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Home Articles Concerts Workshops Teachers Instruments Books Music Links Contact Instruments of Dhrupad Some reflections on the use of Electronic Substitute Tanpura and the intricacies of proper tanpura tuning by Martin
Spaink With the following article I would like to share some observations and reflections on the use of the Electronic Substitute Tanpura (EST) during concerts and recordings and more specifically, about the tuning of the tanpura. I would like to state explicitly that it is not my intention to scorn or condemn musicians who do use EST, although I would never choose to do so myself. Nor am I a scholar or do I want to pose as an authority but I have ample experience as a professional player of the tanpura. It is not my intention to write yet another theoretical or scientific article, rather, I would share some first-hand practical observations. I
have played for many Indian musicians on concert-tours which were
organized by the Royal
Tropical Institute of Amsterdam. All visiting artists were satisfied and
inspired having let me take care of the tuning of the tanpura(s). Also I
have done a lot of work on the bridges of many tanpuras, doing the 'jivari'.
As a musician-in-learning I study Dagarvani Dhrupad (vocal) and sarangi. I understand that the EST or 'white
boxes' were originally introduced to facillitate solitary practice but in
the past years I have seen them being used more and more on international
concert stages and I have heard them in many recordings. I have asked
various musicians in a diplomatic way why they use EST. Judging from their
answers, practical reasons play a big part: tanpuras are fragile and
cumbersome travel companions. Also doubts or complaints were expressed
regarding both the quality of tanpuras and their players that are provided
by concert organizers. These are realistic and valid observations, but I
disagree that using EST instead is a good way to deal with the problem. It
is taking the easy way out, but it leads to a loss of refinement in the
performances. The artificial sound of EST is a poor imitation of the real
thing. It lacks the rich, vibrant and animated resonance of a properly
tuned and played tanpura. In my perception and opinion, it
casts a dull, grey colour over the whole performance that clouds the finer
resonances of the other instruments and it does not enhance inspiration. To make things worse, I have
attended many concerts during which the EST created a disturbance as the
pitch will often fluctuate. I have noticed this in my own experiences when
I was playing tanpura in a
concert and the musicians also used EST. After some time my tanpura would
still be in tune with the solo-instrument and the tabla but the EST had
gone out of tune. Then confused looks were cast about at which I pointed
out the culprit. I admit I felt immensely relieved when they then put the
thing off, as immediately the 'fog' lifted from the stage and the bright
rays of the tanpura shone forth to enlighten us. But there are other reasons why I
personally do not consider it wise to use EST which go a bit further than
to point out poor sound quality and pitch fluctuations. First of all, the
daily business of tuning the tanpura is a valuable stimulation
to further develop our aural perception. Tuning a tanpura makes
great demands on our hearing faculties and requires us to make a conscious
effort (svara-sadhana). When tuning the tanpuras, the artists attune
themselves to the raga that is going to be performed. I believe that for
the audience these are also valuable moments of involving anticipation.
The audience is given time to settle down and can appreciate the
atmosphere which is being created by the tuning process. The late
Dagar-brothers (if not all members, past or present, of the family) would
not previously decide what they were going to sing at a concert, sometimes to the distress of organizers. This
decision was made spontaneously during the tuning process, or rather, some
raga manifested itself while tuning. This conscious effort or svara
sadhana is so important as in the tuning process the artist seeks to
create a particular resonance or colour of sound that will suit the chosen
raga. This is related to the concept of raga svaroop, which means
essentially that a particular intonation of one or more svaras can evoke
the image or feeling (rasa) of a particular raga. All these essential and
subtle elements of svaroop are hampered by the use of EST. No fine-tuning
of Ma or Pa is possible and the timbre (jivari) of each 'string' is fixed.
Some controls are there but it remains a crude artificial thing, however
smart the electronics may be. I
believe it was Zahiruddin Dagarsaheb who once said that tuning the tanpura
creates intelligence. Obviously, fiddling with the controls of an EST is
not quite as edifying. With a proper tanpura with
sensitive jivari various secondary tones can be evoked to emanate from its
sustained resonance, even within the basic PssS tuning. In short, there is
not only one 'right' way of tuning in PssS as it is possible to adjust the
finer resonances in function of a particular raga. A tanpura with this
kind of subtle tuning can inspire both the musicians and the audience with
its animated presence. Further on I will try to describe some of the basic
principles that lie behind the intricacies of tuning. Tuning a tanpura is such a
complicated process as every single string resonates with many harmonics
which with some practice can be distinguished individually as secondary
tones. Thus we are not dealing with simple fundamentals but with extended
chords. The slightly curved bridge of the tanpura functions like a sonic
prism: just as a prism will refract white light in the various colours of
the rainbow, a bridge of proper shape with the thread in the proper
position will refract the constituent harmonics of the fundamental tones.
