 Diagram of some sitar parts. The sitar (Hindi: सितार्, Urdu/ ستار) is a plucked stringed instrument. It uses sympathetic strings along with a gourd resonating chamber to produce a very lush sound. Predominantly used in Hindustani classical, sitar has been ubiquitous in Hindustani classical music since the Middle Ages. This instrument is used throughout the Indian subcontinent. A model sitar File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
A model sitar File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Hindi ( , Devanagari: or , IAST: , IPA: ), an Indo-European language spoken mainly in northern and central India, is the official language of the Union along with English. ...
Urdu ( , , trans. ...
Guitar and lute Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the strings. ...
Sympathetic strings are strings on musical instruments which begin resonating, not due to any external influence such as picking or bowing, but due to another note (or frequency). ...
This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
This article is about resonance in physics. ...
Hindustani Classical Music is an Indian classical music tradition that took shape in northern India in the 13th and 14th centuries AD from existing religious, folk, and theatrical performance practices. ...
The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ...
Map of South Asia (see note) This article deals with the geophysical region in Asia. ...
Etymology and history The Sitar is derived from the Veena family of Indian musical instruments. Its name most probably came from the Persian instrument called "Setar", which is from the saz family of instruments. An older Indian instrument called the Rudra Veena resembles the sitar in some important respects, most notably in the use of gourd resonators. Dr. Lalmani Misra in his book, Bharatiya Sangeet Vadya traced Sitar to Tri-tantri Veena which came to be popularly known as Jantra during the medieval period. Woman playing the Veena. ...
Hamid Motebassem Playing Setar Setar Azerbaijani Setar Setar (Persian: سه‌تار se three tÄr string) is an Iranian musical instrument. ...
The Saz (from Persian: ‎ , music) is a plucked stringed instrument, popular in Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and the Balkan countries. ...
Ustad Asad Ali Khan,Pandit Hindraj Divekar,Ustad Shamsuddin Faridi Desai and Ustad Bahauddin Dagar(Dagar Veena-a variation of the traditional Rudra Veena) are the surviving exponents of the instrument in India. ...
Dr. Lalmani Misra M.A. Ph. ...
Cover - Bharatiya Sangeet Vadya (2002) Bharatiya Sangeet Vadya (Indian Musical Instruments) ISBN 81-263-0727-7 Written by Dr. Lalmani Misra This book was published under the Lokodya Granthmala series (Granthak / Volume No. ...
The Persian Setar and Indian Sitar are similar in name only, the former being of the "saz" family and resembling the Tambar, and the latter being of the "Veena" family. The styles of playing, as well as the music, are completely different. One is based on the "makams" or middle eastern modes of which there are approx 1,200 known and the other is based on the "ragas" of which about 2,000 known. These two instruments should not be confused. The Saz (from Persian: ‎ , music) is a plucked stringed instrument, popular in Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and the Balkan countries. ...
Woman playing the Veena. ...
In Arabic music a maqaam (Arabic: ‎, Hebrew: ) is, a technique of improvisation that defines the pitches, patterns, and development of a piece of music and which is unique to Arabian art music. ...
In music, a scale is an ordered series of musical intervals, which, along with the key or tonic, define the pitches. ...
Raga (rÄg /राग (Hindi), raga (anglicised from rÄgaḥ/रागः (Sanskrit)) or rÄgam /ராகம௠(Tamil)) are the melodic modes used in Indian classical music. ...
The sitar first became popular in the Western world (West) when The Beatles used it in many songs, including "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", "Across the Universe", "Love You To", "Tomorrow Never Knows", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Within You Without You". Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison was inspired, and later taught, by sitar player Ravi Shankar. The Rolling Stones also made the sitar popular by its use in the song "Paint It, Black". The White Album, see The Beatles (album). ...
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) is a song by The Beatles which first appeared on the 1965 album Rubber Soul. ...
Across the Universe is a song by The Beatles that first appeared as a charity release in December 1969, and later, in modified form, on their final album, Let It Be. ...
Love You To is a song by the Beatles off of the album Revolver. ...
Tomorrow Never Knows is the final track of The Beatles 1966 studio album Revolver, but it was the first to be recorded for the album. ...
