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Experiencing the Viola in Classical Hindustani Music

Article · January 2015

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 With Viola
in Hand

Experiencing the Viola in Hindustani

Classical Music
Gisa Jähnichen, Chinthaka P. Meddegoda, and Ruwin R. Dias
Introduction the occasions when the viola is employed. While it is
theoretically an option, there are actually no musicians
It may surprise some to know that the viola is not a rare who play the viola instead of a sarangi for the simple
participant in Indian classical music. From the technical reason that there are not many sarangi players at all
standpoint, there are at least two different conditions compared to violin players, making the substitution
for having a viola in a classical or light classical music of the violin more likely than that of the sarangi. The
ensemble: one is as a replacement of the violin; another viola is in most of the cases seen as a “big violin” thus
is the functional replacement of a sarangi,1 a bowed, replacing the violin, which actually was first used
short necked lute with three playing strings and 12 to in order to substitute the sarangi. While in Indian
15 sympathetic strings, more precisely called “aliquot Carnatic music, viola playing is at times admired when
strings.”2 played by outstanding artists such as Mangalampalli
Balamuralikrishna and Chittoor Kumareshan (Kumar,
However, we will find that it is only the first of these 1999;4 Satish Kamath, 2002), the viola is rather “special”
options—the replacement of the violin—that provides in the context of Hindustani classical music.

On various occasions from 2012 to 2015, two

postgraduate students with their lecturer at the Music
Department of Universiti Putra Malaysia played
Hindustani classical music fusion—or at least, they
tried some modified raga interpretations—for their
own elevation, rather than of any specific academic
purpose. The three are the authors of this article. The two
postgraduate students came from Sri Lanka to Malaysia
and are teachers of Hindustani classical music at the
University of Visual and Performing Arts in Colombo.
They were musically educated in North India, including
Lucknow and Banaras. The lecturer is a European
musicologist with some interest in all types of music,
especially in South and Southeast Asia.

This report chronicles the experience of these three

people, focusing on having a viola in their ensemble. The
ensemble plays mainly instrumental music with tabla,
a bansuri alternating with a free reed pipe used as an
additional drone modifying the electric raghini, and a
virtuosic violin.
Illus. 1: Sarangi (photo: open source) 3

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 31, Online Issue, Summer 2015 29
Illus. 2: Ruwin R. Dias on viola, Gisa Jähnichen on bansuri (with harmonium in front), and Chinthaka P. Meddegoda on
tabla.

Ruwin Dias, the violin player, took the opportunity to neck that bears aliquot strings guided through the joint
play on the viola instead of his violin. His former teacher bridge (see Illustration 3).
at Banaras Hindu University, Vankhatramanujam Balaji,
an exceptional musician who plays both the violin and His viola rests on a special wooden stand for violin or
the viola and who may have inspired Ruwin’s experiment. viola, with the section of the stand that supports the scroll
Vankhatramanujam Balaji’s viola is equipped with a second end of the instrument carved in the shape of a hand. The
usual playing method that
allows for resting the peg
box of the violin or viola on
the heel of the performer is
deemed by the performer
to be inappropriate, as
showing the bare feet
into any direction of
other people is considered
impolite. A recording of
Vankhatramanujam Balaji is
accessible online.6

Some Background

The use of the viola is

promoted through a number
of reasons given in public
statements. Satish Kamath
Illus. 3: Vankhatramanujam Balaji with his viola in 2009 (photo: open source)5 writes in The Hindu (July

