Simplifying Music - Modes, Scales, and Ragas

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Simplifying Music – Modes, Scales, and Ragas

“Ragas are the original songs sans lyrics, nothing more, and nothing less.”

What came first; music or lyrics? Alas that’s not even half as intriguing as the original counterpart of this puzzle, for music has existed even before humanity developed language. The bird and animal calls that we humans don’t understand, the sound of wind whizzing through trees, rocks, bends and natural orifices; they all must have been the first musical notes human conscience would have experienced, not to mention humanity’s own innate abilities to whistle and modulate sound with objects without the use or need of any language. Needless to say; human experience of music must, by commonsense, predate human concoction of words into rhymes and melodies. In fact, humanity must have experienced a re-discovery of music, when the first and simplest most musical instruments must have been designed. From thereon, inquisitive intellectual minds must have gone on to discover, one by one, the twelve different notes that can be played with a proper musical instrument.

Now it’s not that there can’t be other tones in between those twelve tones. But perhaps, their sounds wouldn’t be so far different from either ones above or below their pitch, to warrant an individual place in musical notation. And even more importantly, even those twelve notes are never really used to create one single musical composition. In fact, as I will describe below, an entire composition can really be created with as little as four notes, and maybe even less if one is willing to experiment. However, for the basic purpose of any musical discussion, the most important sounds that notes make, happens to be the familiar:

Do (Sa), Re (Re), Mi (Ga), Fa (Ma), So (Pa), La (Dha), Ti (Ni), Do (Sa).

This is what has come to be globally regarded as the basic musical sound, or ‘Sargam’ in Indian music (I am imagining Pentatonic music experts agreeing, but with slight distaste).

The origin of musical theory:
The discovery of different notes, and resulting sound variations that could be created by using different tones, would naturally have given rise to the first expert created melodies. It wouldn’t have been too long after that, the musical masters worldwide would have established how certain notes work well together while some other notes, when inserted amongst a particular set, rather sounded off. This would have created the first scales of music; the pentatonic, the heptatonic, and so on. This must have been the time, when the above mentioned familiar octave sound, the ‘Sargam’, must have become an accepted musical language in many societies, and so would have become common the knowledge that music can influence mood in various ways. This of course means the music would have really split up into two streams from that point onwards; the simplistic common or folk music, and the much detailed classical music of various societies. Let us try to comprehend the resulting development of music theory by studying the origin of Greek Modes, and then Modern Modes.

The Modes of Music:
Faith has played a central part in development of all human societies from the very beginning, and it is no surprise that the first songs that became popular happened to be religious chants and prayers. Now most of these chants and prayers were musically correct as they were stitched up as rhyming word melodies, but nevertheless, none of these were really composed in any classical style of music. Examples would include various Aartis performed in India, and perhaps the ancient Byzantine chants. But music scholars of those times must have studied these to understand how the note patterns were coming together, creating moving melodies of words and music. The study of Byzantine chants led to the formation of the Greek Musical Modes. This was basically Greeks grouping up notes, inspired by those chants, into formulaic patterns that became the core of classical music learning of that time; scales for some, melodies for others. Interesting however, is the case of Modern Modes.

If you sit with a piano or a keyboard, and just play the white keys from ‘C’ of one octave to the ‘C’ of the next higher in pitch, you get the familiar ‘Sargam’ sound described above, and today in Western Music, identified as ‘C Major Scale’. Now if you move from ‘C’ to ‘D’, and then play from ‘D’ to ‘D’; you will still get the same sound, but it would have shifted in pitch by a tone. Now this process can be repeated for all the other white keys, and you will notice the same shifting of pitch, by either a tone or a semitone, and yet getting that familiar ‘Sargam’ sound. What however happens as you do this experiment is; the mood of the octaves changes with the change in pitch. In fact, while the octave beginning and ending at ‘C’ notes (or ‘Sa’, ‘Do’), is positively positive in sound, the one beginning and ending at the ‘A’ notes (or ‘Dha’, ‘La’), is sad or grave in sound. This is what we know in Western music as relative of ‘C Major Scale’, the ‘A Minor Scale’. But what one is really doing while doing this experiment is; they are really playing the seven modes that make up ‘Modern Modes’; modern albeit is a bit out of place word here, for modern ‘Western Popular Music’ really doesn’t use these modes anymore.

