Diatonic and chromatic
Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most used to characterize scales, are applied to musical instruments, chords, musical styles, kinds of harmony. They are often used as a pair when applied to contrasting features of the common practice music of the period 1600–1900; these terms may mean different things in different contexts. Diatonic refers to musical elements derived from the modes and transpositions of the "white note scale" C–D–E–F–G–A–B. In some usages it includes all forms of heptatonic scale. Chromatic most refers to structures derived from the twelve-note chromatic scale, which consists of all semitones. However, it had other senses, referring in Ancient Greek music theory to a particular tuning of the tetrachord, to a rhythmic notational convention in mensural music of the 14th through 16th centuries. In ancient Greece there were three standard tunings of a lyre; these three tunings were called diatonic and enharmonic, the sequences of four notes that they produced were called tetrachords.
A diatonic tetrachord comprised, in descending order, two whole tones and a semitone, such as A G F E. In the chromatic tetrachord the second string of the lyre was lowered from G to G♭, so that the two lower intervals in the tetrachord were semitones, making the pitches A G♭ F E. In the enharmonic tetrachord the tuning had two quarter tone intervals at the bottom: A G F E. For all three tetrachords, only the middle two strings varied in their pitch; the term cromatico was used in the Medieval and Renaissance periods to refer to the coloration of certain notes. The details vary by period and place, but the addition of a colour to an empty or filled head of a note, or the "colouring in" of an otherwise empty head of a note, shortens the duration of the note. In works of the Ars Nova from the 14th century, this was used to indicate a temporary change in metre from triple to duple, or vice versa; this usage became less common in the 15th century as open white noteheads became the standard notational form for minims and longer notes called white mensural notation.
In the 16th century, a form of notating secular music madrigals in was referred to as "chromatic" because of its abundance of "coloured in" black notes, semiminims and shorter notes, as opposed to the open white notes in used for the notation of sacred music. These uses for the word have no relationship to the modern meaning of chromatic, but the sense survives in the current term coloratura; the term chromatic began to approach its modern usage in the 16th century. For instance Orlando Lasso's Prophetiae Sibyllarum opens with a prologue proclaiming, "these chromatic songs, heard in modulation, are those in which the mysteries of the Sibyls are sung, intrepidly," which here takes its modern meaning referring to the frequent change of key and use of chromatic intervals in the work.. This usage comes from a renewed interest in the Greek genera its chromatic tetrachord, notably by the influential theorist Nicola Vicentino in his treatise on ancient and modern practice, 1555. Diatonic scale on C equal just.
Medieval theorists defined scales in terms of the Greek tetrachords. The gamut was the series of pitches from which all the Medieval "scales" notionally derive, it may be thought of as constructed in a certain way from diatonic tetrachords; the origin of the word gamut is explained at the article Guidonian hand. The intervals from one note to the next in this Medieval gamut are all tones or semitones, recurring in a certain pattern with five tones and two semitones in any given octave; the semitones are separated as much as they can be, between alternating groups of three tones and two tones. Here are the intervals for a string of ascending notes from the gamut:... –T–T–T–S–T–T–S–T–T–T–S–T–... And here are the intervals for an ascending octave from the gamut: T–S–T–T–S–T–T In its most strict definition, therefore, a diatonic scale is one that may be derived from the pitches represented in successive white keys of the piano: the modern equivalent of the gamut; this would include the major scale, the natural minor scale, but not the old ecclesiastical church modes, most of which included both versions of the "variable" note B♮/B♭.
There are specific applications in the music of the Common Practice Period, music that shares its core features. Most, but not all writers, accept the natural minor as diatonic; as for other forms of the minor: "Exclusive" usageSome writers classify the other variants of the minor scale – the melodic minor and the harmonic minor – as non-diatonic, since they are not transpositions of the white-note pitches of the piano. Among such theorists there is no agreed general term that encompasses the major and all forms of the minor scale."Inclusive" usageSome writers i
Parchment
Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins of young animals such as lambs and young calves, it may be called animal membrane by libraries and museums that wish to avoid distinguishing between "parchment" and the more-restricted term vellum. Today the term "parchment" is used in non-technical contexts to refer to any animal skin goat, sheep or cow, scraped or dried under tension; the term referred only to the skin of sheep and goats. The equivalent material made from calfskin, of finer quality, was known as vellum; some authorities have sought to observe these distinctions strictly: for example, lexicographer Samuel Johnson in 1755, master calligrapher Edward Johnston in 1906. However, when old books and documents are encountered it may be difficult, without scientific analysis, to determine the precise animal origin of a skin either in terms of its species, or in terms of the animal's age.