In daily use, the word ‘jivari’ has different meanings: the
word translates as ‘soul’ or ‘live-giving’
but also refers to the threads and the
carefully filed sloping curve of the bridge which ‘animate’ the tone
of the tanpura. The cotton threads that are passed between the bridge and
the strings allow us to adjust the 'prismatic function' of the jivari
process. When we move the thread, the slightest change of position creates
a shift in the harmonic content of the resonance. Also,
with a sensitive jivari the tanpura becomes very responsive: at the touch
of one string all others will vibrate as well in sympathetic resonance.
This phenomenon will manifest only under optimum circumstances when the
sonic energy from one string has a number of common harmonics with the
others, so that the whole can resonate as one vibratory system. The
sustained resonance of the tanpura, when in full accord and played
properly, can become fully continuous ‘like an organ’.
An image that has often come
to my mind in comparison to the dynamic sound of a tanpura is that of the
concentric ripples on the surface of the water caused by the impact of a
small stone being dropped into a quiet lake from a bridge. The concentric
ripples keep spreading out from a precise point untill the energy runs
out. If another stone of the
same weight would be dropped in the same place at the proper moment, the
movement would begin anew, giving the travelling waves a push in the back,
creating a seemingly continuous motion. It
will be obvious that a properly filed and polished bridge is absolutely
essential, as a badly shaped or worn bridge will never give a satisfactory
sound. With a worn or otherwise defective bridge, the sound will be shrill
and thin and the resonance will fail to build up. The descending movement
along the harmonic series is obstructed so that it will not reach the
lower register. Instead, the
sound will be hung up on some high and dissonant harmonic. As
harmonics play an important part in both the sounding process and the
tuning, I present the following matrix of the harmonic series. This chart
offers helpfull insights and gives the full range of harmonics according
to the physics of sound. In the present chart I have used the Indian
sargam and SA for the fundamental. It is important to realize that this
chart of the harmonic series as such represents a fixed series of natural
intervals relative to the fundamental, regardless of pitch or what
nomenclature is used. Whether or not these harmonics will be audible
depends on the acoustical qualities of our instruments, specifically the
jivari, and of course our ears and mind. The matrix is to be read from
bottom to top, as the fundamental tone is at its base. Small-type k stands
for komal (flat), small-type t stands for tivra (augmented). As can be
seen from this matrix, the octaves are most present (nrs 1,2,4,8,16,32)
then the fifths (3,6,12,24) and the third place is shared equally between
the natural major third (5,10,20) and the natural minor seventh (7,14,28).
Note also that the amount of harmonics increase in every successive octave
as new harmonics appear in between the octaves of the harmonics of the
previous level, presenting ever smaller successive intervals. Next to the
octave of shuddh NI, nr. 30, two variant pitches appear, one slightly
lower, the other slightly higher. Also noteworthy are the variants of
tivra MA and komal DHA, nrs 23 and 25 (tivra-tar MA and ati-komal DHA).
The next level 32 – 64 is tightly packed with harmonics in even smaller
successive intervals, but I have not written them out as they are not very
relevant for our purposes. Also one would need to have an extremely low
fundamental in order to be able to hear these harmonics (and
hyper-sensitive and trained ears!).
As a further example, I will give
harmonics 8 – 16 of the fundamentals Pa and Ma.
Note that in writing out the harmonic series of fundamentals other than SA some problems of nomenclature arise. In
Indian music theory, a tivra SA is not recognized, but an augmented fourth
over PA is just that (PA11). PA23 would be a tivra-tar SA, just as MA17
would be a komal PA, MA33 ati-komal PA. But no matter, these are
theoretical problems of nomenclature only. The matrix of harmonics, being
a timeless and universal phenomenon, remains the same,
regardless of the pitch of the fundamental.
More of such difficulties can be found when writing out the
harmonic series of shuddh NI. The first thing to realize is that
in tuning the tanpura, we try to create a single, unified vibratory
system. This means that the relevant harmonics that are emitted by the
octave sa strings (jora, the sound of which should be completely identical)
and the first string (PA or MA) have to be aligned with those of the low
SA string (karaj) so that the desired continuity of sound will manifest. As an example, when tuning
Sa-Pa, optimum consonance will be achieved when both share the
lowest common harmonic, pa, which is the 3rd harmonic of Sa and the 2nd
harmonic of Pa (SA3:PA2). When
these harmonics sound in conjunct, their octaves may sound as well
(SA6,12,24:PA4,8,16) so there are many sonic links between the two tones.
