re planning for a wedding or an engagement party, the early part of the decade’s fashion, movies, and music are quite romantic. It’s a perfect source of inspiration for your party ideas that you’d like to center on love and being together. You’d be surprised that this doesn’t only appeal to the older generation, but to the young ones who love good music and would like something different. The overall ambience should be quite formal, which is typical of weddings and engagement parties. In fact, black tie, or even white tie, should be the required attire. Updos and gowns should be the look for the female guests. Invitations, flowers, and table settings should all be clean and elegant. Hotel function rooms, art galleries, and gardens are the perfect venues for occasions with this theme. And you need to bring out the treasured collections of songs by Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Rosemarie Clooney, Nat King Cole, and many others.

The 1960s and 1970s are two colorful decades that are fun to use as themes for parties. You can choose the Beat Culture or the Hippie. But for both these themes, they won’t work well unless all your guests will be willing to dress up according to the theme. Aside from the music of these decades, it’s the fashion that defined them. For the Beat Culture of the 60s, black turtleneck sweaters, berets, and dark glasses should be seen prominently. Men would have goatees and women would have long, unadorned hair. The Beatles and Bob Dylan, as well as the early records of Pink Floyd, should play in the background. On the other hand, the rebellious Hippie style of the 70s dictates bell-bottom pants, tight shirts, and big hair for both men and women. The air should be filled with the songs of Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, and a host of other iconic musicians of that time. And don’t forget to hang a mirror ball and some colorful beads to complete the effect.

But no one will dare to skip the 80s. It’s also rich in music and fashion that can easily inspire you with fun party ideas. Your guests will have a wide range of choices for their outfit. Men should wear blazers with folded sleeves, slim neckties, and tight-fitting jeans. Loafers and colored sneakers should be the men’s footwear for the party. Women must come with their big hair, layered tops, and ankle-length boots. It wouldn’t be the 80s if you don’t play Michael Jackson, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Duran Duran, Prince, and the whole lot of unforgettable music acts of the decade. If it’s for a company awards night, you can set up your venue like it’s an MTV awards show or the Grammys. Music awards and videos were at their peak in that period.

Whichever music decade you pick, you’ll surely have a grand time partying with your guests. One last tip would be for those who have friends who love to sing or play instruments. You can stage an open jam session, instead of games. Let everyone in the party really enjoy music, which is, after all, what has brought you all together.

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Making The Most Of Your Owned Music Production Hardware

August 4, 2018

Lets face it — nothing in the music production arm of the music recording industry is cheap. If you were to list out the prices of all music production products and services that are used to make an album, the bottom line would be staggeringly high. From the unnecessarily posh recording studios to the outrageous hourly rates they charge, traditional music recording is not for the stingy.

However, thanks to the improvement in DIY music recording technology over the past twenty years and the accessibility of those qualified to educate on such products and their uses, the music recording playing field is being leveled. Thanks to this great shift, musicians of all kinds (beat makers, producers, instrumentalists) can now justify the cost of recording over a long period of time, whereas before the more you recorded, the more you paid. Not the case today! With products like GRAMMY award winning producer Dallas Austins new music production tool Beat Thang, what you get for your money is entirely dependent on how much you use it.

But DIY does not equal cheap. However, these music production suites often make up for their sometimes steep price point in other ways. For instance, Beat Thang comes pre-packaged with assets at no extra cost that a traditional music recording studio could never offer you, like 24/7 technical support from professional producers.

Additionally, I dont think youll ever come across a music recording studio that will give you your money back if youre not pleased within the first day of recording, like Beat Thang does. Most importantly, a studio will never be able to upgrade the sound of your recording once its finished. On home recording tool sets like Beat Thang, you get free software upgrades included for life.

Thanks to the digital connection on this music production device, no software on the Beat Thang will ever be obsolete, so long as its creators continue updating it to align with the progress of other music recording sounds and standards. Instead of having to spend a few hundred dollars an hour to master beats and record samples in the studio and know that the price is fixed, the more you use a product like Beat Thang, the more youre getting for your money with each and every usage.

As beat makers continue their experimentation with Beat Thang, theyre also learning the ropes of music recording and beat-oriented music production as well, thus controlling their own creative destiny. No squabbling over artistic differences with anyone when using Beat Thang, just your own inner conflict.

Once you start to tally up all the features and see how much youll be using any music production device, not to mention learning from it, prices begin to seem more reasonable.

Beat Thang or no, it is important that you seek out information regarding portability, intuitiveness, and capability before purchasing any music production tool. The grade any piece of equipment gets in each of those categories will go a long way in determining if youll get your moneys worth.

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iPod Vs. Zune Music and Video Download Sites

August 1, 2018

There are many folks that hate both Apple and Microsoft portable media products. Apple makes i pod an Microsoft makes Zune.Fortunately for the consumer, there are other good portable media players out there now but do not have the same visibility as Apple and Microsoft products. Discussion about these other portable media players like SanDisks Sansa series and Creatives Zen series devices are beyond the scope of this article. This article is about basic iPod and Zune similarities and differences. In addition, sources for purchasing music online for iPod and Zune will be briefly discussed.

The iPod is a portable media players designed and marketed by Apple and released to the public in 2001. Currently, as a digital audio player, the iPod is the best-selling music player in history. Zune is Microsoft’s digital audio player, released in 2006, directly competing with Apples iPod. Each of these portable media players deliver what it was intended to do which is to play music or audio, display images, and play video. Each has their pros and cons.

There are many Zune and IPod similarities and I will list major ones. They each have the same starting price of around $249, disk storage, picture capacity, screen resolution, and aspect ratio. They play audio, pictures, and video. They have USB connection (to another device, typically a computer), battery, and similar battery life.

Both devices support MP3, MP4, M4A, M4B (for audio), and MOV (for video) file formats. The Zune favors Windows Media Audio (WMA) while iPod has its protected AAC format. When it comes to exchanging files, you will need software tools to convert your iTunes files to MP3 or convert Zune WMA files to MP3. Both systems support JPGs (for still images) and MPGs (for video).

There are advantages that Zune has over iPod. Approximately 60 hours more video can be stored in the 30GB version. Zune has a larger screen size and is capable of portrait mode display. Zune has wallpaper, FM radio, wireless connectivity, and faster battery charge. Zune Plays WMA audio formats and WMV video formats. It has one more standard case color: brown!

There are advantages that iPod has over Zune. iPod plays games, is compatible with the Audible, Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV audio formats. It plays H.264, M4V, MP4, MOV, MPEG-4 video formats. It is slightly smaller and lighter than Zune. The iPod software works on PC and Mac. Zune only works with PCs. The primary websites for music downloads are iTunes Store for iPod and Zune Marketplace for Zune. Both sites offer music downloads of 0.99 cents per song. With Zune Marketplace, you can buy a monthly subscription for $14.99 a month for unlimited downloads as long as you have a subscription.

But there are other online music stores out there so you are not limited to Apple and Microsoft. Do an online search for “online music stores” and determine what works for you.

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