17 Dec
2002
17 Dec
'02
11:25 a.m.
Paul Davis wrote:
but nobody counts them in 4 sections. actually, nobody
really counts
them at all! this idea that classical indian music even counts beats
its a bit of a misnomer to start with. they conceive of the tala as a
cycle, in fact literally a circle in some instructional works. rather
than lay out rythmn on a line the way we do in the west, its laid out
in a circle, and divided in various ways.
actually, no sane musician, be she indian or american, classical
or newer, counts time when performing, especially when improvising.
you have to feel it while it's happening, or you'll lose track too
soon.
yet to understand it, you have to tell what it's made of. western
music has the tradition of counting, indian music uses syllables.
syllables convey much more detail about emphasis and are easier
to pronounce in up-tempo, so it's not much of a surprise to see
that indian music has a much richer tradition in rhythmic artistry.
start from jhaptal, which is based on a 10 count cycle,
and subdivide
that, and you end up with strange "beat note values" that we never use
in the west.
correspondingly, classical western notation does have the concept
of extending the triplet to any count against any other, usually
it's odd against even and in sub-cycle time, too, but it doesn't
need to be.
but dammit, i'm a good computer programmer, and
i'm determined
to give zakir a run for his money one day :) for that, i need a
sequencer that can handle these ideas!
i'm sure we all love your ardour, paul. ;)
tim