Vocal Coach REACTION To What Is RAAG - Anuja Kamat What Is Raag - Raag Music Explained 

I'm really in love with this lesson! Anjua Kamat explains everything in such a way that's easy to follow and understand. Her love for Indian classical music is intoxicating! Raags are essential part of Indian culture, and as a vocal coach, I always enjoy learning new things and expanding my horizons - it helps me gain new knowledge in music but even more importantly, grow as a person.

Resonance : SA "initial part of tounge" , RE "heart", GA "throat", MA "middle part of tounge", PA "nose", DHA "lips and teeth", NI "head".

A vocal coach learning from another vocal coach...YAAY!😆💚❤

I've never seen a reaction more engaged! A video is worth only to the extent it is capable of engaging the beholder.👌

Interesting to see this ! It is actually quite hard to explain Indian Classical (North or South) to Westerners, since Western music is built on very different concepts than Indian classical (obviously). I have been studying Indian music since 1964 when I began taking a class with the famous artist Ustad Ali Akbar Khan in California at the American Society for Eastern Arts, and continued with him for 25 years. A long story ! I teach sitar, also learned some vocal, and continue to study. In my first month I spent a lot of time asking Khansahib "What is a raga ?" He: "A raga is "the melody that haunts you" Me:"I don't understand !" ("A Hard Days Night" is a melody that haunts me, or "Esurientes Implevit Bonis" -- but they are not ragas !). Khansahib: "Just practice." Me: (silently"--but-but- I'm a COLLEGE student ! I'm SUPPOSED to understand things !! That's my JOB !! ") Anyway, decades later --to sum things up as I would in a lecture-demo for a Western college class: To put it somewhat crudely, a raga is kind of a cross between a melody and a road map of how you can move up and down in the scale. It can be performed in any key the performer prefers. Each raga has a separate and distinct "heart" or theme (and sometimes more than one). Ragas have boundaries as well, and sometimes common territory, but after you sing the shared part you better make it clear by returning to the uniquely owned territory, which rag it is you are singing. If you don't, the learned people in the audience will get upset. "Sargam" (which you sang) is exactly the same as solfege. (Sa is "do", etc.) Indian classical music developed pitch, melodic systems, rhythmic systems and improvisation to a very high degree. Harmony-zippo. (You can't do EVERYTHING at the same time, after all !). Western music uses harmony as a kind of meta-melody, which we enjoy a great deal. But it also approaches melody in a much more restricted way than Indian music. (There are many other systems of music as well, which I can't speak about). Indian music uses and enjoys much more common use of flatted seconds, sharped fourths and flatted sixths. In Western music you hear these more as leading tones in harmonic modulation. Traditional Western music regards a plain old flatted second, sharped fourth or flatted sixth as atonal or unpleasing. In Indian music there is use of slides, or microtones, or meend. But a meend is really more akin to what in jazz is called a "blue note". In learning to do meend you need to listen very carefully to learn and hear precisely what microtones you should be imitating and which ones you should leave out, lest you sound like a train whistle. All microtones are NOT created equally. Oh, and Anujaji is NOT singing nasally ! I made that mistake back in the 80's. The esteemed vocal teacher Pandit A.T. Kanan, who I had the great priviledge to learn from briefly for a few months, corrected me. It took about two weeks of daily class and riaz before I could stop singing nasally. He was a genius and his advanced students are some of India's best-known artists today. One needs to listen seriously and carefully to imprint the correct style in one's ear and mind. A music student cannot rush this step. I should also mention that Indian classical rhythm is one of the great art forms of the world. Just one example: The tabla literature --eg, the compositions created by all the great tabla gurus and performers over the centuries --can only be compared to all piano literature, or all western vocal literature in it's range, imagination and stylistic variety. Top tabla players, as well as other drummers from both North and South, and many instrumentalists and dancers as well, can play in rhythm cycles of 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11,12, 13, 16 (of course) as well as 10 1/2, and other odd numbers.