According to the jivari, shuddh RE can be a clear secondary tone, coming
from the conjunct of SA9:PA6, also shuddh NI may sound from SA15:PA10,
even MA from SA21:PA14. Note that all these conjuncts are in a perfect 3:2
relation. In a MssS tuning, SA4:MA3 is the lowest common harmonic as a
fifth on MA gives SA. Other conjuncts are the octaves, SA8,16:MA6,12; then
PA on SA12:MA9 and GA on SA20:MA15. In a shuddh NssS tuning (Marwa, Sohini)
there is only one conjunct on SA15:NI8 (and octave) which explains why it
is quite difficult to tune NssS with accuracy as there are not as many
exact sonic links in the resonance. To complicate matters even more, a
number of disjunct harmonics can be present in the resonance which can
create instability. For instance, SA9,NI5 are two different pitches for
RE; SA11,NI6 gives different pitches for tivra MA; as neither 9:5 or 11:6
equal 15:8. However, there is a useful harmonic link at the natural major
third between the PA harmonics of SA (SA3,6,12,24) and the octaves of NI
(NI2,4,8,16) The
other important thing to realize is that when we pluck a string, we
perceive a dynamic sounding process in which two phenomena occur
simultaneously. One is the cascading descent of the harmonics from each
separate string, the other is the building-up of the sustained resonance.
This is then why the relative timing of plucking the next string is so
important, as the sounding process of the next string has a reciprocal
effect on the ultimate resonance of both strings, and so on. This explains
why the unrelenting and mindful attention of the tanpura player is
required, as a slight irregularity in plucking (timing and relative
strength of plucking) can create a disturbance in the resonance of the
tanpura. In the basic PssS tuning, we do not only hear the tones PssS and
their octaves as some secondary tones will manifest. These secondary tones
can ring out quite clearly and demand our full attention.
As the sound of one single string is already very rich in harmonics,
playing all four strings in succession can turn in to chaos.
So both our acuteness of hearing and our mental concentration is
required to create order –and life – within this plenitude of
harmonics. I remember clearly how in the early days I used to get lost in
there! When tuning a tanpura, one needs to know what is possible and what
one is aiming for. I have already mentioned the secondary tones. To be
more precise, I should point out that not only secondary tones but also
tertiary tones are generated. These
include difference tones and combination tones. Particularly the
difference tones help to create a fullness in the lower register as they
expand the resonance below the fundamental, as if one would hear a
“sa” two or three octaves below the karaj.
However, the secondary tones, the sustained harmonics that are
generated by the jivari of the single strings, are the most important
tones to focus on when tuning. These
secondary tones can be aligned in such a way that they will create a
recurrent pattern, for instance ”rppg”. This pattern will result from
carefully aligning the harmonics
PA6,sa6,sa6,SA10. Without having to change the micro-tuning,
“rrrg” (PA6,sa9,sa9,SA10) can also manifest as a result of a slightly
different way of plucking. Here it is also our focal point of attention
that is very important: we have to listen intently and check continuously
what is the resultant sound of our playing.
As another possibility for a pattern of secondary tones I mention
“mmmg” (PA14,sa21,sa21,SA20). These ways of tuning are perfectly
suited for shuddh-scale ragas,
having all natural notes. It is a bit more complicated to tune in function
of a komal-svara raga, having for instance komal RE and GA, as the shuddh
RE and GA harmonics are usually clearly audible in the sustained resonance.
By changing the position of the threads and the micro-tuning, one can try
to create a resonance in which SA and PA harmonics dominate, trying to
subdue the shuddh RE and GA harmonics (it is impossible to completely
eliminate them). Again, plucking is very important, as is the focal point
of attention of the player. I
am aware that the descriptions of the mentioned tunings and my explanation
thereof are not in accord with what has been written elsewhere in the
annals of Indian musicology by some eminent scholars such as Shri H. G.
Ranade. In his book ‘Hindusthani Music, an outline of its physics
and aesthetics’ (1951, pages 88-89) he states that we need not consider
any harmonics higher than nr. 9. This
is a biased statement that I can not accept as my own first-hand
experiences contradict it. At some occasions I was able to
hear how Ustad
Sayeeduddin Dagar tuned the tanpura in such a way that the pattern
“mmmg” was clearly
audible. At a glance at the
harmonic chart one can readily see that a shuddh ma harmonic of the
fundamental SA does not appear in the series until nr. 21. The pancham
string will emit a shuddh ma as
its nrs. 7 and 14, which can reinforce
the more distant nr. 21 from the jora through sympathetic resonance.