Now, and even more importantly, what becomes clear with this experiment is; just like the note patterns making up the ‘C Mode’ (or ‘Ionian’ mode, or ‘C Major Scale’), and ‘A Mode’ (or ‘Aeolian’ mode, or ‘A Minor Scale’) can be used to develop corresponding major and minor scales for all other eleven notes, so can the note patters making up the other modes be used. Above all, these modes, or scales if you want to call them so, would each have a unique mood to them. But the question really is; is this complexity really needed? Perhaps the answer rests in the question; why is this complexity not a part of the Modern Western Music today, and why ‘Modern Modes’ have lost favour?

The dominance of two ‘Scales’:
Most songs across the globe, irrespective of their language and cultural origins, can be set to music using either a ‘Major Scale’, or a ‘Minor Scale’, even though these songs may represent an array of moods. A bit of experimentation will easily show how some notes outside these strict scales, might appear to compliment the melody and lyrics of those compositions, including Western compositions, a lot better than their counterparts from within the bounding scale. Such notes are what I would classify as ‘Real Accidentals’, as opposed to the formal accidentals in ‘Western Music’, the sharps and flats. They are not supposed to be there in the piece based on the scale, but are still more suitable, and can only be discovered through experimentation; hence ‘Accidental (finds)’. In short, they will enhance the mood of the composition, even if each composition is nevertheless brilliant on its own. This is why a song in an Indian Raga might enliven a mood more than the same song done in a traditional Western scale; the impact of these ‘Real Accidentals’. Now Ragas need a bit of elaboration of their own, and we will get to that in a moment, but for now, let us consider why the other five modes lost favour.

If what I say above is true; that all songs can be done in either the positive scale (the Major Scale), or the negative scale (the Minor Scale), and the enhanced mood could be achieved merely by simple experimentation, is the complexity of five more modes, that would add sixty more scales into the musical theory mix, really necessary? Absolutely not, if one were to consider as to how many notes are really needed to make up a composition. There is a reason why some societies developed ‘Pentatonic Scales’; you only need five notes at the most to create a brilliant composition, and even less, to create a good composition. Now I make this statement from my experience.

Generally all one needs are the first, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth notes of a scale to create a brilliant composition, and perhaps occasionally replace one of them with the seventh, but I have myself done a complete song using only four notes, and that includes the ‘Chords’ that I used in that composition, and I am not the first one to do something like this. The song was from my third English album, ‘Someone U Can Kiss’, and is called, ‘All Eyes on Me’. Now of course I am not counting the notes I actually sung, for voice often covers a lot more notes than one needs to create a composition, especially if the singer is not a real singer (cough, cough!). But the most important thing is; the mood actually rests in the rhythm of the piece, rather than the sounds. The same notes can be used to create a dance track, a ballad, a haunting song, a romantic song, or even a song about heart-break. It is not the notes, but how they are arranged that gives one the kick, and note arrangement is all about rhythm, not melody. Indian ‘Ragas’ use note patterns to enhance the mood of the ‘Raga’, while the speed and flow of the raga, again elements of rhythm, create the basic mood layer. Of course dynamics like loudness or softness too have a role to play.

So if one thing becomes clear here is; mood does not need complexity of theory, but rather expertise of the composer. Two scales are one too many, to cover an array of human emotions. There never really was a need for any more complexity to cater to music lovers taste, and perhaps why the disuse of Modern Mode system. (I don’t agree art is only what is displeasing, confronting, or complicated. In fact, it is far tougher, complex, and artistic to create a piece that actually pleases the majority of its audience. It is not easy to be a ‘Please all’; in fact, it is positively the toughest and most challenging of tasks, while the reverse is a cakewalk!)

The complex structures called Ragas:
Indian Classical music, even though based on the same basic heptatonic sound, the ‘Sargam’, however evolved into a much complex system of ‘Ragas’. There are over forty thousand of these ‘Ragas’, most ancient, but many as recent as dying Middle Ages, and yet most classical maestros barely manage to master forty to fifty odd out of them. These ‘Ragas’ are bound to the moods they create, are much larger and complex than mere scales, or simple melodies and note patterns, and some take over an hour for a complete recital. What on earth are these musical creatures?