I have completed Indian classical music course... it's called "Bisaharad" or Bachelor of Music, the course was of 6 Years...I am still not perfect... every good Indian singers like Arijit Singh, Shreya Ghoshal, Sonu Nigam etc etc have dedicated most of there life learning Indian classical music... that's how they became so perfect

Some western equivalents of the terms used by Anuja.. Audav=pentatonic Shadav=hexatonic Sampoorn=heptatonic Raag Yaman(minus the rules)=Lydian mode Chalan=no equivalent, but it literally translates to how the melodic scale moves (chal = to go/move in Hindi and Sanskrit) There are no quarter notes in Indian raags, Indian music uses the same 12 notes as the western chromatic scale, the technique she uses is called meend(think Kanswar the notes that Anuja says hi to), meaning she slides into a note from another, difficult to replicate with a piano, but you can with a stringed instrument like a guitar. Think bending the string to slide upwards by a step. Indians, feel free to correct the conceptual equivalents..

Dear H, actually for answering to you thought on, pa-re relationship...In fact the sad story about Indian Classical singing is that Indian themselves don't really use the classical ancient term of their own musical treatise with their own connotations, but rather use a mix of english technical terms like Notes, Scales, Modes, that do not relate to their music neither to our - which most of the time they do not know - this result in many misunderstanding and we miss the most interesting points... What a Râga is, cannot be defined by words, and this concept is expressivly conceived for this purpose of not being explainable...Calan (chalan) is good entry point to understand the major difference between scale oriented musicology and Râga oriented musicology. Calan is not a simple set of melody...it's actually a way to define the shape of the râga itsef (svarupa). Inside the calan itself, the notions of aroha - avaroha is imbeded in the set of phrases that the musician/singer will "develop" to "speak" the râga, for "shaping" the raga in real time. The calan contain informations about the relations that each Svara (which are not notes, it's a different concept even if as westerner we would say it's notes) have with others in the râga, they can be linked with a meend (like PA-RE), or just Kan (like Ga befor RE). In the calan (in Dhrupad) the relation of timing is also made clear. So there is actually layers and layers of informations not just 2 or 3...that's why we speak about knowing a Râga as a personality or entity. All these layers of information unfold only with practice and dedication, it's not really about "set of rules"...hope it helps a bit to understand that this is really interesting to dive into this beautifull musical culture.

Sir trying to sing the Raag is pure Gold!💚❤

The fluid feelings which you are referring to is called 'Gamakas'! She has uploaded one video on Gamaka too if already not watched!

Bro I'm seriously telling you once you learn indian classical you can sing nearly all types of songs (even western). There are some videos of indian singers singing western songs if you can check them out

THIS TOTALLY MADE MY DAY!! I really hate to say it, but we Indians DONT value what we have. Its a shame that we arnt taught about music at our school, we are only taught about stupid history which wont even matter! If a foreign guy loves dis so much, it means something.

Indian music is like an ocean, the more you go deep the more you will be surprised 💐👍🙏

Way of living ❤️ without even realising u hv just said the most beautiful thing brother. Yes, Hinduism is a way of living 🙏🏻

At 14:42 “ Chalan” means literally “ walking “ she saying that although nodes are same but while “walking” through Raag duration of that particular node to sing is different in different Raag.. some raag you need to sing same node longer and in some you sing shorter.. You are good.. appreciated man..👍

She didnt explain what are the indians notes ( sa re ma pa...), thats why you struggle to understand half of what she was speaking... Indian notes for western musicians are not the stable notes, but they the intervals. First note "sa" is chosen by vocalist according to his vocal range , for example it can be western D key. Next note Re is higher on one tone , (or semitone if its Re-komal), Ga - one tone more from Re and so on. Intervals basically are similar to western CDEFGAB and 12 semitones in octave system (but not all the time , just not to make comment too big explaining quarter-tone and other things).

she has been missing for a long time. Can you manage a meeting/collaboration with her? We really miss her!

Indeed Indian language and music is hard to decode for foreigners 😂. No wonder why beetles fell in love with Indian music ❤️

Omg, yes, the western musical understanding of what is kan-swar is, is spot on! That's exactly what it is: touching other notes, but with the pronunciation of the previous notes (and obviously the available notes depend on the specific raag). I was so happy when you had that little eureka moment, ahaha, loved the video!

Audav = penta, Shadav = hexa, Sampoorn means complete. There are 7 natural notes, so sampoorn means 7 notes. In the ascending and descending if 7 notes are used then its Sampoorn Jati or Heptatonic scale. If the same goes for 5 notes then its Pentatonic scale or audav jati. Thus, 6 notes in ascend and descend then its Hexatonic scale or Shaadav Jati. If you want to know more then I can explain further.