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is a song written mainly by John Lennon (credited to Lennon/McCartney) in 1967, and recorded by The Beatles for their album Sgt. ...
Within You Without You is a song written by George Harrison and recorded with a group of Indian musicians, without any input from his fellow Beatles. ...
George Harrison, MBE (25 February 1943[1][2] – 29 November 2001[3]) was an Academy Award and Grammy Award-winning English rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, author and sitarist best known as the lead guitarist of The Beatles. ...
This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...
“Rolling Stones†redirects here. ...
UK single cover Paint It, Black is a song recorded by The Rolling Stones in 1966. ...
Sitar mechanics A distinctive feature of the sitar are the curved frets, which are movable (allowing fine variation in tuning) and raised (so that resonant, or sympathetic, strings can run underneath the frets, giving a very lush sound). A typical sitar has 18, 19 or 20 strings (depending on the style) — of which 6 (in the Vilayat Khan style) or 7 (in the Ravi Shankar style) are playable strings, which are situated over the frets. Three of these strings (called chikari) provide the drone and the rest are used to play the melody, though most of the notes of the melody are played on the first string (called the baj tar). The sitar also has 11, 12 or 13 sympathetic strings or tarbs (A.K.A. "tarif" or "tarifdar" ) running underneath the frets. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (398x623, 215 KB) This image comes from a copy of the text at http://asnic. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (398x623, 215 KB) This image comes from a copy of the text at http://asnic. ...
(17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ...
The neck of a guitar showing the first four frets. ...
Resonant strings are thin auxiliary strings found on many (Asian) Indian musical instruments, as well as some Western Renaissance-era instruments. ...
Sympathetic strings are strings on musical instruments which begin resonating, not due to any external influence such as picking or bowing, but due to another note (or frequency). ...
Vilayat Khan on the cover of his raga Shree CD for India Archive Music (cover photo: Lyle Wachowsky) Vilayat Khan (Bangla: বিলায়েত খাঠBilaeet Khã) (August 8, 1928 –March 13, 2004) was one of Indias well known sitar maestros, born in Gauripur in Mymensingh, Bengal (now in Bangladesh). ...
In music, a drone is a harmonic or monophonic effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout much or all of a piece, sustained or repeated, and most often establishing a tonality upon which the rest of the piece is built. ...
In music, a drone is a harmonic or monophonic effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout much or all of a piece, sustained or repeated, and most often establishing a tonality upon which the rest of the piece is built. ...
Look up melody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Sympathetic strings are strings on musical instruments which begin resonating, not due to any external influence such as picking or bowing, but due to another note (or frequency). ...
The instrument has 2 bridges; the main bridge (the bada goraj) for the playing and drone strings and a smaller, secondary bridge (the chota goraj) for the sympathetic strings that run beneath the main strings. The sitar may or may not have a secondary resonator, the tumba, near the top of its hollow neck. The sitar's distinctive sound is a result of the way the strings interact with the wide, sloping bridge. This is in contrast to the bridge on a guitar which resembles a knife edge. In a sitar, as a string vibrates, its length changes slightly as its edge touches the bridge, promoting the creation of overtones and giving the sound its distinctive, rich tone. The maintenance of this specific tone by shaping the bridge is called "jawari". Adjusting the jawari requires great skill. Many professional musicians will rely on professional instrument makers to perform this task. For years, Ravi Shankar toured the West with his sitar maker so that the tone of his sitar was always perfectly adjusted. A Violin Bridge blank and finished bridge A bridge is a device for supporting the strings on a stringed instrument and transmitting the vibration of those strings to some other structural component of the instrument in order to transfer the sound to the surrounding air balls. ...
A resonator is a device or part that vibrates (or oscillates) with waves. ...
Jivari In Indian classical music culture and thought, this term refers to the special overtone-rich buzzing sound characteristic of classical Indian string instruments such as the tanpura, sitar, veena, and others. ...