30 Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 31, Online Issue, Summer 2015
25, 2002) under the headline “It should have been presence of the viola is omitted, with only the mention
the viola” that the larger viola could have been better of a “violin.” This might be due to audiences that are not
equipped with aliquot strings.7 Additionally, the viola familiar with the term of the instrument, identifying a
caters to the accompaniment of the voice in a more equal viola simply as a large violin.
way and is seemingly never too high. He explains with
regard to the vocal parts: “This is the exact range of the Despite the reputation of the viola in Hindustani classical
viola, around 50 or so notes, whether it was a woman and light classical music, the use of the viola in Carnatic
singing in the highest pitch acceptable to the Indian ear, music is more accepted since the voices of singers are
or the lowest pitch of the male voice. Had the viola been generally slightly lower in pitch. This thus creates a
adopted instead of the violin, there would have been preference for accompanying instruments that do not
no necessity to retune the instrument.”8 (By saying ‘no exceed the singers’ range. In this case the viola seems to be
necessity to retune’ Satish Kamath refers to the range well placed.
the viola can provide. That does not mean that the
individual strings are not retuned in other intervals so as The Experiment
to accommodate characteristic playing techniques.)
The setting of the session was informal, and took
Even though it is used to accompany singers, the viola place in mutlipurpose rooms that were not made for
is mainly thought of a solo instrument as available performances. Sitting on a mat covering the tiled ground,
recordings and personal observations affirm. However, the the three musicians faced each other and have been, thus
viola is always available as a “possibility” in representing far, the only audience. The viola started, and was followed
Hindustani classical music. A job offer advertised by by the bansuri. The tabla usually entered at a later stage,
the Ministry of Education of the Islamic Republic of when melodic figures and progressions were for the
Afghanistan titled “Afghanistan National Institute of most part rhythmically fixed. The introductory section
Music (ANIM), the first and the only college of music is generally quite long; in this part of the performance,
in Afghanistan searching for violin and viola teacher,” the musicians negotiate the melodic phrases, tonal frame,
states: “Given the interests of ANIM students in a variety range and speed of micro-melodic features that are very
of musical genres, the ability of an applicant to also teach important for the respective mood. Once an agreement is
music in both Western classical and Hindustani classical felt, the musicians progress to the solid metric section that
genres will be considered a plus.”9 In an online index requires the tabla. This particular session that took place
of teachers providing music education in Hindustani in the Music Department of Universiti Putra Malaysia on
classical music, one can find descriptions of skills that February 10, 2015, was definitely one of fusion between a
include statements such as “I am a violinist/violist in the raga interpretation and free improvisation in a given tonal
Hindustani classical tradition as also a musicologist. I also space played on bansuri, and later, the violin.
play the Esraj and can handle the Tabla. I am at home
in western classical music, too—both performance and The basic raga chosen was raga Desi. This raga is
theory.”10 Interestingly, the viola is not mentioned on the described according to Bhatkhande in ‘Kramik Pustak
teacher’s homepage,11 and, in Hindustani classical music Malika’ (Bhatkhande, vol. 6, 2009):
performances where viola is played, it seems that the

Illus. 4: Raga Desi as described by Bhatkhande (2009). (Transcription by Chinthaka Prageeth Meddegoda).

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 31, Online Issue, Summer 2015 31
The framework of raga Desi is illustrated in Hindi Desi is put in the Asawari Thata as the deriving scale (Rao
scripts, called devanagari, as to be used in the free metric et al. 1999). A Thata is an abstract scale of pitches used
introduction, called alap. within a Raga. The Asawari Thata has seven ascending
and seven descending tones in one octave, where Gandhar
The following lines in Illustration 5 have been (ga, 3rd tone), Dhaivat (dha, 6th tone) and Nishad (ni,
demonstrated by Ramashreya Jha (Ramrang) in an audio 7th tone) are flat and all other tones ‘full’.
recording.12 The duration of tones is not considered
because it is a piece in free metric melodic elaboration. The Unmodified Viola in the Context of the
However, the breaks of ‘breathing’ are underpinned for Experiment
a better understanding of melodic phrases, which are
intriguing in finding the actual mood of the raga. Unlike the example of Balaji mentioned earlier, the viola
played had no modifications to its physical appearance,
The tuning of the viola in the experiment was E flat–B meaning that there were no aliquot strings attached. Only
flat–E flat–B flat.13 The electric tanpura represented by the the tuning was changed as mentioned above. Nonetheless,
raghini has been set to an E–flat drone. the sound of the instrument still differed remarkably
from a violin from the aspects of loudness, timbre and
However, only the viola player kept to the respective range. As there was no singer present, it seemed that the
raga while the other musicians, the bansuri and the reed viola took over a vocal part. This impression might have
pipe, as well as the the violin that joined later on, freely been caused through the fact that the viola played the
improvised with the tonal material given, though not raga in the most detailed and accurate manner. On the
following the typical melodic progressions of raga Desi. perception of different playing techniques and positions,
the violist says the following:
According to the tradition, raga Desi is sung in the late
morning, approximately from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Raga

Illus. 5: Raga Desi as demonstrated by Ramashreya Jha. (Transcription by Chinthaka Prageeth Meddegoda).

