Evolution of Musical Instruments

The evolution of Musical instruments can be traced to the prehistoric periods. Man wanted to represent his outbursts of joy or sorrow, through sounds produced in a particular pattern. It may have started from an ordinary hand-clap, a pat on the thigh, chest or legs or stone gongs dashed against one other. Slowly man developed rude wooded castanets, leading to cymbals and gongs or frames. Then he discovered the use of skin stretched over a simple circular frame, and later skin stretched over a hollow body enclosing air inside pot-drums or wooden conical drums. Then came into use, the skin stretched over two faces of hollow cylindrical body. The next stage was Double-faced tunable stretched drums. Then, by each one's mental imagination and the character, many varieties of drums could have come into being leading to different types of Musical instruments. Folk songs were but the natural expression of man's emotions as released by the affecting events of his life with all the charm of simple and yet powerful rhythm. When man started infusing harmony into his music, Classicism originated.

25 25 The simplest form of drum that was used in early times was just earthen pots used for cooking and storing grains covered with hide. The Ghatam, the South Indian concert instrument is of the same variety. As life pattern changed over the years, the instruments too underwent changes. Sometimes the name of the particular instrument got changed or different instruments were called by a single common name. We come across various external evidences from text on music, general literature, folklore, epigraphic records, sculptures, relief's, paintings, temple carvings and miniatures on the guidelines for the structure of an instruments, its playing position and the occasion for its use, from region to region. The older an instrument (historically) the closer is its relation to the daily life of man. Specialization and improvisation are of later developments. In the primitive stage, man used materials readily available for making music. Sticks, pots, bones, animal horns and shells were used initially. In the Iron Age bells came into existence. Bells have an important place in Indian culture. Temple bells as also Church bells are significant of the respective cultures. Bells were used for rituals, while Gongs were used for frightening the wild animals during travel through forest. Ankle bells, of various shapes and sizes also constitute to idiophone instrument variety. Nupur or Gunghuru or Gejjai is very popular even today among women especially dancers. In fact, Gejja Puja or Salangai Puja is a very important function for a young dancer before her first performance - i.e. arangetram. In Kathak, the high-speed artistic modulations of this anklet or Gunghuru with the Tabla is highly appreciated and also plates like cymbals are struck against each other to produce Rhythmic beats, which we may find even today in the hands of beggars.

26 Ordinarily, two metal plates held in one hand each struck is called kartal. It is a time-keeping instrument, used in bhajans, abhangs and devarnamas. It is also used in Nadasvaram recitals and dance recitals for time-keeping. We also have various minor varieties such as Rods, rings, bellmetals, wood-plates, metal-plates in use. Kolattam sticks are a fine example for struck rods or sticks. In Gujarat it is popular as dandiya ras. Even stones struck together, or struck on any other material, produce pleasing monotonic sounds. An improvisation of this led to the construction of musical pillars on stone in temples. Sucindram, Madurai, Hampi etc. possess these musical pillars. These musical pillars invariably would be present on the temple nartana mantapa. Man also learnt the use of stretched strings as musical instruments. What perhaps started as a single stringed instrument might have developed into Vina in later times. A simple iron frame, with a suspended iron reed fixed at one end, can produce high fidelity tonal vibrations like the morsing. It is played by placing it in between the teeth, the mouth acting as the resonator, producing beautiful sounds. Drums in general are membranophones, which convert the rhythmic impulses into sounds. The oldest form of a drum probably was a stamped pit hollow in a ground, covered with a hide, stamped or beaten to produce high sounds. The Bhumi-Dundubhi was a ritual drum, mentioned in the Vedas. Another development is the employment of cooking pots and pans as instruments.

27 Drums have not always been for musical use. Ranabheri was a martial instrument. Another variety of it was meant for announcement in villages. In the Tamil tradition also we come across Vira Murasu, Nyaya Murasu and so on. The association of drums with music may have started from dance-music rituals. Drums are considered to be indispensable accompaniments to Dance. Almost all the drums are nrtyanuga - fit to accompany dance. Drums are and were inseparable in early man's life. Spirits were attributed to drums. The cow's milk was smeared on drums as an offering to the spirits. Drums were employed on all joyous festivals. There was also a separate Drum for funerals. Harmony is the ultimate basis of all music, be it western or eastern. Melody rests upon a succession of tones each having a certain agreeable relation to the other. When two sounds agree there is a pleasurable sensation. Since repetition of notes of the same measure of agreement produced dullness, varying degrees of concord came to be employed. Any recitation in which notes are differentiated is more pleasing than recitation in single tone. An example for this could be found in the chant of Rg Veda with notes commonly termed udatta, anudatta and svarita, which in the recitation of Sama Veda rose to seven notes, five direct, and two indirect but nevertheless real. A Vedic stanza is rendered below, as it is pronounced, relating it to the musical svaras.