If we go back to the ancient times, when Greeks were getting inspired by Byzantine chants, Indian music scholars were besotted by the Indian counterparts; the Aartis. Folk music, the music not bound by rules of classical theory, was the first to originate all over the world. It originated the very first time a melody was hummed by a human being, or a simple rhyme sung. The chants, the aartis, they were all a unique by-product of folk art, specific in their intent and purpose; to please a higher being. The musical scholars in India, like every other scholar of those times, were the sages and saints, who had devoted their life to education and prayer. Those scholars, when they started dissecting sounds into notes, and note patterns began emerging, it was but natural, that their next step was to formalize the relationship between various note combinations. Simple scales may or may not have originated in Indian music scene at any time, but the knowledge that music moves mind, became the centre piece of scholarly research.

Indian musicians started experimenting, and creating complex note structures, that when played created a specific mood. By more research, experimentation, and proper record keeping, these note structures developed into elaborate ‘Ragas’, and these ‘Ragas’ became a unique and integral feature of Indian classical music. ‘Ragas’ were songs that no ordinary human being could sing, but only a musical scholar of great training could master. ‘Ragas’ became a ‘Class’ characteristic that separated real music and real musicians from the lesser mortals, and they have remained so till this day and age. But what really are these ‘Ragas’?

Let us revisit the last song from my very first music album, the album being ‘I’m Fine’, and the song being ‘City of Cowards’. Now this song is a very hard hitting musical composition that incites, invigorates, energizes, and pumps up aggressive feelings in the listener. Now if we were to convert this song into musical notes, we will notice following features:
a)    There will only be a few notes out of the twelve natural tones that would appear in this song; the scale.
b)    These notes would have a repeating melody and accompaniment parts; the harmonics and the rhythm.
c)    The notes would be arranged in some very particular rhythmic patterns; the note and chord patterns.
d)    Some note patterns would specifically enhance the feelings of incitement, invigoration, energy, and aggression; the mood creators.
Now if I was to make this song’s note structure, as described above, a free for public use structure, that anyone was free to learn, get inspired by, and use in their own compositions, including by transposing the note patterns, then my song would actually become a ‘Raga’. This one would be the ‘Raga’ that creates all the mood elements mentioned above.

And this above, is really what all the ‘Ragas’ of Indian music really are; the original songs sans words (for they were created without words, using only note sounds), which have always been in public domain for anyone to learn, master, perform, and use. If they appear different or more complex than songs, then it is only because we have come to associate songs and compositions with words, or specific individualistic works, rather than as some ubiquitous, all encompassing musical species.

Now I know I have already irritated all the Indian Musical Masters, but if I am here, then I may as well go the entire distance and raise this question; “Does a music producer really need the knowledge of ‘Ragas’, to be a good, or complete, music producer?”

The answer to this question is simple yet complex. It is as simple as asking, “How many great Western Music Producers know Indian ‘Ragas’?” But it is complex because we are talking about something which gives any hardworking musician, a head start over the competition. Imagine having the privilege of scores of ‘Free for any type of use’ musical compositions, each a master of a particular mood that a music producer can use at their free will. Even the least talented of music producers, who barely know the basics of composition, can actually create a brilliant finished product, provided they are good at the ‘Ragas’ that matter for their project. In music, training and hard work never goes to waste, and learning any ‘Raga’ is one tough job that very few can complete. Now of course, if you are naturally talented, then even some basic music knowledge is enough for you to create a good song that would please majority of the populace, even if it means you have to experiment that much harder to get it right. But there could be no denying, the knowledge of ‘Ragas’ will give you an unfair advantage, or perhaps fair advantage.

So where do we really stand after all this very simplistic dissection of the most important facets of music? Well, this piece may not give you an in depth knowledge about any of those facets, but my intention was to give you the clarity about what each really is. At the end of the day, the most basic knowledge is enough to create good music, provided you are either talented, or hard working. Music doesn’t have to come naturally to everyone, but everyone has been listening to the music since the day they were born. Everyone’s ear is already trained to the music. All one needs is a bit of fine-tuning.

Fatal Urge Carefree Kiss,
Amanpreet Singh Rai

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