In practice, there has long been considerable blurring of the boundaries between the different terms. In 1519, William Horman wrote in his Vulgaria: "That stouffe that we wrytte upon, is made of beestis skynnes, is somtyme called parchement, somtyme velem, somtyme abortyve, somtyme membraan." In Shakespeare's Hamlet the following exchange occurs: Hamlet. Is not parchment made of sheepskins? Horatio. Ay, my lord, of calves' skins too. Lee Ustick, writing in 1936, commented that: To-day the distinction, among collectors of manuscripts, is that vellum is a refined form of skin, parchment a cruder form thick, less polished than vellum, but with no distinction between skin of calf, or sheep, or of goat, it is for these reasons that many modern conservators and archivists prefer to use either the broader term "parchment", or the neutral term "animal membrane". The word parchment evolved from the name of the city of Pergamon, a thriving center of parchment production during the Hellenistic period; the city so dominated the trade that a legend arose which said that parchment had been invented in Pergamon to replace the use of papyrus which had become monopolized by the rival city of Alexandria.
This account, originating in the writings of Pliny the Elder, is dubious because parchment had been in use in Anatolia and elsewhere long before the rise of Pergamon. Herodotus mentions writing on skins as common in his time, the 5th century BC. In the 2nd century BC, a great library was set up in Pergamon that rivaled the famous Library of Alexandria; as prices rose for papyrus and the reed used for making it was over-harvested towards local extinction in the two nomes of the Nile delta that produced it, Pergamon adapted by increasing use of parchment. Writing on prepared animal skins had a long history, however. David Diringer noted that "the first mention of Egyptian documents written on leather goes back to the Fourth Dynasty, but the earliest of such documents extant are: a fragmentary roll of leather of the Sixth Dynasty, unrolled by Dr. H. Ibscher, preserved in the Cairo Museum. Though the Assyrians and the Babylonians impressed their cuneiform on clay tablets, they wrote on parchment from the 6th century BC onward.
Rabbinic literature traditionally maintains that the institution of employing parchment made of animal hides for the writing of ritual objects such as the Torah and tefillin is Sinaitic in origin, with special designations for different types of parchment such as gevil and klaf. Early Islamic texts are found on parchment. In the Middle Ages the 15th century, parchment was replaced by paper for most uses except luxury manuscripts, some of which were on paper. New techniques in paper milling allowed it to be much cheaper than parchment. With the advent of printing in the fifteenth century, the demands of printers far exceeded the supply of animal skins for parchment. There was a short period during the introduction of printing where parchment and paper were used at the same time, with parchment the more expensive luxury option, preferred by rich and conservative customers. Although most copies of the Gutenberg Bible are on paper, some were printed on parchment. In 1490, Johannes Trithemius preferred the older methods, because "handwriting placed on parchment will be able to endure a thousand years.
But how long will printing last, dependent on paper? For if... it lasts for two hundred years, a long time." In fact high quality paper from this period has survived 500 years or more well, if kept in reasonable library conditions. The heyday of parchment use was during the medieval period, but there has been a growing revival of its use among artists since the late 20th century. Although parchment never stopped being used (primarily for gover
Hindi
Hindi, or Modern Standard Hindi is a standardised and Sanskritised register of the Hindustani language. Hindi, written in the Devanagari script, is one of the official languages of India, along with the English language, it is one of the 22 scheduled languages of the Republic of India. However, it is not the national language of India because no language was given such a status in the Indian constitution. Hindi is the lingua franca of the Hindi belt, to a lesser extent other parts of India. Outside India, several other languages are recognized as "Hindi" but do not refer to the Standard Hindi language described here and instead descend from other dialects of Hindustani, such as Awadhi and Bhojpuri; such languages include Fiji Hindi, official in Fiji, Caribbean Hindustani, a recognized language in Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname. Apart from specialized vocabulary, spoken Hindi is mutually intelligible with Urdu, another recognized register of Hindustani; as a linguistic variety, Hindi is the fourth most-spoken first language in the world, after Mandarin and English.