32 Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 31, Online Issue, Summer 2015
Many musicians either keep the viola as in the Western than for those in the Western classical music world. The
tradition or use a stand so that the viola is firmly held as distances between intervals are longer on the viola and
it is seen in the practice of teacher Vankhatramanujam therefore a violin player is unable to play in the same
Balaji. More importantly, the stand is used because of the virtuosic way on the viola. Some fingering techniques,
convenience having the left hand free and not burdened such as using all four fingers at a particularly fast tempo,
by holding the instrument. The stand can release tension can be difficult on viola. The gauges of viola strings
in the chin and the heel. So musicians prefer to use are bigger and therefore it is seemingly less convenient
the viola on a stand. In this performance, the viola is moving the fingers over the thicker strings than on the
held without a stand, which limits playing possibilities violin.
somewhat.
In contrast, the use of shrutis—quick, minute, microtonal
String instrumentalists from other musical traditions intervals—is more convenient on viola because of the
may find this an unusual statement—after all, in Western ease in moving fingers on the fingerboard across larger
classical music, much agility and virtuosity is attained distances; for example, as it would be necessary for raga
without the aid of any apparatus. A common element Darbari.
of Indian classical music that makes a difference is the
use of meends, sliding tones that are remarkably fast by The following spectrogram of the performance discussed
any standard, and particularly a different physical setup shows the viola elaborating between ni (the seventh tone
and placement of the instrument. To illustrate this, let us below the basic tone sa) and ri (the second tone) and
examine the following spectrographic descending then to sa (see Illustration 7). The steadiness
excerpt (Illustration 6). (Audio of the gamak (evenly played vibrato over a wider interval),
excerpt available on the AVS website: the slightly ascending tones played, the microtonal
http://www.americanviolasociety.org/ accents set over the long tone in the last third of the
Resources/Audio-Recordings.php) excerpt as well as the straight application of the lower

Illus. 6: Spectrographic excerpt (slowed down to 25% for better visibility) from the alap with short distance and long distance
meends.

Some of these sliding tones are as short as 1/10 of a octave on the last long tone are possibly more precise
second yet they have to cover an interval up to a fourth. than if played on the violin. In the spectrogram, the
In area 1, a khatka is followed by a long distance meend; drone tone was removed to achieve a better clarity of the
in area 2, the viola is “stepping up” in middle distance melodic line and the picture.
slides; in area 3, a long descending slide precedes a
short distance up and down meend. The thickness of the The Tintal—a cyclic rhythmic structure in Hindustani
spectrographic line shows uneven patterns in the long classical music consisting of four sets of four beats—is
distance meends while the short meends are of evenly played in the recording and begins with Madhya Laya
distributed strength. (medium tempo) and ends with Dhrut Laya (fast tempo).
The speed depends on the negotiated preference of the
Keeping these sliding tones in mind, it is a particular musicians who play the raga. In some cases, a particular
challenge for violin players to switch to the viola in a tempo needs to be maintained as inappropriate speed of
short period of time in ways that would be different rhythmic patterns may affect the intended mood of the

