The Bansuri - An Introduction
The term bansuri is a combination of two words Bans(bamboo) and Swar (musical note). References to the instrument are found in the texts of the 4000 year old holy scriptures of the Hindus, the Vedas.
The flute is one of the oldest known musical instruments in the world. In its most basic form it is just a tube made of bamboo with a few holes. In Indian mythology and culture the bamboo flute, also known as the bansuri has a special significance as it is the chosen instrument of the Hindu god Krishna, who is often depicted playing it.
The bansuri is a side blown flute made of bamboo and generally has six or seven holes. There are two varieties of bansuri: the traverse, and the fipple. The fipple variety is usually played in folk music. It is somewhat similar to the western recorder. The transverse variety is preferred in classical music as it offers more control and flexibility.
The bansuri has always been known as the instrument of the shepherds and has been widely used in folk music. The status of the bansuri as a concert instrument was established much recently, solely by the efforts of a legendary Indian musician by the name of Pt Pannalal Ghosh.
In south Indian classical music a similar bamboo flute is used which is called the Venu or the Carnatic flute. It differs from the bansuri as it has eight finger holes.
Bansuri Basics
This is the most important aspect of playing the bansuri, and the one that makes 99% of potential bansuri players quit on day one! It may take several days before a new player can get a consistent sound, but once you have it, you have it forever, so fight through the first few days! To get a sound, touch the mouth hole to the point half-way down your lower lip, and blow air basically across the top of the hole, almost as if half the air is going into the hole and half over it. Do not attempt to cover more than the first couple holes, for if any hole is not entirely closed you will get no sound whatsoever! I recommend covering only one or two holes at first, or none at all. To balance the flute when no holes are closed, use both thumbs and your right pinky. Your mouth serves as the 4th point of balance.
Notes in Indian Classical Music
Indian music does not used a fixed tonic. Thus while the pitch of "A" in western music is ALWAYS set to 440Hz, the first note of an Indian scale can be any pitch, and all other notes in the scale will be relative to that note. Two benefits of this system are that (1) one can play a given melody (raga) using the same fingerings on any size (pitch) instrument - the entire melody shifts up or down in key, but the feeling produced is the same; and (2) it allows the notes in Indian Music to be based on "just temperament" as opposed to the "equal temperament" scales employed in Western Music. In essence, Indian notes are based on naturally occuring overtones and are thus "pure", while the key changes required by Western Music, require scales with notes that are somewhat compromised.
Thus the notes of the chromatic scale are:
S - Sa (the tonic, 1st note of any scale; played from any pitch!)
r - komal Re (the flat 2nd; "komal" means flat, or literally sweet)
R - shudd Re (natural 2nd; "shudd" means natural, or literally pure)
g - komal Ga (flat 3rd)
G - shudd Ga (natural 3rd)
m - shudd Ma (natural 4th)
M - teevra Ma (sharp 4th; "teevra" means sharp, or literally strong)
P - Pa (the 5th)
d - komal Dha (the flat 6th)
D - shudd Dha (the natural 6th)
n - komal Ni (the flat 7th)
N - shudd Ni (the natural 7th)
S - high Sa (an octave above Sa; would be written with a dot over it to denote high octave; conversely, notes in the low octave are written with a dot underneath them.)
Notice that each note has only one name! This is as opposed to Western Music (where a C sharp is the same as D flat for instance), and it makes things far less confusing. Notice also that the higher version of each note is capitalized. There is another method of writing note names, which is to capitalize all notes, but denote flats by underlining the letter, and to denote a sharp (teevra Ma is the only sharp note), with a vertical bar above the note.
Playing the Notes
The first note (tonic) of any scale in Indian Music is called "Sa". Sa is played by closing the first three holes of the flute. Higher notes are produced by successively lifting fingers (and blowing slightly harder), and lower notes are produced by successively closing fingers (and blowing slightly less forcefully). Thus, the next note higher in the major scale (Bilawal), "Shuddh Re" is played with the top two fingers down, and "Shuddh Ga" (the natural 3rd) is played with only the top hole covered. "Ma", (the natural 4th) is played by closing only (roughly) half of the 1st hole, as it is only a half step above Shudd Ga. "Pa", (the 5th note of the major scale) is played with all 6 holes closed (conceptually: in reality, low Pa on the flute requires 6 holes covered, but the middle and high Pa usually sound best with the very top finger open, and the bottom 5 holes closed!). "Shuddh Dha" (the natural 6th) uses the top 5 holes closed, and "Shuddh Ni" (the natural 7th) uses the top 4 holes closed. Finally, "High Sa" is reached by again covering the top 3 holes; notice however that now you are blowing with much more force than when you played low Sa.
The term bansuri is a combination of two words Bans(bamboo) and Swar (musical note). References to the instrument are found in the texts of the 4000 year old holy scriptures of the Hindus, the Vedas.