Alongside Urdu as Hindustani, it is the third most-spoken language in the world, after Mandarin and English. The term Hindī was used to refer to inhabitants of the region east of the Indus, it was borrowed from Classical Persian Hindī, meaning "Indian", from the proper noun Hind "India". The name Hindavī was used by Amir Khusrow in his poetry. Like other Indo-Aryan languages, Hindi is a direct descendant of an early form of Vedic Sanskrit, through Sauraseni Prakrit and Śauraseni Apabhraṃśa, which emerged in the 7th century A. D. Modern Standard Hindi is based on the Khariboli dialect, the vernacular of Delhi and the surrounding region, which came to replace earlier prestige dialects such as Awadhi and Braj. Urdu – another form of Hindustani – acquired linguistic prestige in the Mughal period, underwent significant Persian influence. Modern Hindi and its literary tradition evolved towards the end of the 18th century. However, modern Hindi's earlier literary stages before standardization can be traced to the 16th century.
In the late 19th century, a movement to further develop Hindi as a standardised form of Hindustani separate from Urdu took form. In 1881, Bihar accepted Hindi as its sole official language, replacing Urdu, thus became the first state of India to adopt Hindi. Modern Standard Hindi is one of the youngest Indian languages in this regard. After independence, the government of India instituted the following conventions: standardisation of grammar: In 1954, the Government of India set up a committee to prepare a grammar of Hindi. Standardisation of the orthography, using the Devanagari script, by the Central Hindi Directorate of the Ministry of Education and Culture to bring about uniformity in writing, to improve the shape of some Devanagari characters, introducing diacritics to express sounds from other languages. On 14 September 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted Hindi written in the Devanagari script as the official language of the Republic of India replacing Urdu's previous usage in British India.
To this end, several stalwarts rallied and lobbied pan-India in favor of Hindi, most notably Beohar Rajendra Simha along with Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Kaka Kalelkar, Maithili Sharan Gupt and Seth Govind Das who debated in Parliament on this issue. As such, on the 50th birthday of Beohar Rajendra Simha on 14 September 1949, the efforts came to fruition following the adoption of Hindi as the official language. Now, it is celebrated as Hindi Day. In Northeast India a pidgin known as Haflong Hindi has developed as a lingua franca for various tribes in Assam that speak other languages natively. In Arunachal Pradesh, Hindi emerged as a lingua franca among locals who speak over 50 dialects natively. Part XVII of the Indian Constitution deals with the official language of the Indian Commonwealth. Under Article 343, the official languages of the Union has been prescribed, which includes Hindi in Devanagari script and English: The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script; the form of numerals to be used for the official purposes of the Union shall be the international form of Indian numerals.
Notwithstanding anything in clause, for a period of fifteen years from the commencement of this Constitution, the English language shall continue to be used for all the official purposes of the Union for which it was being used before such commencement: Provided that the President may, during the said period, by order authorize the use of the Hindi language in addition to the English language and of the Devanagari form of numerals in addition to the international form of Indian numerals for any of the official purposes of the Union. Article 351 of the Indian constitution states It shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language, to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India and to secure its enrichment by assimilating without interfering with its genius, the forms and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule, by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages.
It was envisioned that Hindi would become the sole working language of the Union Government by 1965 (per directi
Sympathetic string
Sympathetic strings or resonance strings are auxiliary strings found on many Indian musical instruments, as well as some Western Baroque instruments and a variety of folk instruments. They are not played directly by the performer, only indirectly through the tones that are played on the main strings, based on the principle of sympathetic resonance; the resonance is most heard when the fundamental frequency of the string is in unison or an octave lower or higher than the catalyst note, although it can occur for other intervals, such as a fifth, with less effect. Sympathetic strings are used to enhance the sound of an instrument; some instruments have only a few sympathetic strings such as the Hardanger fiddle. Other instruments which have more include the sitar with 11-13 sympathetic strings and sarod with 15 sympathetic strings, the sarangi which has a total of 37 sympathetics. In Western music, some members of the viola family appeared in the middle of the 17th century which were fitted with an extra choir of thin wire strings running through a hollow chamber through the neck of the instrument, the head of, elongated to accommodate as many extra tuning pegs as necessary.
