Carnatic Music Vs Western Classical Music

Ashwin and Rohin Iyer's Jagadananda Karaka



L.Subramaniam's Raaga Hamsadhwani



Vanessa Mae plays a Bach piece



The following views are based entirely on my observations over the past few years and informal learning from peers / professionals :

Classical carnatic music stands out amongst all forms of classical music whether western or hindustani classical in terms of its use of "fractions" of notes/swaras used. Both hindustani and western classical music use seven notes to make up an octave/raga and hindustani music uses some pitches in between two swaras ( for e.g. in between Sa and Re).Carnatic music is heavily interspersed with these in between pitches and functions primarily on fractions. Therein lies its inherent complexity. 4.357, 8.598, 9.214, 2.853 - if these represent the in between pitches adopted by the carantic vocal/instrumental singer, then most of the renditions are composed of such fractions.

Hindustani music may be represented by 1, 5, 6, 5.7, 7.6, 9, 3, 6.9, 5

Western classical music ONLY uses discrete notes and can be represented entirely by whole numbers - 1,2,3,4,5

There is variation amongst instruments with respect how discrete/continuous the sound they produce are. So the violin for example, is a more continuous instrument than the piano. That is because while the piano has individual discrete notes and sounds in between one note and the next cannot physically be produced, the violin's strings allow for all pitches in between two swaras. That is one obvious reason why the violin has been easily integrated into classical carnatic music and why the piano will probably not find a place there. As part of an amateur fusion group, some of my friends and I tried blending the piano with carnatic music a few years ago and it was not the best of blends. The use of the pedal on the piano ( which functions to create and sustain resonance between all notes ) greatly increases its "continuity" and decreases its discreteness. This creates the illusion of completeness for the piano as as instrument - the piano can sound very incomplete without the use of the pedal.

So to the untrained ear, like to me, carnatic music is whole other world of beauty and very easily identifiable by the use of fractions. The mridangam keeps up with the fractions of swaras and is very fast paced, making the music energetic.