The flute is one of the oldest known musical instruments in the world. In its most basic form it is just a tube made of bamboo with a few holes. In Indian mythology and culture the bamboo flute, also known as the bansuri has a special significance as it is the chosen instrument of the Hindu god Krishna, who is often depicted playing it.
The bansuri is a side blown flute made of bamboo and generally has six or seven holes. There are two varieties of bansuri: the traverse, and the fipple. The fipple variety is usually played in folk music. It is somewhat similar to the western recorder. The transverse variety is preferred in classical music as it offers more control and flexibility.
The bansuri has always been known as the instrument of the shepherds and has been widely used in folk music. The status of the bansuri as a concert instrument was established much recently, solely by the efforts of a legendary Indian musician by the name of Pt Pannalal Ghosh.
In south Indian classical music a similar bamboo flute is used which is called the Venu or the Carnatic flute. It differs from the bansuri as it has eight finger holes.
Bansuri Basics
This is the most important aspect of playing the bansuri, and the one that makes 99% of potential bansuri players quit on day one! It may take several days before a new player can get a consistent sound, but once you have it, you have it forever, so fight through the first few days! To get a sound, touch the mouth hole to the point half-way down your lower lip, and blow air basically across the top of the hole, almost as if half the air is going into the hole and half over it. Do not attempt to cover more than the first couple holes, for if any hole is not entirely closed you will get no sound whatsoever! I recommend covering only one or two holes at first, or none at all. To balance the flute when no holes are closed, use both thumbs and your right pinky. Your mouth serves as the 4th point of balance.
Notes in Indian Classical Music
Indian music does not used a fixed tonic. Thus while the pitch of "A" in western music is ALWAYS set to 440Hz, the first note of an Indian scale can be any pitch, and all other notes in the scale will be relative to that note. Two benefits of this system are that (1) one can play a given melody (raga) using the same fingerings on any size (pitch) instrument - the entire melody shifts up or down in key, but the feeling produced is the same; and (2) it allows the notes in Indian Music to be based on "just temperament" as opposed to the "equal temperament" scales employed in Western Music. In essence, Indian notes are based on naturally occuring overtones and are thus "pure", while the key changes required by Western Music, require scales with notes that are somewhat compromised.
S - Sa (the tonic, 1st note of any scale; played from any pitch!)
r - komal Re (the flat 2nd; "komal" means flat, or literally sweet)
R - shudd Re (natural 2nd; "shudd" means natural, or literally pure)
g - komal Ga (flat 3rd)
G - shudd Ga (natural 3rd)
m - shudd Ma (natural 4th)
M - teevra Ma (sharp 4th; "teevra" means sharp, or literally strong)
P - Pa (the 5th)
d - komal Dha (the flat 6th)
D - shudd Dha (the natural 6th)
n - komal Ni (the flat 7th)
N - shudd Ni (the natural 7th)
S - high Sa (an octave above Sa; would be written with a dot over it to denote high octave; conversely, notes in the low octave are written with a dot underneath them.)
Notice that each note has only one name! This is as opposed to Western Music (where a C sharp is the same as D flat for instance), and it makes things far less confusing. Notice also that the higher version of each note is capitalized. There is another method of writing note names, which is to capitalize all notes, but denote flats by underlining the letter, and to denote a sharp (teevra Ma is the only sharp note), with a vertical bar above the note.
Playing the Notes
The first note (tonic) of any scale in Indian Music is called "Sa". Sa is played by closing the first three holes of the flute. Higher notes are produced by successively lifting fingers (and blowing slightly harder), and lower notes are produced by successively closing fingers (and blowing slightly less forcefully). Thus, the next note higher in the major scale (Bilawal), "Shuddh Re" is played with the top two fingers down, and "Shuddh Ga" (the natural 3rd) is played with only the top hole covered. "Ma", (the natural 4th) is played by closing only (roughly) half of the 1st hole, as it is only a half step above Shudd Ga. "Pa", (the 5th note of the major scale) is played with all 6 holes closed (conceptually: in reality, low Pa on the flute requires 6 holes covered, but the middle and high Pa usually sound best with the very top finger open, and the bottom 5 holes closed!). "Shuddh Dha" (the natural 6th) uses the top 5 holes closed, and "Shuddh Ni" (the natural 7th) uses the top 4 holes closed. Finally, "High Sa" is reached by again covering the top 3 holes; notice however that now you are blowing with much more force than when you played low Sa.
Renowned bansuri player Pandit Dipankar Ray teaching Hindustani Classical Music with the medium of bansuri in Kolkata. For more information please visit www.fluteguru.in
ReplyDeleteRenowned bansuri player Pandit Dipankar Ray teaching Hindustani Classical Music with the medium of bansuri in Kolkata. For more information please visit www.fluteguru.in
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