I love your passion and enthusiasm for music...there in no end to learning !! 👍🏼🙂

7 notes in Indian classical music r notes to eternity. First note Sa activates Muladhar. Each note represent chakra. Muladhar to Sahstrar. It's beauty of ICM (Indian classical music) ❤️

Keep watching her, she has being improving her ways of teaching and presenting and teaching these concepts.

Anuja is a brilliant instructor and you are a perfect student.The dedication you show to this session is amazing.Wish you and Anuja healthy and peaceful life

Foreigners appreciate our music and culture so much... Today's generation should really value this and make a name for themselves here and globally... I hope our educational institutions introduce fine arts which can help in total development...

Thoroughly enjoyed the video mate. Being Indian I never bothered to learn but this video made me so. Appreciate your efforts. Good day.

You should totally do a Collab with her...she is awesome 😋

*I would love if you both really sit in front of each other and talk about Music in your Language of Music* !!!

THIS WAS ONE YOUR BEST REACTION VIDEO..

I’m discovering Indian traditional music and I think I finally got why it feels so strange to western ears and minds ; I am also a scientist and very interested in the theory of classification, and it relates to that in a way = Here we separate things There they try to achieve unity FIRST OFF For example, we are used to see the figures 1,2,3 etc as separate numbers. But when I was at school my mind was blown to learn that there is litterally an infinite number of numbers between 1 and 2, given that you can add an infinite number of figures after the « , » : 1,2 ; 1,3 ; 1,35.... That is exactly what happens when you « slide » between two « notes ». Notes are fixed points easily distinguished from each other by our ears. Flats and sharps are a little more difficult, and yes, more separation exists but hard for us to set apart. So in a way, with so much slides, they are linking the sounds as if it’s ONE continuous sound where you cannot really tell when it begins and when it ends, it feels like real magic. We touch infinity. THEN, She spoke about connecting other notes, saying hi and come back, putting the note in context in a sense. It’s like making sure that the note is integrated into its environment, with its friends, family, its own context ; Here I feel that every note is supposed to be « isolated », sharply distinguished from the others with certainty. So it’s flat. And the usual way we have to make them sound « good » is the basic vibrato some people really overuse. I feel like Indian music is more mature and wise... Sorry about the whimsical rant, not easy to express those theoric notions when English is not your first language xD (Ps : oh and it relates to classification cause our western way of separating things in a binary way comes mainly from Ancient Greece and we take it for granted but others ways, less... isolating and linear exist in other cultures, that’s just that our colonist civilization kind of wiped a lot of them, and still tries to...)

People in country where forgetting about Raga you are doing fabulous job by promoting at your channel....

I usually do not comment on videos, but I throughly enjoyed watching 2 music experts appreciate music. Even though you were watching her video it seemed like you both were having a beauty conversation about the feeling of music. Thank you for this beautiful video!

Loved this..❤️ we're so happy that you reacted to our musical culture.. Anuja's was the most elaborated lesson on Raag that you cud find 😊

Man I don't know why , but it brought tears to my eyes.

At 9:30 when you start playing along with her, there is an extremely slight variation at each note. That is the difference between the equitempered scaled the the harmonic scale. (She is pitch perfect)

For music nerds : Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni is Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Yaman ( at least just the notes withou the rules) is exactly equivalent Lydian mode. basically, a maj scale with an augmented 4th Bhoop would be equivalent to Maj pentatonic scale

She is most beautifully smiling girl on Earth as of now.

Well,i simply adored this reaction and LESSON about this richness that is raag music.Iwill keep it and share into my blog.

This is absolutely lovely! When he tried the do re mi in indian style, it was so cute. I would love to hear more do re mi in different raag.

Raags are just like scales. As you know, scales have 7 notes. "Sampoorna" means "complete". So, a 7 notes raags are sampoorna.

Anuja is superb , explains everything brilliantly.. but dude I like the reaction v much .. you took real interest in all the little things..👏👏👏

At last.. you actually got up to raag. This is pure music. I am very proud that i have some knowledge and is a student of indian classical music. #indianclassicalmusic #puremusic

You found Anuja! Anuja saved my butt for many an exam!!! And you are right, Indian music IS a philosophy, it is very complex

You are not allowed to break rules because it changes the mood, it changes the emotions the raag wants to invoke. These raags have evolved over thousands of years and many great singers, musicians have developed new raags.

