GETTING THE MOST OUT OF LISTENING TO MUSIC
There are many like me who are not particularly musically talented, but are very keen to get the most out of the music we listen to, so, these three essays are really an attempt to get everyone, even the specialist listeners who only listen to one type of music, to open their ears and minds to explore the infinite universe of music that is waiting to be discovered. With a bit of luck, they perhaps will find some other music that will entertain
them as much as their favoured music.
Master musicians are
open minded. A not very appreciated fact about truly great
musicians is, that they have preferences for certain types of music, but
they don’t have a favourite type of music. The difference between preferences and favourite
is important to understand because acclaimed musicians are open minded and
don’t close their minds to any type of music; they know that there is great
music and great musicians in all genres of music. For example, the celebrated Hindustani
classical sitar player and singer, Ustad Shujaat Husain Khan, even though
steeped in Hindustani classical music, loves to listen to old Hindi film music,
he likes the Beatles, and admires pianist Hiromi Uehara.
Furthermore, most top flight jazz and classical maestros listen to all music,
these virtuosos listen to folk, country and pop music, and, many of them are deeply
fascinated and influenced by the elegant melodies and intricate rhythmic
patterns of both, Hindustani and Carnatic Classical music. 
Taking pleasure in
affecting and involving music. To savour immersing music like
jazz, or Indian and western classical music, takes devotedness and zeal; it’s
something we can all do.
For truly receptive listening of Western music, especially jazz and classical music, we must understand the concept of Harmony!
Harmony is the
foundation of western music. Considering Indian music does not have harmony
in it, harmony may not be easy to understand. So, this bit of explanation is to
make things clear to most people who have not listened to western vocal harmony, as in choirs and vocal ensembles, or to orchestral music.
Unusual YouTube vocal presentations of Johann Pachelbel's 'Canon in D' have been added to demonstrate harmony. URL's are below.
Eight notes within
twelve notes -- In both Indian and Western music an eight-note scale called
the octatonic scale is part of a twelve-note framework called a chromatic
scale. The octatonic scale is: Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Da Ni Sa, or, Do Re Mi Fa So La
Ti Do.
Harmony unites
compatible notes and creates a euphonious whole -- When two, three, or more different notes in the eight note octatonic scale, are played or sung at the same time, they create a richer, fuller
sound that is pleasing to the ear. So, when the first note, the third note and
the fifth notes of the octatonic scale are played together they sound
harmonious.
Harmony mixes sounds
to form a texture -- Simply put, in the scale of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Da Ni Sa, or Do Re Mi
Fa So La Ti Do -- the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes, from low to high, thus, ‘Sa – Ga – Pa’, or ‘Do – Me -- So’, sound harmonious when played together. In western music this formation of
three compatible notes is called a standard major triad.
Striking a chord
-- When these three compatible notes are stacked together and played at the
same time they are called a chord. The notes nicely combine to create a rich, full sound, as one clearly sees when keyboard
players strike a chord by placing their fingers on the 1st, 3rd,
and 5th notes of a scale on the piano keys, or when guitar players
strum a chord by placing their fingers on the 1st, 3rd,
and fifth note of a scale on their guitar strings.
In choral arrangements
and in classical and contemporary vocal music, SATB represent the four main
voice types in a choir, with Soprano being the high female voice, Alto, the low
female voice, Tenor, the high male voice, and Bass, the low male voice. A soprano thus
sings the highest-pitched sounds, down through alto and tenor to
the bass who sings the lowest pitches. Starting from the top
that is, sa, ni, da, pa, ma, ga, re, sa. Or, do, ti, la, so, fa, mi re do. Sopranos,
the high female voices sing the Sa, or Do (1st) note, at the top. The Altos, the lower
female voices, sing the Pa or La below, and the tenors, the high male
voices, sing Ga or Me. And to bottom it out the lower male voice called bass,
sing the root the lower Sa or Do.
String quartets adapt the
standard four-part choral texture by assigning the soprano line
to the first violin, the alto to the second violin, the tenor to
the viola, and the bass to the cello.
Harmony in orchestration
-- Sweet sounding music is shaped when chords are connected to join sounds in a
succession of harmonies. So, orchestration is the art of assigning melodies,
tone colours, and rhythms to sections such as strings, woodwinds, or brass. For
instance, in a musical ensemble, the flutes may play one note, the violins play
a different note and trumpets play yet another note, but when their parts are
heard together, we hear harmonious melodies and textures. 
Tone Colours
-- Another term used to describe the sound and harmonic texture of harmony in western
classical and jazz ensemble music, is tone colours. Tone colour
is the special individual quality of a sound or tone of each instrument and
each section of instruments in an orchestra. For example, a violin has its own
tone and sound, a trumpet has its own tone and timbre and a saxophone has its
own tone and character, cello has its own tone and resonance, a flute has its
own tone and sound quality.
The magic of colours and
shapes of music -- Tone colours translate visual elements like colour, rhythm,
and texture into auditory structures. So, just as an artist -- a painter, uses a
palette of colours to create a work of art, a composer uses various instruments
in an orchestra, or, in a jazz or dance band, to create a musical canvas in an arrangement
or composition.
Just as a painter mixes colours to get unusual or nonstandard hues in their composition
on canvas, a composer mixes the tones of different instruments to get
extraordinary tone colours in orchestrating a musical composition.
Just as a painter uses
space and colour on a canvas for us to understand the underlying idea and symbolism
of the piece. So too, a composer arranges tone colours and harmonies to combine all the
various instrument sections to clear auditory points that contrast, build
towards a climax, convey scene, a state of mind, or an emotion.
This perhaps explains
the value of tone colours and its influence in harmony in a musical
composition.
Grabbing and holding
on to the sound of music: For those of us who are not gifted musicians, we can, with some application, enter the vast worlds
of music and listen to music with all our heart and soul if we sincerely desire to.
A good way is to sit down and pay
attention to the music we’re listening to. Take the time to truly savour the
music. Enjoy it with our bodies and mind. We will hear how the composer and
arranger uses tone colours, harmonies, and different rhythms, tones, dynamics in the
composition.
Listen to an album in its
entirety, instead of songs or tunes. Take time to engage and appreciate the
work of the musician.
With time, we will
hear in a long piece of music, how the theme is exposed, how it is developed, and
how it is restated (exposition -- development -- recapitulation); this is
called the sonata form. And then, your mind will move sympathetically with the
music and identify recurring sequences of melodies and recognise and anticipate
cues that signal changes in the thematic development of the piece.
Attentive listening is an incredible
experience that allows us to wake up our senses and expand and evolve to be
receptive towards all music, and be entertained, and be lost in a world of sound, regardless of genre.
Harmony demonstrated -- Canon in D Johann Pachelbel
Saee Tembhekar
iversonhai
PACHELBELS CANON IN D VOCAL THE ONEILL SISTERS
Canon in D in its original form, played on instruments of the Baroque period by true classical musicians. This is exemplary :-
San Francisco Early Music Ensemble Voices of Music.
Pachelbel Canon in D Major
Performed on original instruments by San Francisco Early Music Ensemble Voices of Music. Featuring Katherine Kyme, Carla Moore & Cynthia Freivogel, baroque violin; Tanya Tomkins, baroque cello, Hanneke van Proosdij, baroque organ; David Tayler, theorbo.
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