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 31, Online Issue, Summer 2015 33
Illus. 7: This spectrographic excerpt from the recording shows the viola in the range between 100 and 400 Hz, depicted
without drone.
raga—for example, the raga Darbari is usually not sung the violin more than the viola for Hindustani classical
or played in faster tempo as the raga Darbari is a grave music. The reasons she has given are as follows:
raga with slow vibration on Gandhar (ga third tone,
a minor third above sa) most often played deep in the The viola has a bass sound which is not the same
night. However, in raga Desi, a gradual increase of tempo as the sound of violin. I prefer to hear Hindustani
is welcome. The final tempo did not influence the way to classical violin … but not on viola. We used to hear
play the viola in comparison to the violin; rather, it was Hindustani classical music on violin in which violin
only more physically demanding as the larger movements playing techniques are employed. I find it is somehow
require slightly more physical energy. not appropriate playing the same melodies on viola
though it is played using the same playing techniques
Experiencing the viola by other ensemble members as on the violin. Tonal color … of the viola is much
different from the violin, especially the sound of the
From the viewpoint of the bansuri player, having the viola first two strings of the viola that are really very different
was a different experience, as the range of the instrument from the sound of the first two strings of the violin.
allowed for more contrasting sequences. While interacting My Guru Balaji used to play a viola, but I prefer the
with the violin, a bansuri has to be very careful in not violin sound played by N. Rajam, the Guru of Balaji.14
muting the given melodic lines while the viola offers
much more space through a different timbre, loudness Nevertheless, she agreed that the resonance of viola
in the low register and more detailed shrutis (glissandi provides the sound that is widely preferred by Hindustani
called meend, special trills called khatka or murkhi). musicians who depend on drones or any continuous
Therefore, the bansuri enjoyed more freedom in choosing sound which includes rich overtones. As is the case in
the register and in elaborating larger tonal spaces for Illustration 3, some Hindustani musicians have added
melodic progressions. The freedom, on the other hand, some precisely-tuned aliquot strings called tarap to the
can be also demanding in terms that the player has to be viola so that they can hear the exact resonance for each
spontaneously innovative and decisive. tone they play on the viola.

Today, due to various advantages, a number of From the viewpoint of the tabla player, the sound of
Hindustani classical musicians prefer the viola over the the viola is more attractive in many ways. For one, it
violin in performing Hindustani classical music. The seems to have a larger sound than the violin; this is not
lower frequencies in comparison to that of the violin that only in terms of the lower register but also the overall
makes it easier to accompany singers. resonance that can be heard more clearly even on an
unmodified viola. The tuning of the viola is set at lower
But there are also other views. Indrani Edirisuriya, pitches compared to the violin, even when the violin
a lecturer of violin in the University of Visual and is already retuned in pitches lower than commonly
Performing Arts expressed that she prefers the sound of expected, usually in f–c’–g’–d’’ and f–c’–g’–c in order