Impressed by the singers understanding and your interpretation of the same. You both are genuine in your own space. I always wanted to see an opposite video where some western styles, notation are explained by how it's been taught in classical Indian. Tough to grapple western notes if you already know classical Indian. just my experience.

10:10 , 11:05 the transitioning sounds are called Shruti: The transitioning sound to connect two notes. He mentions again at 12:14. Also to better understand Indian Music , map the notes to your system. Translate the rules to your notations. eg. He collected notation for raag Yaman. now he needs to note down the rules about which specific combination of notes are allowed and which are unacceptable as per the rules. Note: this is to be done only to analyze it, Avoid translations to learn it! Mind you that this is for her scale only. This notes are note absolute. Everyone has their own scale and the notes scale down or up in the same order. Raag Yaman notes as he quoted--> sa: b re: c# ga: d# ma(tivra): f pa: f# dha: g# ni: a# sa(high): b Now the rules she is explaining is as follows Not allowed: b c# d# Allowed: ni(a#'s lower scale) c# d# f f# Key combination: f# c# Aaroh(ascend) rule : skip f# from set Avaroh(descend) rule: No note skipped. For those who not confused until here, More geeky stuff 'komal swar' are half tone down, 'tivra swar' are half tone up . Chalan is rule about staying longer with a note(swar) or notes , depends on the raag.

RAAG is a very deep concept, rooted in our Indian culture. Nice video man! Loved how you try to uplift the musical spirit among us.

Love from India ❤

INDn notes: Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa West notes: C D E F G A B C# She was singing: C D E F# G A B C# going forwards and backwards.

Brett: "Interesting".. Let me check out her video where she relates the raag to blues and how classical music is connected to pop music.

Thank you for finally reacting to this video. . I've been requesting this for a long time 😊😊

Brother appreciate your interest and efforts to learn raags. Like the way you observe things in the tutorial. It completely shows that you truly want to understand this and not just want a video to increase viewership... Love n respect bro....

I just want to say while explaining rag she used teevra 'ma' which is not original form of 'ma' thats why its scale wasnt sharp

I have learned singing for like 6 years, I don't sing much now but when I do my friends get surprised being completely unknown of the fact that I can sing. The way he just played it at 9:44 is amazing! It took me whole 3 years of practice to master that on a Harmonium or u might know it as Reed Organ! This guy really knows what he is doing and he is amazing! I subscribed just now!

Watched tons of such videos where you and other vocal coaches are reacting to all kinda videos but this is the Maoist meaningful one for me in your context and because you behaved like a KG or Kindergarten student even though you are well versed with music makes it even more special. This is the best original reaction that I have ever seen on You tube. I dunno why but I felt like that. So congrats to you and her too. Cheers mate✌️

Omg. This is the first time I am listening about raag. And this is a whole phylosphy. Amazing ❤❤

Man this is whole new level. It takes my soul out of my body

I love your curiosity and how the channel is moving in a direction, unexplored.

I love how actively engaged you are in learning about our music!

I must compliment you on how quickly you caught on to the concept of a raag.

Hahaha it was so cute when he was playing along with her singing XD

I saw a man Falling in Love lol Lets shout him out at anuja's channel be a Wingman guys :D Jokes apart I love how can a true Artiste understand art no matter how different and unique it is!! Cheers

This is the moment weve all been waiting for. ❤️. Loved the lesson reaction man

Now this is the best reaction video. Even though i don't have any knowledge of music, but the way you both explain, i love it

You should check out "73 Ragas with Abby V | Vogue Parody" He quickly goes through 73 different raag originating in Indian classical music.

" I love her accent " Great! I am sure she will love your accent too!

Thank you for letting me know that there is someone like Anuj kamat who sings and teaches so well!

This really helps a basic understanding on your music and our music. Thanks!

In Indian music the notation used is Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni... Similar to Do Ri Me Fa So... Only difference is that the tonic Sa is not fixed . A singer can set the tonic to where ever he/she wants before starting the song. So someone might set Sa to C and then you simply get the C Major Scale. .. And the varient of each note referred in the video is basically semitones Sharp and Flat.

