Musical Instruments: Classification, Structure and Tuning
What this domain tests
You must classify an instrument correctly, describe its parts, and explain tuning choices in relation to the raga and the ensemble.
Classification
- Traditional fourfold: tata (string), sushira (wind), avanaddha (membrane), ghana (solid).
- Western terms: chordophone, aerophone, membranophone, idiophone. Sitar is tata and chordophone; bansuri is sushira and aerophone; tabla is avanaddha and membranophone; jaltarang is ghana and idiophone.
Structure
- Tanpura: four strings, gourd resonator, jawari; drone instrument.
- Sitar: fretted, seven main strings and sympathetic strings; sarod is fretless with a metal fingerboard.
- Tabla: dayan (right, tuned) and bayan (left, pitch-bending); syahi and gatta.
- Pakhawaj: two-headed barrel drum for dhrupad.
- Bansuri: six or seven holes; shehnai: double reed; harmonium: free reed.
Tuning
- Tanpura is tuned Sa-Pa-Sa-Sa, or Sa-Ma-Sa-Sa when Pa is weak or absent in the raga.
- Tabla dayan is tuned to Sa or Pa of the soloist; bayan is left untuned for bends.
- Strings are tuned relative to the tonic, not to a fixed absolute pitch.
Worked example
Why tune a tanpura to Sa-Pa-Sa-Sa? Reasoning: the fifth reinforces the tonic and gives a stable drone without crowding the raga's melodic space. If the raga avoids Pa, Ma is used instead. The choice depends on the raga, not on the instrument's convenience.
Traps
- Saying the sarod has frets.
- Calling the shehnai a single-reed instrument.
- Treating the bayan as the right-hand drum.
- Classifying ghana as a wind instrument.
- Tuning the tanpura to a fixed Western pitch regardless of the singer.