These were called viola d'amore. Other instruments such as the harp, guitar and piano do not have additional strings, but make use of the effect by allowing their playing strings to vibrate sympathetically when they are not being played directly. In keyboard instruments like the piano, the string dampers can be raised to produce this effect; the guitar is unable to produce effective sympathetic string resonance for tones other than E, B, D, A. However, the ten-string guitar invented in 1963 by Narciso Yepes, adds four strings tuned to C, A♯, G♯, F♯, which resolves the imbalance of resonance on the guitar. By adding the abovementioned resonances and, of course, their fifths —that is to say, G, F, D♯, C♯—the guitar's strings now resonate more with all 12 notes of the chromatic scale, bringing the guitar's sound closer to the consistency and sustainability of the harpsichord and piano. Strings or parts of strings may resonate at their fundamental or harmonic frequencies when other strings are sounded.
In general, non-played strings respond in sympathy to other strings being played. Two tones of the same pitch will give maximum sympathetic resonance as all harmonics of both strings will overlap. Other harmonic combinations will cause sympathetic resonance at the fifth and major third. For example, an A string at 440 Hz will cause an E string at 330 Hz to resonate, because they share an overtone of 1320 Hz; the musician retunes the sympathetic strings for each mode or raga, so that when the corresponding note is played on the main strings of the instrument, the sympathetic strings will vibrate in response, providing a lingering halo of sound. Aliquot stringing Drone
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is an instrument created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument; the history of musical instruments dates to the beginnings of human culture. Early musical instruments may have been used for ritual, such as a trumpet to signal success on the hunt, or a drum in a religious ceremony. Cultures developed composition and performance of melodies for entertainment. Musical instruments evolved in step with changing applications; the date and origin of the first device considered. The oldest object that some scholars refer to as a musical instrument, a simple flute, dates back as far as 67,000 years; some consensus dates early flutes to about 37,000 years ago. However, most historians believe that determining a specific time of musical instrument invention is impossible due to the subjectivity of the definition and the relative instability of materials used to make them.
Many early musical instruments were made from animal skins, bone and other non-durable materials. Musical instruments developed independently in many populated regions of the world. However, contact among civilizations caused rapid spread and adaptation of most instruments in places far from their origin. By the Middle Ages, instruments from Mesopotamia were in maritime Southeast Asia, Europeans played instruments from North Africa. Development in the Americas occurred at a slower pace, but cultures of North and South America shared musical instruments. By 1400, musical instrument development was dominated by the Occident. Musical instrument classification is a discipline in its own right, many systems of classification have been used over the years. Instruments can be classified by their material composition, their size, etc.. However, the most common academic method, Hornbostel-Sachs, uses the means by which they produce sound; the academic study of musical instruments is called organology. A musical instrument makes sounds.
Once humans moved from making sounds with their bodies—for example, by clapping—to using objects to create music from sounds, musical instruments were born. Primitive instruments were designed to emulate natural sounds, their purpose was ritual rather than entertainment; the concept of melody and the artistic pursuit of musical composition were unknown to early players of musical instruments. A player sounding a flute to signal the start of a hunt does so without thought of the modern notion of "making music". Musical instruments are constructed in a broad array of styles and shapes, using many different materials. Early musical instruments were made from "found objects" such a shells and plant parts; as instruments evolved, so did the selection and quality of materials. Every material in nature has been used by at least one culture to make musical instruments. One plays a musical instrument by interacting with it in some way—for example, by plucking the strings on a string instrument. Researchers have discovered archaeological evidence of musical instruments in many parts of the world.
