Introducing Yourself to Indian Classical Music 14: More on Sur/Shruti or Pitch
Here is a little more technical detail about pitch for those who are interested:
In the previous post we said that if you take the example of a keyboard, in theory, your Sa can start anywhere on the keyboard, depending on where you comfortable singing it.
In practice, the human voice is limited to a certain range of keys (but this is quite a wide range).
With reference to Hindustani music, people tend to describe their pitch with reference to harmonium keys. So you may hear someone say, for example, that their pitch is “kaali chaar,” i.e. black four. That means that’s where they are comfortable singing their first Sa.
The word “safed” refers to white keys.
In the Carnatic system, a unit of measurement called “kattai” is used to refer to pitch. There are also half kattais. Half kattais indicate semi-tones (the black keys on a keyboard)
Below is a comparative pitch chart (source link here):
| Carnatic Music | Hindustani Music | Western Music |
| Kattai 6 | Mandra Safed 6 (Low) | A (Low) |
| Kattai 6 1/2 | Mandra Kali 5 | A# |
| Kattai 7 | Mandra Safed 7 | B |
| Kattai 1 | Safed 1 | C |
| Kattai 1.5 | Kali 1 | C# |
| Kattai 2 | Safed 2 | D |
| Kattai 2.5 | Kali 2 | D# |
| Kattai 3 | Safed 3 | E |
| Kattai 4 | Safed 4 | F |
| Kattai 4.5 | Kali 3 | F# |
| Kattai 5 | Safed 5 | G |
| Kattai 5.5 | Kali 4 | G# |
| Kattai 6 | Safed 6 | A |
| Kattai 6.5 | Kali 5 | A# |
| Kattai 7 (high) | Safed 7 (High) | B |
So, if one has to use a tanpura, they use the word kattai, even if they are Hindustani classical vocalists?
No, the word “kattai” is used only in the South, specifically in TN.
Hindustani musicians use the harmonium keys to name their pitch, even if they use the Tanpura as the main pitch reference point. You may have seen in a Hindustani concert, that the harmonium player presses down the singer’s “sa” or pitch while the singer is tuning the Tanpura, to aid the tuning process. So if the pitch is Kali chaar, sometimes the accompanying harmonium artiste might press down just that key while the singer is tuning the Tanpura as an aid (as the tuning of the Tanpura is done entirely by ear). Does that make things clear?
Ah, so the tuning of the Tanpura is done entirely by the ear. It seems to be a more subtle instrument.
Yes, and it performs a different function. There are no Tanpura concerts…
There are strings available suitable for male and femal pitches, but tuning it is a fine art. The notes of the Tanpura are rich in overtones as well…and it is said that a Tanpura can be tuned to suit the raga the man musician is presenting, despite the limited no of “notes” that canbe played on a Tanpura-see http://www.tanpura.de/
I just returned from India, and see I have a lot of catching up to do here. So much to look forward to! I HAD to write again to tell you how much I am loving this series!
Since you are an accomplished singer and dancer, I take that as a huge compliment. Hope you had a lovely trip-and that it inspires some blog posts!
You flatter me! I wish I were as accomplished as you seem to think I am!
Thanks, I did have a very nice trip – hot, but that was compensated for by mangoes, which I’ve not had in years! And yes, I have put up a new blog post after that visit.
Yes, and it performs a different function. There are no Tanpura concerts…
There are strings available suitable for male and femal pitches, but tuning it is a fine art. The notes of the Tanpura are rich in overtones as well…and it is said that a Tanpura can be tuned to suit the raga the man musician is presenting, despite the limited no of “notes” that canbe played on a Tanpura-see http://www.tanpura.de/
Thanks Bruce. Have linked to that excellent site in another post, useful to have the link here too
The scales prior to C (1 Kattai / Safed 1) should be suffixed with a dot (.).
This is done so that the difference is shown for the lower octave pitches.
The same way, scales in the upper octave are suffixed with an apostrophe (‘).
B. – 0.75 Kattai
A#. – 0.5 Kattai
A. – 0.25 Kattai
C’ – 8 kattai
I’m not sure about the Hindustani notations.