34 Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 31, Online Issue, Summer 2015
to accommodate singers. Hindustani classical music is Musical Instruments within the International Council of
more appropriate in a lower register that allows for a Traditional Music. She enjoys practicing music with her
richer timbre, which is more aesthetically pleasing to the students.
ear. This also has a relation to the role of the voice, with
1. A sarangi is a bowed, short-necked lute with three
the lower register enabling the voice to build up a greater
playing strings and 12 to 15 aliquot strings.
level of contrast in the course of exploring the tonal space
of a raga. Hindustani classical solos are played on longer
2. Aliquot strings represent in their length and tuning a
bamboo flutes which may give the key tones e.g., E flat,
part of the string and/or the division of the string with
E, and F.
which they will sound in order to enrich the overtone
spectrum of a musical modus. Sympathetic strings,
Another viewpoint is that the ragas in which the Mandra however, can be of any length or tuning, they just
saptak (lower octave) is used are more appropriate for enrich the overall resonance. Aliquot strings are used in
viola than the violin; thus the viola can depict the mood some Blüthner pianos as well.
of the raga as intended. The disadvantage of viola is that
some ragas which are elaborated on Madhya saptak (the 3. National Music Museum website, open source, http://
middle range of the performer) and Uchcha saptak (higher orgs.usd.edu/nmm/India/1187Sarangi/Sarangi1187.
octave) will not be improved when a viola is employed html, (accessed May 10, 2015).
instead of a violin.
4. Kumar introduced the viola into the Indian academic
Finally, the stature of a performer within his musical
discussion under the title “Introduction of Viola” at
society may be related to the fact whether the violin or
the Annual Conference of the Chembur Fine Arts
viola is considered suitable. Viola players are in many
Society, Mumbai, 1999: “The Viola is approximately
cases outstanding personalities: due to their reputation,
an inch or slightly more in length than the Violin. The
they dare to challenge an existing image of Hindustani
pitch or sruti of Viola is generally C or C sharp (1–1
classical music and they are confident in doing so.
1/2 kattai), or sometimes even less, which shows that
Overall, the experiment was very useful in learning more the quality of tone is rather base. It does not have a
about not only the technical and physical aspects of shrill tone like the violin. The bow used for the viola is
the instrument, but also about musical perceptions and thicker and smaller than the bow used for violin. After
cultural biases. the instrument has been adapted for Carnatic music,
its tuning has also undergone a change.” The use of the
An excerpt of the performance is also available on the AVS term ‘base’ relates to the function of the base note in a
website at the link provided on page 35. raga, which, interestingly is in a bass level compared to
the usual register of singers.
Chinthaka Prageeth Meddegoda and Ruwin Rangeeth Dias
are both on the faculty of the University for Visual and 5. Source: International Ancient Arts Symposium Festival
Performing Arts, Colombo, Sri Lanka. They obtained their http://goo.gl/HrJHbF (accessed August 7, 2015).
musical expertise in India, namely in North Indian classical
music at the Banares Hindu University. Specializing in 6. “Vankhatramanujam Balaji is playing Brindabani
vocal and violin teaching respectively, they are keen explorers Sarang—Ban Ban Dhoondan Jaoon,” https://www.
of various music cultures and performance practices. They youtube.com/watch?v=599K-yjYNOY, (uploaded by
were PhD candidates at Universiti Putra Malaysia until Malyada Goverdhan on February 8, 2010; accessed
the completion of their dissertations in 2015, supervised by April 2, 2015.”
Professor Gisa Jähnichen.
7. Satish Kamath, “It should have been the viola.” The
Jähnichen is a German musicologist has worked for over Hindu, Jul. 25, 2002, http://www.thehindujobs.com/
25 years in Southeast Asia at several universities and thehindu/mp/2002/07/25/stories/2002072500340300.
in preservation projects. Among various roles, she is an htm, (accessed April 1, 2015).
organologist and chairs an international Study Group on

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 31, Online Issue, Summer 2015 35
 8. Ibid. References

9. Ministry of Education, Islamic Republic of Bhatkhande, Vishnu Narayan. Kramik Pustak Malika 6
Afghanistan website, http://moe.gov.af/en/jobs/violin- (Hathras: Sangeet Karyalaya, 2009).
and-viola-teacher (posted on February 19, 2014;
accessed July 25, 2015.) Kumar V.L. “Introduction of Viola.” Annual Conference
of the Chembur Fine Arts Society (Mumbai: ms.,
10. Listed in Teachers and Performers of Indian Music 1999).
and Dance, http://chandrakantha.com/teachers/
teach_music_new_zealand.html (accessed August 7, Ministry of Education of the Islamic Republic of
2015). Afghanistan (2014), vacancy accessible via: http://
goo.gl/ArguIL, (accessed April 2, 2015).
11. Website of Chintamani Rath from Tauranga, New
Zealand: www.ragaculture.com (accessed April 2, Chintamani Rath, official website: www.ragaculture.com
2015). (accessed April 2, 2015).

12. http://www.parrikar.org/hindustani/desi/, created in Rajan Parrikar Music Archive (2002), http://www.

2002 (accessed July 25, 2015). parrikar.org/hindustani/desi/ (accessed April 2,
2015).
13. Some violinists prefer strictly the tuning D–A–D–A.
Rao, Suvarnalata; Wim van der Meer, Jane Harvey. The
14. Personal communication, March 31, 2015. Raga Guide: A Survey of 74 Hindustani Ragas, ed.
Joep Bor (London: Zenith Media, 1999).

36 Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 31, Online Issue, Summer 2015

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