Some finds are 67,000 years old, however their status as musical instruments is in dispute. Consensus solidifies about artifacts dated back to around 37,000 years old and later. Only artifacts made from durable materials or using durable methods tend to survive; as such, the specimens found. In July 1995, Slovenian archaeologist Ivan Turk discovered a bone carving in the northwest region of Slovenia; the carving, named the Divje Babe Flute, features four holes that Canadian musicologist Bob Fink determined could have been used to play four notes of a diatonic scale. Researchers estimate the flute's age at between 43,400 and 67,000 years, making it the oldest known musical instrument and the only musical instrument associated with the Neanderthal culture. However, some archaeologists and ethnomusicologists dispute the flute's status as a musical instrument. German archaeologists have found mammoth bone and swan bone flutes dating back to 30,000 to 37,000 years old in the Swabian Alps; the flutes were made in the Upper Paleolithic age, are more accepted as being the oldest known musical instruments.
Archaeological evidence of musical instruments was discovered in excavations at the Royal Cemetery in the Sumerian city of Ur. These instruments, one of the first ensembles of instruments yet discovered, include nine lyres, two harps, a silver double flute and cymbals. A set of reed-sounded silver pipes discovered in Ur was the predecessor of modern bagpipes; the cylindrical pipes feature three side-holes. These excavations, carried out by Leonard Woolley in the 1920s, uncovered non-degradable fragments of instruments and the voids left by the degraded segments that, have been used to reconstruct them; the graves these instruments were buried in have been carbon dated to between 2600 and 2500 BC, providing evidence that these instruments were used in Sumeria by this time. Archaeologists in the Jiahu site of central Henan province of China have found flutes made of bones that date back 7,000 to 9,000 years, representing some of the "earliest complete, tightly-dated, multinote musical instruments" found.
Scholars agree that there are no reliable methods of determining the exact chronology of musical instruments across cultures. Comparing and organizing instruments based on their complexity is misleading, since advancements in musical instruments have sometimes reduced complexity. For example, construction of early slit drums involved f
Sitar
The sitar is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument flourished under the Mughals, it is named after a Persian instrument called the setar; the sitar flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries and arrived at its present form in 18th-century India. It derives its distinctive timbre and resonance from sympathetic strings, bridge design, a long hollow neck and a gourd-shaped resonance chamber. In appearance, the sitar is similar to the tanpura. Used throughout the Indian subcontinent, the sitar became popularly known in the wider world through the works of Ravi Shankar, beginning in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In the 1960s, a short-lived trend arose for the use of the sitar in Western popular music, with the instrument appearing on tracks by bands such as The Beatles, The Doors, The Rolling Stones and others. Sitar originates from the Persian seh + tar meaning "three strings." There are multiple theories surrounding the origin of the sitar.
Delhi Sultanate origin According to various sources the sitar was invented by Amir Khusrow, a famous Sufi inventor and pioneer of Khyal and Qawwali, in the Delhi Sultanate. Others say that the instrument was brought from Iran and modified for the tastes of the rulers of the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire. Veena origin Another theory is that the instrument is thought to have been derived from the veena, another prominent instrument in Carnatic and Hindustani music, altered in order to conform with Mughal tastes; the sitar flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries and arrived at its present form in 18th-century India, gaining prominence in the royal court of the Mughal Empire based in Northern India. A sitar can have 19, 20, or 21 strings. Six or seven of these are played strings which run over curved, raised frets, the remainder are sympathetic strings which run underneath the frets and resonate in sympathy with the played strings; the frets, which are known as pardā or thaat, are movable.
The played strings run to tuning pegs on or near the head of the instrument, while the sympathetic strings, which are a variety of different lengths, pass through small holes in the fretboard to engage with the smaller tuning pegs that run down the instrument's neck. The Gandhaar-pancham sitar has six playable strings, whereas the Kharaj-pancham sitar, invented by legendary Sitar Ratna Ustad Rahimat Khan, founder of Dharwad Gharana of Sitar was used in the Maihar gharana, to which Ravi Shankar belonged, other gharanas such as Bishnupur, has seven. Three of these, called the chikaari provide a drone; the instrument has two bridges: the large bridge for the playing and drone strings and the small bridge for the sympathetic strings. Its timbre results from the way the strings interact with the sloping bridge; as a string reverberates its length changes as its edge touches the bridge, promoting the creation of overtones and giving the sound its distinctive tone. The maintenance of this specific tone by shaping the bridge is called jawari.