This
has already become a bit analytical and technical and as such the
descriptions offered here may be far removed from the experiences of
Indian musicians. I am quite aware of this, but while it is one thing to
demonstrate these sonic phenomena with a tanpura at hand, I felt that for
the sake of this article I had to analyse and describe as precisely as
possible what I hear or what I aim for when I tune the tanpura. Also, I
hope to have explained why I am so much devoted to my tanpura and her
sonic refinements which I feel can never be replaced by some smart
electronic device. Furthermore, I would not hesitate to admit that I have
often felt that my tanpura had become a 'living being' under my mindful
fingers, as she instantly procreates her sonic offspring and she is also
very sensitive to her sonic environment. Once I accompanied a Dhrupad
concert during which the pakhavaj would not stay in tune. This had a great
influence on my tanpura, who was quite upset and
would not stay in tune. On the positive side however, when both the
instrumental soloist and the percussionist take great care to tune into
the resonance of a properly tuned tanpura, true miracles can happen. In a
recent concert-tour I accompanied two Carnatic musicians who played
Sarasvati Veena and Mridangam. For these concerts I played a very good
Tanjore-style tanpura, which blended beatifully with the other instruments.
The tones of the Veena and all subtle inflections were suspended by the
resonance of the tanpura, so that they would hover in the air and could
fully blossom. I was filled with awe and admiration when I clearly heard
the percussionist responding melodically with great tonal accuracy to the
phrases played on the Veena. I realized these delicacies could not have
manifested when accompanied by EST. Physics alone could not fully explain
these phenomena. Also
in my own practice, when I sing with my tanpura, she clearly responds to
how and what I sing. When I sing with delicateness and precision, the
resonance of my tanpura responds and opens up even more, manifesting
immediate interaction with my voice.
Here I would like to remind my readers of the meaning of the word
‘tanpura’, which is derived from ‘tana’ which means a musical
phrase and ‘puura’ meaning fullness or completion. The resonance of
the tanpura is both full and transparent, which allows me to sing (when I
can muster the required precision and adhere to the character of the raga)
any svara so that it completely blends in with the resonance of the
tanpura. Numbers of times I have experimented with EST, both singing and
playing sarangi. These were always short sessions as it does not give me
the same inspiration or satisfaction.
The times I have tried to tune my sarangi with EST-accompaniment I
found the EST lacking in pitch definition.
With a properly tuned tanpura it is possible to create a steady and
radiant SA which is as straight and precise as a laser-line. The EST on
the other hand – in my ears – produces a tone that is too thick and
blurry. Maybe I am over-delicate or too demanding, but why settle for less
if one knows what is possible? Yes,
it does take time and effort, every time when we sit down and tune the
tanpura, and for the next session we have to do it all over again. But
when we make it a svara sadhana we learn from it, we focus and concentrate
and attune to the raga that we want to play or sing. Then we will be
blessed with the animated and inspiring
presence of a properly tuned tanpura which will allow us to sing or
play with great precision of melodic intonation in which the svaras can
manifest rasa and bhava. No EST can give the same experience, and
furthermore, it does not offer any teachings or stimulations to help us to
advance in the subtle art of Indian music... Aum Nada Brahma... As a post-scriptum to this article
I would like to share some practical considerations which might be useful. When
preparing for a concert, bring all instruments to the stage and leave them
there to acclimatize whenever possible. Ask the light-technician to set
and adjust the stage-lights before the soundcheck and then to leave it
like that. Also, check for possible drafts which can be a nuisance. When
– for whatever reasons – EST is to be used, it is best to run it on
fresh batteries. Otherwise, when run on current, be sure to set it to the
desired pitch well ahead of the beginning of the concert, and leave it on
with the volume turned low. This will help to stabilize the pitch. As
far as solitary practice is concerned, when I play the sarangi, I
personally prefer to use a CD-recording of a properly tuned and played
tanpura, which I find is the next best thing to having a good instrument
and player sitting next to oneself. I
would like to dedicate this article to all the inspiring musicians that I
have had the honour to accompany in concert. Especially to Ustad
Sayeeduddin Dagarsaheb, who is by far the most demanding and critical
person as regards the tuning of tanpuras that I have ever met. I have
accompanied him in many concerts and we have worked together on the
bridges of many tanpuras, which was a great learning experience. Also I
would like to thank mr. Felix van Lamsweerde, former ethno-musicological
curator of the Royal Tropical Institute. He has been very influential in
introducing classical Indian music in
the Netherlands. In 1963 he had my present tanpura made in Miraj,
and as a mentor and friend he has been most supportive. Martin Spaink, Toscana,
2003 Feel
free to circulate this article or to quote from it, as I would like to
stimulate some discussion on this topic. Reactions can be sent to the
following e-mail-address: martinspaink@yahoo.com
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