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Page 16
[G: c' d-' e--' f' g' a+' b' c'']
_Gavamb�di_, to [G: c' d-' e-' f+' g' a-' b--' c'']
_M�ya-M�lavagaula_, to [G: c' d' e-' f' g-' a' b-' c'']
It can thus easily be seen how the seventy-two modes are
possible and practicable. Observe that the seven degrees of
the scale are all represented in these modes, the difference
between them being in the placing of half-tones by means of
sharps or flats. Not content with the complexity that this modal
system brought into their music, the Hindus have increased it
still more by inventing a number of formulae called _ragas_
(not to be confounded with those rhapsodical songs, the modern
descendant of the magic chants, previously mentioned).
In making a Hindu melody (which of course must be in one of
the seventy-two modes, just as in English we should say that a
melody must be in one of our two modes, either major or minor)
one would have to conform to one of the _ragas_, that is to
say, the melodic outline would have to conform to certain
rules, both in ascending and descending. These rules consist
of omitting notes of the modes, in one manner when the melody
ascends, and in another when it descends. Thus, in the _raga_
called _Moh�nna_, in ascending the notes must be arranged in
the following order: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8; in descending it is 8,
7, 5, 4, 2, 1. Thus if we wished to write a melody in the mode
_T�narupi_--_raga Moh�nna_--we could never use the fourth,
F, or the seventh, B, if our melody ascended; if our melody
descended we should have to avoid the sixth, A[sharp], and the
third, E[double-flat]. As one can easily perceive, many strange
melodic effects are produced by these means. For instance,
in the _raga Moh�nna_, in which the fourth and seventh degrees
of the scale are avoided in ascending, if it were employed in
the mode _Dehr�sin-Karabh�rna_, which corresponds to our own
major scale, it would have a pronounced Scotch tinge so long
as the melody ascended; but let it _descend_ and the Scotch
element is deserted for a decided North American Indian,
notably Sioux tinge. The Hindus are an imaginative race, and
invest all these _ragas_ and modes with mysterious attributes,
such as anger, love, fear, and so on. They were even personified
as supernatural beings; each had his or her special name and
history. It was proper to use some of them only at midday,
some in the morning, and some at night. If the mode or _raga_
is changed during a piece, it is expressed in words, by saying,
for instance, that "_Moh�nna_" (the new "_raga_") is here
introduced to the family of _T�narupi_. The melodies formed
from these modes and _ragas_ are divided into four classes,
_Rektah_, _Teranah_, _Tuppah_, and _Ragni_. The _Rektah_ is in
character light and flowing. It falls naturally into regular
periods, and resembles the _Teranah_, with the exception that
the latter is only sung by men. The character of the _Tuppah_
is not very clear, but the _Ragni_ is a direct descendant
of the old magic songs and incantations; in character it is
rhapsodical and spasmodic.
IV
THE MUSIC OF THE EGYPTIANS, ASSYRIANS, AND CHINESE
In speaking of the music of antiquity we are seriously hampered
by the fact that there is practically no actual music in
existence which dates back farther than the eighth or tenth
century of the present era. Even those well-known specimens of
Greek music, as they are claimed to be, the hymns to Apollo,
Nemesis, and Calliope, do not date farther back than the third
or fourth century, and even these are by no means generally
considered authentic. Therefore, so far as actual sounds go,
all music of which we have any practical knowledge dates from
about the twelfth century.
Theoretically, we have the most minute knowledge of the
scientific aspect of music, dating from more than five hundred
years before the Christian era. This knowledge, however, is
worse than valueless, for it is misleading. For instance,
it would be a very difficult thing for posterity to form any
idea as to what our music was like if all the actual music in
the world at the present time were destroyed, and only certain
scientific works such as that of Helmholtz on acoustics and a
few theoretical treatises on harmony, form, counterpoint and
fugue were saved.
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