Appreciated ❤️ love it brothr We want more reactions on indian music

Thank you so much for doing this video. Really appreciate that you are trying to analyse Indian classical music in such great detail. 😊😊

It's awesome to see you actually react to it..

In India learning and practicing raaga is very imp for every child so here almost 70% people know how to sing ragaa we usually practice it in harmonium classical music is feeling and emotion and always passed on to another generation ❤

12:40 minutes that slide is meend.. please watch Anuja Kamat's Video about Ornamentation in Indian Classical music for that query❤️❤️

Love your involvement, the enthusiasm and the sincerity for music. Cheers.

The way she explained it and the way you reacted and tried to understand with an open mind made me understand what a raag is !!

Oh India...everything about u is beautiful 😍..your culture..ur tradition...ur people...different languages..different food..different religions..and of course the music...and yet..u all live in harmony..love you India 🇮🇳

People should learn this by watching you, Everybody keeps on learning from everyone throughout his life, if he has the desire to learn. it is never too late to learn.

😵😲 Wow... You're fantastic in grasping the concepts for a first time Indian-Classical-music learner. Though you're a western vocal coach, but you caught those nuances almost 80 percent. I'm stunned.

Can't believe I watched a 25 minute video without noticing the time. Beautiful❤

Raag is a combination of sharp and flat notes. The combination generates how the raag feels. "Yaman" is the combination cdefgabc with f sharp. Last point about kan swar (corner notes) where glissandoes makes the feeling that much more intense Chalan "Gait" is the note order and speed, makes the raag distinct. Kan swars are not pronounced, they are sounds that are hit.

Each Raag has two important notes called Vadi and Samvadi. These are the two most important notes, in that order, that define the mood of the raag.

Grew up listening to ragas every day. They are just fascinating. ❤️

I loved your enthusiasm. You weren't just doing this because u have to do. But u were actually learning out of curiosity.

There is another video of hers where she explains those micro slides/crescent between notes that you were curious about...

Indian classical music is way more complicated than just singing , you actually have to feel some emotions to convey them through raags ☺️.

I am also a student of classical music and seeing you, I am getting more motivation in my mind that I should learn even better and teach my taught things outside i.e. in your country as well.❤

wtach it 3 times... u r intrest toward music is very captivating..

Anuja is just Amazing.

I don't know about raags but i am pretty sure that he has fallen in love with her. Lol

One of the very authentic reactions I have watched. Please react on more Indian classical and melodious music. India has a rich treasure of music.

You picked a wonderful explainer to react to. Anuja Kamat is awesome and you followed her very well. It takes years to be adept at Indian Classical music.

Hey buddy, Thanks for listening and praising Indian music. I found one song for you if you wanna give your expert comment on this @. This singer was a old Bengali Bollywood legend. Hi Name is Manna Dey.

You need to watch a video that explains 'gamakas'. It contains the essence of Indian music that makes it Indian.

Omg! She can be an amazing teacher! I'm here b/c of her. You really did good job! ✨✨✨

Reminds me of school days, we used to practice these notes every morning. Thanks for this video, it takes me 25 years back.

Okay the "flavour" or "colour" you're wondering about between the notes are actually ornamentations called "Alankaars". There are different types of ornamentations you can use to "decorate" your singing. Beginners usually sing it plain but they learn it later :)

Timestamp 12:00 Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni are names for notes. So Pa-Re is just a note combination. What she is saying is that going up, this Raag often follows a combination of Ni-Re, and coming down, it follows Pa-Re often. These common combinations and recurrences in renditions give Raag its identity and distinctiveness. Raag is like a walled garden. The walls set the rules, the renditions decorate it with flowers. Each garden is supposed to have an overarching emotion. One raag may celebrate good weather, while another celebrates melancholy. Notes and patterns that invoke those emotions are predefined. She says we don't break the rules: Imagine experiencing a very strong emotion. We do get out of that mood some time. But it takes some significant happening to move our mood. The creative amongst us do break the rules, they even transition and transition back amongst raags. However pairing and flowing through different gardens, taking your audience on that journey, needs significant skill and experience. Its a beautiful world when you learn about it 🙂

This is exactly why I'm in love with Indian classical songs

Trust me if you hv heard this thing for the first time and if you think you have followed it, you are quite wrong. Its quite complex than the lady explained. She is just an amazing teacher. Kudos to you to learn and explore this..