Why The Incipient Music Is Not Melodious For Old People?

Introduction:

Music is there all around us, starting from the chirping of the birds to unified compositions that are made by us. For most of the people, music can be defined as expressing the emotions according to their moods.

Music is the production of unified sounds, where sounds and tones are placed in a systematic order.

The earliest form of music was drum-based, which were thought to be used in the religious ceremonies for the representations of animals. These sounds are still practiced by African natives for the ancient religious practices.

The Prominent Musician: Tansen

Tansen was a veteran and it is said that the great singers could perform many miracles with their singing and one of them from that era was Tansen.

As Tansen was singing for Akbar, one of Akbar’s ministers decided to shame Tansen, so he devised a plan with other ministers. After that, the ministers approached the emperor and requested him to convince Tansen to sing the Raga Deepak, ‘a raga which was supposed to create fire!’.

That time Akbar was very curious to witness the miracle. Then Akbar ordered his servants to place several lamps and Tansen was asked to light up those lamps just by singing. Tansen sang Raga Deepak and all the lamps were lit up all at once and there at that moment everyone was speechless. Other miracles are also there where including his ability to bring rain by singing Raga Megh Malhar.

It is said that Tansen sang this particular Raga soon after the Raga Deepak as the Raga Megh Malhar would cool things down and will lower the temperature of the surroundings. Raga Megh Malhar still exists today but the Raga Deepak has been lost a long time ago.

At that time, Tansen got good name and fame. Along with his singing, he was also very famous for communicating with animals. A fierce elephant was bought into the court of Akbar as no one was able to tame the elephant. Tansen was the last hope. Tansen not only calmed the elephant but also encouraged Akbar to ride on it.

The Difference Between Bollywood and Classical Songs:

The Indian classical music is an ancient and most traditional form of music which was originated in South Asia, and now it is followed up by the generation to generation but it is not that much emerging as it should be.

The factor which is affecting the classical and traditional form of music is the Bollywood songs which is really emerging and are mostly preferred by youth due to which similar kind of compositions are made as everything depends on the public.

The origins of classical music date back to sacred Vedic scriptures over 6,000 years ago. The musical notes and rhythmic cycles are developed through chants.

Diversely, Indian classical music is very closely linked with the nature as it takes inspirations from natural phenomena including specific seasons and times of the day to create different ‘ragas’ or the musical moods and many times cycles and ‘taals’ which have been further codified with time.

The Importance of “Samay Chakra”:

So for every “raga” a particular timing is there where each “raga” is rendered with a specific time. The time of ragas depends upon “vaadi swar” and “anuvaadi swars”. It is so that each raga with its particular swar will be more enhancing and can be better performed by the vocalist if performed at that particular given time.

It helps to enhance the mood that artist is responsible for evoking. Some ragas are seasonal in nature, for example ragas belong to Malhar category can be sung any time during the monsoon season.

• Monsoon – Raag –Megh
• Autumn Raag- Bhairav
• Winter Raag- Malkauns
• Spring Raag- Hindol

Various Moods Through Old Music:

The old music that was listened to by the people creates various moods. People of that generation used to sit in an armchair and listen to the music with a low sound, the old generation music was not only about the tuning of the music, but it was also about the emotions and lyrics which depicted all the emotions and feeling about the vocalist.

When it was raining outside the house, people use to switch on the radio and with a cup of tea and enjoy the music. At that time music was not only about expressing the happy emotions, it also talks about the sad emotions that happened and the vocalists portrays that expressing or feeling with the melodious voice.

The style of the music was rawer due to which older generation people used to feel them with all their emotions. Music helps to bring communication successful between the communities and people.

At that time the musician and vocalist were indeed using everything in a raw manner, there were no auto-tuning, no pitch bending and everything was done manually and there were lots of efforts made to compose a single song which will create a feeling of satisfaction for the viewers, audience and the people.

The Reason Behind Hatred Towards New Beats:

When during a survey it was asked to old people that why the current generation music is not so melodious!

Many people answered that the current generation music is fully done artificially, wherewith very less efforts, great harmony can be made and when they remake an old song it includes the will of beats, which generally sounds like a remix.

So due to the generation gap in understanding the music, these types of problems come into play.

For instance, if a sad song which consists of meaningful words where the emotion is expressed through music by the vocalist, but in the contemporary music, they will replace it by lots of beats then the charm of the music will not be there, due to which it will not sound that good.

In the old generation, the music that was made was full of nature and everything was happening systematically, at one take only, music was made.If even a small mistake is made by the band of musicians, then they all have to start it all over again, but nowadays the advanced technologies have increased to such an extent that modification can do all the things.

Singers or the vocalists will be singing the song and will increase or decrease the pitch with the help of pitch bending; the main problem is not with these things, the main problem is as everything can be possible, the real talents of the vocalists are not seen.

Although, somehow it also depends upon the old aged people, they like to listen to old classical song because they are used to it, and the transitions will not be having a big difference, whereas we the millennials, generally like to hear noisy songs which are full of beats.

So, when they listen to these kinds of songs, it will be a big difference for them as they are not used to these kinds of songs and in the similar way the youngsters will also feel bored after listening the sow songs, so the importance of the classical songs is vanishing, so one needs to take care of it.

Conclusion:

The classical songs are emerging nowadays, the people and the gradually knowing its importance. So there is an essential need of understanding the classical music.

Bollywood songs and classical songs, both should be followed up equally in a simultaneous manner. The classical music will not only have a positive impact on people, but it will also keep communicating with nature which is having the positive energy of interrelation.

It will also help to bring emotional and cognitive abilities which will eventually allow our brain to think in a different way which is very much important for a healthy state of mind.

References and Citations:

• https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2017.00008/full
• https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-music-definition-terminology-characteristics.html
• https://method-behind-the-music.com/history/history/
• https://www.culturalindia.net/indian-music/classical-singers/tansen.html
• https://theconversation.com/why-do-old-people-hate-new-music-123834
• https://www.swarganga.org/articles/icmconcepts/icm9.php

Mahaprasad Rath

Mahaprasad Rath is a college student and a vocalist. His main focus is on providing insight on real matters by delving into areas of public concerns which can be tackled.