Pitch Determination In Indian Classical Music Using A Just Temperament Table
Did you know that the notes in Indian classical music are NOT the same as they are in Western classical music? It’s true. For instance, Shuddh Ga is significantly different than a Western natural 3rd.
Furthermore, there are a LOT of different systems in use worldwide for how each note in a scale is assigned a pitch. They have confusing names like Pythagorean Tuning, Just Intonation, Mean-Tone Temperament, Equal Temperament, etc…
Generally speaking, western music makes use of Equal Temperament and Indian classical music uses Just Intonation (aka Just Temperament).
To make things even more difficult though, high quality tuner apps like Tunable or TE Tuner, have so many configurations options that you are likely to induce technological error into your tuning attempts.
Altogether, this means that without some guidance and mathematical assistance, you are very unlikely to know what is the correct pitch for each note of the scale in Indian classical music.
While the best solution is having a highly qualified teacher who can correct your pitch (over and over again until you start to get it right), wouldn’t it be great if you could simply enter the frequency of your Sa (generally three holes closed on bansuri) into this webpage, and have our software tell you the correct pitch of every note in your scale? Then you could use this information to perfect your pitch or to construct a flute that is in tune.
Fortunately, we have created the software, and it is on this page!
Bansuri Bliss Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger playing a bansuri melody in Colombia, February 26th, 2024.
We have a lesson in Bansuri Bliss Academy on how to use the free MultiTone Generator app to improve your sense of pitch.
Log In To See And Download The Just Temperament Table And The Custom Note Generator!
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Above is a screenshot of part of the Just Temperament Table that we have further down this page. We have also made it simple for you to input ANY custom note (not just the Western notes) and get an output of the pitch of all the Indian swaras based on that note.
Dr. Kriger Discusses The MultiTone Generator And How To Make Use Of The Just Temperament Pitch Table On This Page
Enjoy this video of Bansuri Bliss Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger teaching Bansuri Bliss Office Hours from Manassas, VA on August 28th, 2024.
We start with raag Brindavani Sarang and a discussion on the MultiTone Generator iOS app. We determine the pitch of our Sa in Hz and enter that value into the tone generator as a sine wave and we get a nice sounding Sa that is similar to what you would hear from a surpeti (shruti box). If we wanted to also hear Low Sa, we would divide our Sa by 2 and enter that value into the app. If we wanted High Sa we would multiply our Sa value by 2. In this way we create some nice ambiance and assist our practice of blowing Sa by having more Sa in the background, which makes it easier to know when we are perfectly in tune.
Dr. Kriger performs raag Jaijaivanti, and then we review a madhyalaya (middle speed) teental lehara (melodic line that repeats over and over, often as accompaniment to a tabla solo) in raag Desh. Dr. Kriger provides two variations (one that you hear on the iLehra app at 90 bpm and the other you hear at 84bpm). Dr. Kriger teaches the most important Desh exercise of them all (the arohi/avarohi set to 8 beats up and 8 beats down) and provides tips on writing the lines of music.
You can learn more about raag Desh in the Bansuri Bliss Academy Desh course.
You can learn a lot about tuning systems on the 22shrutis website and on this Just Intonation Explained page by Kyle Gann.
Kerry, thanks for all the hard work you’ve put into the program. Really enjoying it and learning a lot.” – Christian Newell
