Is it possible to play Indian classical music on the violin?
Categories: Music
About Indian Classical Violin
The violin is quite possibly of the most famous instrument on the planet. A straightforward four-stringed instrument played with a bow, its splendid, unique tone and the endless assortment conceivable on its fretless fingerboard makes it reasonable for practically any sort of music. The starting points of the violin are hard to decide, since bowed string instruments have been played in many regions of the planet for centuries, yet the violin in its cutting edge structure was created in Europe during the 1500s, towards the finish of the Renaissance time frame. Over the course of the following couple of hundreds of years, the violin became one of the chief instruments in Western music, and it was acquainted with Indian old style music from the West in the nineteenth hundred years.
Coming to India
From the sixteenth century onwards, India had encountered broad impact from different European powers. In the mid 1800s, a noticeable Carnatic (South Indian traditional) performer and writer, Baluswamy Dikshitar (1786-1859), sibling of the celebrated Muttusvami Dikshitar of the Carnatic trinity, went through a few preparation in Western violin and afterward started to play Indian music on the instrument. The violin demonstrated impeccably appropriate for the music, as the gamakas (skims and motions through the notes - the help of Carnatic music) were conceivable, yet normal and instinctive on the violin. Hence Baluswamy Dikshitar is viewed as the dad of Indian traditional violin. Following him, numerous different artistes, like the well known Tanjavur Vadivelu in the court of Maharaja Swati Tirunal, took to the violin and laid out it in the field of Carnatic music.
Propels in Indian Classical Violin
The violin immediately ruled the job of backup, as it demonstrated truly equipped for following and answering the music of the voice and of different instruments. In this regard, numerous extraordinary musician prospered. Notwithstanding, another trailblazer, Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu (1893-1964), brought the violin into all important focal point and displayed its huge potential as a lead instrument too. Since, numerous extraordinary soloists and duettists arose, contributing in their own particular manners to the craft of playing the violin.
The Indian Style of Playing the Violin
Albeit the development of the violin is a similar in Indian and Western music, the tuning, playing stance, and procedures are very unique. First and foremost, the strings are tuned in the accompanying example to suit the tonic note (shruti) based way to deal with song in Indian music:
In this manner, in the event that the tonic note were D, for example, the string game plan would be An and D in two octaves.
The following significant distinction in playing the violin in Indian music is the stance. Indian music is performed situated on the ground, and violin players have likewise gone with the same pattern. The violin inclines upward on the neck or chest, with the parchment laying on the right foot. Jawline rests in the Western design are not required, because of the distinction in pose. The bow is grasped by the wooden shaft with the thumb between the shaft and the hair, again required by the adjustment of stance.
Indian Violin Today
Today, the violin isn't just universal in Carnatic music, however has likewise turned into a famous instrument among North Indian traditional (Hindustani) performers. Since the violin was embraced into Hindustani music in the mid twentieth hundred years, numerous sturdy Hindustani violin players have arisen and spellbound numerous a group of people with their remarkable way of playing the violin. Indian violin has additionally acquired overall prominence, with legends from Yehudi Menuhin onwards communicating their reverence for the manner in which Indian performers have taken care of the instrument.
Hence the violin, an incredibly flexible instrument, is currently a genuine piece of India's rich melodic legacy.