The materials used in construction include teak wood or tun wood (Cedrela tuna), which is similar to mahogony, for the neck and faceplate, and gourds for the kaddu (the main resonating chamber). The instrument's bridges are made of deer horn, ebony, or very occasionally from camel bone or elephant ivory. Species Tectona grandis Tectona hamiltoniana Tectona philippinensis Teak (Tectona), also called jati, is a genus of tropical hardwood trees in the family Verbenaceae, native to the south and southeast of Asia, and is commonly found as a component of monsoon forest vegetation. ...
This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
Tuning The tuning of a sitar varies depending on sitarists school or style. Generally, the main playing string is tuned to C# or D, and the drone strings are tuned to the equivalent of an open major or minor chord in Western music theory. The specific tuning for each raga is determined by tradition and each artist's personal preference. The sympathetic strings are tuned to the notes of the raga being played, although there is slight stylistic variance as to the order of these. The player will usually re-tune the sitar for each raga.
The strings are tuned by turning the pegs that hold the strings. The main playing strings are fine-tuned by sliding a bead fit around each string. Tuning Peg is a small peg that is used to hold a string for a stringed instrument. ...
It may be rather difficult to tune a sitar. Not only because of the numerous strings (a typical electric guitar only has six strings) or the lack of geared mechanical tuners (sitar tuning pegs are wood cylinders that are chalked and tightened into a hole like traditional western classical music instruments such as the cello), but also because there are many different tunings, each based on the cadre of traditional and emerging tonal patterns or on the music of eminently influential sitar players. Left: Rosa Hurricane, a heavy metal-style solid body guitar. ...
The machine heads on a Squier Stratocaster electric guitar. ...
The violoncello, almost always abbreviated to cello, or cello (the c is pronounced as the ch in cheese), is a bowed stringed instrument, the lowest-sounding member of the violin family. ...
In one or more of the more common tunings (used by Ravi Shankar, among others, called "Kharaj Pancham" Sitar) the strings are tuned in this fashion: The Chikari, Sa (high) Sa (middle) Pa. The Kharaj strings (bass strings) Sa (low) Pa. Then "jod" and "baaj" string, Sa and Ma. When playing a Vilayat Khan Sitar (or "Gandhar Pancham" Sitar), the bass or "kharaj" strings are removed and in their place is a 4th Chikari which is tuned to Ga, when playing the chikari you produce a chord (Sa, Sa, Pa, Ga). The sympathetic strings (tarif) are tuned depending on the raga, although for most purposes, they are tuned: Sa, Ni, Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Pa, Dha, Ni, Sa, Re, Ga, (last three in the upper range). If you were to tune it to rag Kafi for example you use tune as follows: Sa, ni (lower case denotes flat or, more properly, "komal") Sa, Re, ga, Ga (Shuddh ("natural"), considering that in Kafi you will come to Shuddh Ga when descending or "Avarohi"), ma, Pa, Dha, ni, Sa, Re, ga. Whereas, in ragini Yaman Kaylan you will tune the Tarifs to Sa, Ni, Sa, Re, Ga, ma (Yaman Kaylan asks for a sharp, or more properly, "tivra" Ma, but often will touch shuddh ma on the descent or "Avarohi"), Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni, Sa, Re, Ga. Again, however, there is a lot of stylistic variance to these tunings. An artist will develop a particular tuning for a particular piece and it may be totally idiosyncratic. There is no guarantee that other musicians will choose the same tuning even if they perform the same raga. Vilayat Khan on the cover of his raga Shree CD for India Archive Music (cover photo: Lyle Wachowsky) Vilayat Khan (Bangla: বিলায়েত খাঠBilaeet Khã) (August 8, 1928 –March 13, 2004) was one of Indias well known sitar maestros, born in Gauripur in Mymensingh, Bengal (now in Bangladesh). ...
Raga (rÄg /राग (Hindi), raga (anglicised from rÄgaḥ/रागः (Sanskrit)) or rÄgam /ராகம௠(Tamil)) are the melodic modes used in Indian classical music. ...
Figure 1. ...
The notes, or swaras, of Indian music are Shadjam, Rishabham, Gandharam, Madhyamam, Panchamam, Dhaivatam and Nishadam. ...
In musical notation, a natural sign is a sign used to cancel a flat or sharp from either a preceding note or the key signature. ...
An avrohana, in the context of North Indian classical music, is the descending scale of notes in a raga. ...