28 om taccham yoravrnimahe gatum yajnaya S s n S sr sss ns ns r gatum yajnapataye | devi svastirastu nah | n snsr ss srg sssrss S svastirmanusebhyah urdhvam jigatu bhesajam | n s nrs s ns S S S S S S sam no astu dvipade sam catuspate | sr ss srgs S r s s 3/4A MAA: MA: ma: 1 s s n S n S r s Purusasuktam (Taittriya Aranyakam III) We pray for that which shall remove all our ills. We pray for a proper direction in our worship. We pray for the worshipper. May we have the real divine. May all men be happy. May their ills be cured more and more. May the birds be happy. May the beasts be happy. In the name of the Eternal, May there be Peace, Peace and Peace everywhere. In ancient Indian thought, music as an esoteric experience was integral to human existence. In its role as spiritual link, music needed to be more than just uplifting. It needed to be vimuktida i.e. of such stature that it could liberate the listener from the birth-death-reincarnation cycle. This towering quality was and is best illustrated by OM, the syllable that is believed to represent Lord Siva himself (and is therefore, a means to salvation). OM is positioned in Indian philosophical and religions thought as being one with the rhythms of the universe. The correct rendition of it requires a particular breath-process, and as such is believed to clear the system and the cycle of karma and rebirth. The Bible says "In the beginning was the word; and the word was with God". John - Chapter 1- Verse 1

29 The Natyasastra by Bharatamuni illustrates the musical experience in a different way. The (physical) causes or the reasons for a particular experience - vibhava - lead to the experience - anubhava. The experience (anubhava) gives rise to an emotional connection or experience (mood), ephemeral in nature - bhava. This ephemeral experience in turn leads to the aesthetic experience, which is referred as a psychological state of mind - rasa. Human experience according to the Natyasastra is comprised of eight sentiments, and the text says that the music is capable of evoking these in the listener. These eight sentiments are: Srngara rasa (romantic, erotic), Hasya rasa (comic), Karuna rasa (sympathetic), Raudra rasa (anger/wrath), Vira rasa (heroic), Bhayanaka rasa (terrifying), Bibhatsa rasa (unpleasant, odious), Adbhuta rasa (wondrous). Rhetoricians like Anandavardhana have advocated the inclusion of a ninth rasa, namely Santa rasa. Sound has its own reflection - pratidhvani (echo). Musical pitches (sruti) are seen as caused by momentum and frequency of vibrations. A svara (tone) is believed to consist of a sruti (fundamental tone) and some anuranana (partial tones or harmonics). The relationship between sruti and svara can be understood as - parinama (nodal change), vyanjana (manifestation), jativyaktyoriva tadatmyam (genus and species), vivartana (reflection), and karyakaranabhava (cause and effect).

30 The Vedas form the basis for all the art forms, especially the aesthetics (rasa), which form the core portion of any art. This is substantiated in the following verses. jagraha pathyam rgvedat samabhyogitameva ca | yajurvedadabhinayan rasan atharvanadapi | Natyasastra Chapter I -17 The Creator made the lessons from the Rg Veda, songs from the Sama Veda, the gesticulations from the Yajur Veda and sentiments from the Atharva Veda. samavedaditam gitamsamjagraha pitamahah | Sangita Ratnakara Chapter I - 1 The Creator made the music from the Sama Veda. The rasa theory in general and particularly in relation to music elevates this art to a higher plane than mere entertainment. It brings into the connoisseur a supreme joy that is not mixed with any sorrow (while all other pleasures are tinged with misery), the one that is equivalent to the supreme joy experienced in the ultimate liberated state. But that does not mean that ancient Indians were averse to recreation and merry making. Amusements - music, dancing, drama and other means of recreation are the true mirror in which the unrestricted mind is reflected. As we browse through the literature we find that India was thronged with ever-sportive and joyful people enjoying continuous festivities. Living amidst scenes of sylvan beauty they played, danced and sang to express their joys, to mitigate their pains, to please their gods and to appease their demons, thereby saving themselves from their wrath. The literature also reveals that there was hardly any distinguishing line between the secular and the religious in India, all the forms of recreation contributing to religious harmony.

31 On each and every festive occasion, whether it is purely religious like the Awakening of God (Suprabhata) or a ritual like wedding, the chief item of the celebrations is music - vocal as well as instrumental. The sound of the musical instruments is regarded as divine, extremely sweet and heart captivating.