The Meaning of Improvisation in Indian Music

The Meaning of Improvisation in Indian Music : Improvisation is an important component of Indian classical music, in which the melodic framework (the raga) is explored. Only after a musician has learned extensively from their teacher will they have the understanding of how to improvise on any particular raga.

The word “Improvisation” is often used in the context of Indian classical music. What does it precisely mean and in what sense is the artist a creator?

At the outset, we had compared music to a language through which the musician speaks to us. But a Hindustani musical performance is more like an extempore speech, than reading or a recitation of a precomposed piece. The expositions from different exponents will be very different.

Even the same person speaking on the same subject on different occasions will deliver speeches that are not exactly the same in their presentation or approach. Yet each word would pertain to the same subject and the sentence structure would follow the rules of grammar.

Similarly, when a musician plays a certain Raga, he obvi ously has to conform to certain rules. For example, there are only certain notes which he is permitted to use. Within this set there are patterns of progression. There is also a fixed point of emphasis as well as notes on which the melody may rest. Each Raga besides has its own gait and lilt.

Within this framework, which he uses as a prop, he builds the edifice of the Raga. The Raga becomes a vehicle to express his own moods and personality, as in an extempore speech.

One can, to use another image, compare the rendering of a Raga to the painting of a particular flower by different artistes. Though the number and shape of the petals are fixed, the colour basically the same, yet each artist will paint the flower in his own way.

The compositions will differ. Some of the expressions may be austere, others luxuriant, some may be very realistic and some romantically imaginative. A few may touch us by their delicate workmanship, others by their simple straightforwardness and some by their strong, bold strokes.

Thus it is with the true musicians who pour into their com positions the depths of their personalities, their aspirations and visions, the truths they have sought and experienced. And each concert of Indian classical music is, like a painting or a poem, a new creation each time the musician sits down to play or sing. This is the magic of improvisation in which the listener participates.

Artists capable of exquisite hour-long improvised performances are not just gifted, they have also been studying and training for decades. And there are no shortcuts. However, there is a systematic process for learning to improvise, and this page gives you a very elementary introduction to it.

All that we have just heard is but one drop in the vast ocean of Indian music. Traditionally, it is believed that a lifetime of musical seeking is not sufficient to fathom its depths. We have come only to its shores. The ocean of music stretches out before us, calling us to plunge into it. And there is no end to the treaures we can discover.

Prabha Atre wrote on : Improvisation in Indian Music :

The word ‘improvisation’ has a special connotation in Indian classical music and needs to be understood in a given context. Indian music has been passed on through oral tradition. Hence, there has been very little need for written music. The unlimited potential of a raag to grow through improvisation might also have discouraged the writing down of music. The absence of written music in music performance has helped to evolve the so-called concept of improvisation.

The word improvisation as is generally understood in Indian classical music world is an extempore rendering of what one has learnt and practised as well as what one thinks at the moment of performance keeping in mind the rules of the raag and genre.

In the process of developing a raag and a genre, the musical material used is both pre-composed and improvised. The pre-composed piece is a ‘bandish’ which represents raag, taal and genre. At the time of composing the bandish, the composer improvises on the material which is available keeping within the limits of raag rules, taal and genre. However, once when the bandish is finally composed, it seizes to be improvisation. It becomes a fixed structure and is expected to be presented as it is composed every time it is used in the development of raag and genre.

The composed piece – bandish at times is also improvised in a small way to add colour and life to the whole process of raag / genre development.

The musical materials used for improvisation are extempore rendering of phrases in alaap, taan, sargam and bols. The pre-composed piece – bandish stands as the main pillar around which the improvised material is woven as required. The Indian musician learns extempore rendering during his long hours of training and practice.

He familiarizes himself thoroughly with the positions, combinations, movements and expressions of the notes. Ranging from a single note to short and long phrases, the combinations he practises become more and more complex in their arrangement, movement and expression. Thus, during performance, although he does not necessarily use the same phrases or sequences, he is already equipped with the skill and experience to create any variety of musical phrases.

During improvisation, he draws upon this experience. In moments of inspiration, he often comes up with something novel and remarkable that he has not tried before.

Read her full text : Improvisation in Indian Classical Music by Prabha Atre

We come to understand this a little when we hear the same Raga rendered by different musicians.

Here we have taken Raga Malkauns as rendered by:

• Ustad Amir Khan
• Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
• Pandit Nikhil Banerjee
• Ustad Bismillah Khan.

Read More:

• Laya & Tala in Carnatic music [ Indian Classical Music ]