Figure 1. ...
The notes, or swaras, of Indian music are Shadjam, Rishabham, Gandharam, Madhyamam, Panchamam, Dhaivatam and Nishadam. ...
An avrohana, in the context of North Indian classical music, is the descending scale of notes in a raga. ...
Playing The dominant hand is used to pluck the string using a metallic plectrum called the mezrab. When playing sitar, the thumb of the plucking hand should stay anchored on the top of the fretboard just above the main gourd. The instrument should be balanced between the player's left foot and right knee. The hands should move freely without having to carry any of the instrument's weight. Generally only the index and middle fingers of the left are used for fingering although a few players occasionally use the third. Various guitar picks A plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument. ...
Two mizrabs A mizrab as worn on the index finger A Mezrab (also spelled mizrab) is worn on the finger of a Sitar player as shown. ...
Learning to play Traditional approaches to learning the sitar involve a long period of apprenticeship under the tutelage of a master during which the apprentice would accompany the master with a tambura, providing a droning chord harmony for the sitar's melody. Nowadays it is possible to purchase books and videos to assist home learning. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1280x960, 295 KB) Summary Usman Waqqas Chohan demonstrating at a sitar workshop in Islamabad, Pakistan Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1280x960, 295 KB) Summary Usman Waqqas Chohan demonstrating at a sitar workshop in Islamabad, Pakistan Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ...
Islamabad (Urdu: اسلام آباد) is the capital city of Pakistan, and is located in the Potohar Plateau in the northwest of the country. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Pandura. ...
Harmony is the use and study of pitch simultaneity, and therefore chords, actual or implied, in music. ...
Look up melody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Learning to play the sitar is a difficult process. The entire 3-octave range of the instrument is achieved by sliding the index finger of the left hand up and down the neck of the sitar over a single melody string, while the mezrab on the index finger of the right hand strikes the string. Thus it demands a very high degree of technical mastery to play even simple melodies with clarity and accuracy. It is also a rather painful process for the beginner until the hard calluses and black grooves on the tips of the index and middle finger, which typify the sitar player, begin to develop. A specialised technique called "meend" involves pulling the main melody string down over the bottom portion of the sitar's curved frets, with which the sitarist can achieve a 7 semitone range of microtonal notes. In music, an octave (sometimes abbreviated 8ve) is the interval between one musical note and another with half or double its frequency. ...
This article is about calluses and corns of human skin. ...
In Hindustani music meend refers to the bending or deflecting of pitches. ...
A semitone (also known in the USA as a half step) is a musical interval. ...
Microtonal music is music using microtones -- intervals of less than a semitone, or as Charles Ives put it, the notes between the cracks of the piano. ...
Digital representations Patch number 105 in the General MIDI Level 1 Instrument Patch Map[1] is specified as a sitar. The accuracy of the sound produced by a General MIDI tone generator will vary from model to model. Also, due to additional frequencies generated by the interaction between the main strings and drone strings on the acoustic instrument, any accurately synthesized model would have to be extremely complex. General MIDI or GM is a specification for synthesizers which imposes several requirements beyond the more abstract MIDI standard. ...
Construction The creation of a sitar is as complex as that of any stringed instrument. There are famous crafters of sitars whose instruments are highly valued. Nodu Mallik, Hiren Roy and Kanai Lal are a few of the most respected sitar makers of recent times. This biography does not cite any references or sources. ...
This biography does not cite any references or sources. ...
This biography does not cite any references or sources. ...
References - ^ General MIDI Level 1 Instrument Patch Map
See also One type of Electric sitar (Coral Sitar® by Jerry Jones), with sympathetic strings and a buzz bridge An electric sitar is in fact a kind of electric guitar designed to mimic the sound of the traditional South Asian instrument, the sitar. ...
Beginning in the 1960s, various pop artists began experimenting with the using the sitar in their music. ...
// The first documented collaboration between Indian and Jazz musicians occurred in 1961 with Ravi Shankar and a group led by the West Coast American saxophonist/flautist Bud Shank. ...
Surbahar The surbahar (also known as bass sitar) is a plucked string instrument used in the Hindustani classical music of North India. ...
This biography does not cite any references or sources. ...
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