Many musicians rely on instrument makers to adjust this. The bridges are fixed to kaddu, at the base of the instrument; some sitars have the tumbaa, near the top of the hollow neck. Materials used in construction include teak wood or tun wood, a variation of mahogany, for the neck and faceplate, calabash gourds for the resonating chambers; the instrument's bridges are made of deer horn, ebony, or occasionally from camel bone. Synthetic material is now common as well. There are two popular modern styles of sitar offered in a variety of sub-styles and decorative patterns; the two popular styles are the "gayaki style" sitars and the full decorated "instrumental style" sitars. The gayaki style sitar is of seasoned toon wood, with few or no carved decorations, it has a dark polish. The inlay decorations are of mother of pearl; the number of sympathetic strings is limited to eleven but may extend to thirteen. Jawari grinding styles are different, as is the thickness of the "tabli"; the other type of sitar, the instrumental style, is most made of seasoned toon wood, but sometimes made of teak.
It is fitted with a second resonator, a small tumba on the neck. This style is fully decorated, with floral or grape carvings and celluloid inlays with colored and black floral or arabesque patterns, it has thirteen sympathetic strings. It is said that the best Burma teak sitars are made from teak, seasoned for generations. Therefore, instrument builders look for old Burma teak, used in old colonial-style villas as whole trunk columns for their special sitar constructions; the sources of old seasoned wood are a guarded trade secret and sometimes a mystery. There are various additional sub styles and cross mixes of styles in sitars, according to customer preferences. Most there are some differences in preferences for the positioning of sympathetic string pegs. Amongst all sitar styles there are student styles, beginner models, semi-pro styles, pro-models, master mo
Toona ciliata
Toona ciliata is a forest tree in the mahogany family which grows throughout southern Asia from Afghanistan to Papua New Guinea and Australia. It is known as the red cedar, toon or toona, Australian redcedar, Burma cedar, Indian cedar, Moulmein cedar or the Queensland red cedar, it is known as Indian mahogany. In Australia its natural habitat is now extensively cleared subtropical forests of New South Wales and Queensland; the Australian population was treated as distinct species under the name Toona australis. The species can grow to around 60 m in height and its trunk can reach 3 m in girth; the largest recorded T. ciliata tree in Australia grew near Nulla Nulla Creek, west of Kempsey, New South Wales and was felled in 1883. The southernmost limit of natural distribution is on basaltic soils, growing west of the Princes Highway near the village of Termeil, south of Ulladulla, southern Illawarra, New South Wales, it naturally occurs at Norfolk Island. It is one of Australia's few native deciduous trees.
The timber is red in colour, easy to work and highly valued. It was used extensively for furniture, wood panelling and construction, including shipbuilding, was referred to as "red gold" by Australian settlers, and unsustainably exploited in the 19th and early 20th centuries all the large trees have been cut out and the species is commercially extinct. Availability of this timber is now limited. Timber is also harvested in New Guinea. Although it is not a viable plantation species, trees are harvested by Forestry in the Atherton region of Queensland, it grows best in an environment with high light levels, however in the relative darkness of the rainforest understorey, it is less susceptible to attack by the cedar tip moth. The cedar tip moth lays its eggs on the tree's leading shoot, allowing the larvae to burrow into the stem; this causes a multi-branched tree with little commercial value. The tree exudes a chemical; this moth does not attack commercial plantings of Asian/African/Australian native meliaceas in South America.
As a result, successful planting of Toona ciliata is being observed in many parts of Brazil, including genetic improvement and clonal production. The red cedar is planted in subtropical and tropical parts of the world as a shade tree and for its fast-growing aspect, it is grown in the Hawaiian Islands of the United States, southern and eastern Africa. In parts of Zimbabwe and South Africa, it has naturalised. Toona ciliata reproduces by seed, it establishes readily. Cedar wood Macleay River Toona sureni Australian timbers National Register of Big Trees Distribution Map
