INTRODUCTION

The subject Programming and the Audience concerns itself at a fundamental level with the idea of a “concert as a happening”.  This idea describes the ideal end product of performed music characterized by a total sharing of the mood of the music between the performer and his audiences.  There is a mysterious or magical quality about such an event that defies description.

 

A happening, by definition, “just happens”.  And, therefore logically, making it happen should not lend itself to rational planning or decision-making.  And, yet in most classical music traditions, there appears to be a set of beliefs and assumptions which guides the planning of concerts with the objective of “helping and happening to happen”.

 

These beliefs help the musician in determining the choice of repertoire to be presented and the presentation of the repertoire in the context of assumptions or advance knowledge of [a] the profile of the expected audiences, and [b] the format of the performance.

 

I propose to share with you my understanding of the background to the planning of an Indian classical music concert performance based on my experience as a performing musician exposed to Indian as well as foreign audiences.

 

THE CHARACTER OF INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC

 

Indian classical Music is an emotional expression of the spiritual longings of the Indian mind.  It is a form of meditative contemplation and is appropriately described by Western commentators on Indian music as “Archetypal”.  The musician uses patterns of structured sound to explore one or more facets of the human mind and, therefore also, of the universal mind.

 

Each archetype is represented by a “raga” or melodic structure which defines what notes can be used in what sequence and combination, with what emphasis and which emotion.  Adherence to the Raga’s basic structure enables the musician to preserve the coherence of the “emotional statement” his music is making.  The “grammar” of the “raga” ensures a certain minimum level of aesthetic satisfaction to the audiences, and provides the foundation for the improvisation around the basic melodic structure which creates the “literature”.

 

THE AUDIENCE-PERFORMER RELATIONSHIP

 

Being “auto-suggestive” in character, Indian classical music is not “performed” except in the sense that the process of conjuring the “archetype” is audible to others and the sensitive amongst them can share the “archetypal vision”.  In the quantitative or commercial sense, the audience is peripheral to the performance of Indian classical music.  But, in a qualitative sense, an audience is an active participant in the process.

 

At the root of this interactive character is the fact that Indian music is not written, and is performed solo.  The musician is simultaneously a performer and a composer.  Under ideal conditions of audience responsiveness, the concert becomes “a happening” aglow with an all-pervading aesthetic ambience, enabling the individual minds of the gathering to collectively establish a contact with the universal mind.

 

This is why the ideal setting for Indian classical music concert is an intimate seating arrangement for small audiences up to 200/300 strong, with the possibility of eye contact between every member of the audience and the performing musician.  The modern, acoustically engineered auditorium is a poor substitute for the ideal, which still dominates the world of Indian classical music.

 

In any society, an active link with the universal mind is the good fortune of a few rather than of the many.  Indian classical music is “elitist” not in the economic sense but in the demands it makes on the aesthetic sensibilities of its audiences.  In fact, in terms of socio-economic classification, the hard-core audiences for Indian classical music belong to the lower middle classes rather than the middle or upper.

 

Despite the “Happening” potential of an interaction between  the musician and cognoscenti audience, we must take note of the fact that some of the greatest and commercially successful musicians of our times have had only healthy contempt for audience testes and preferences.  It is also significant that the Golden Age of Indian classical music was characterized by small audiences consisting of a feudal aristocracy of highly cultivated tastes.   Also significant is the fact that the greatest music of India has been heard on many occasions in the past, in the “Music Conference” format where the great musicians from all over India convene to share their music primarily with each other and only incidentally, with the public.

 

THE CONTEMPORARY REALITY

 

The electronic media have expanded the reach of classical music at an incredible pace.  Along with an expansion in demand, there is also a proportionate expansion in the supply of fresh talent to the musical arena.

 

Because of stiff competition for market entry from a growing talent bank, the radio and the recording companies pay the musicians very poorly, if at all.  These media, lacking in the audience-participation quality, have been reduced essentially to being “advertising media” for musicians.  The end result is that the premium on the “real thing” or “the concert as a happening” has gone up.

 

But, as a result of the same phenomenon, the average level of discernment of the audiences has been diluted.  Thus, a relatively undiscerning concert audience has become the mainstay of a musician’s livelihood.  Ironically therefore, as the premium on the “real thing” has gone up, the likelihood of the “concert as a happening” has gone down.

 

THE HIDDEN AGENDA

 

To an extent, this problem is resolved by the fact that every mature artist has positioned himself in the concert market as either a mystic, a musician, a performer, an entertainer, or a showman.  This positioning determines the “Hidden Agenda” that draws high-brow, middle-brow, or low-brow audiences to his concerts.

 

The same “Hidden Agenda” automatically defines and limits his choice of repertoire.  He has a loyal following with a reasonably stable set of expectations regarding the choice of repertoire and the method of presentation.

 

Even within the limitations of this “Hidden Agenda”, there exists sufficient freedom of choice.  And, I can also say that the leading musicians of our time have delivered their most memorable concerts when they risked the discomfort of their fans, and decided to throw the “Hidden Agenda” out of the window.

 

CONCERT PLANNING

 

The repertoire selection for a concert pertains mainly to the selection of “ragas”, the melodic structures, and the “talas”, the rhythmic cycles in which the compositions will be presented.

 

The “raga” (melodic) and “tala’ (rhythmic) selection is guided by a variety of considerations.

 

RAGA SELECTION

 

To some extent, the “Hidden Agenda” between the musician and his following defines the “ragas” that they will want to hear from him.  But, this does not totally solve the problem of raga selection because in an expanding market with a continuous inflow of new “projects/brands”, there is, at all times, a very high level of “trial purchase” of all musicians.  Audience profiles and audience expectations are therefore becoming less and less predictable.

 

Having solved this problem, the next step in decision making is relatively easier.  The Indian classical tradition, over millennia of evolution, has developed an elaborate system of relating melodic structures to human emotional states.  There are “ragas” appropriate for each hour of the day, and each season of the year.

 

The next consideration in raga selection is the desire of the musician to offer some degree of variety in his repertoire.  Even in the most limited format of a presentation, a musician will perform two or three pieces in succession.

 

It will generally be his endeavour to select one raga of each mood he chooses to handle in the concert.  One may be melancholy, another may be romantic, and the third may be playful.  But, if the theme of the concert is seasonal, say, a festival of the rainy season or a festival of spring, he will be obliged to select ragas appropriate for the season.  But, even within this seasonal or time-of-day constraint, he will attempt to present a sufficient variety.

 

The next consideration is whether the musician is the only performer being presented in the concert or one amongst several.  If other musicians are  also  performing in the same concert, each will avoid duplication of ragas with the others.  This is a concession to the audiences’ need for variety, and a common courtesy musicians’ offer to each other to ensure that none is subjected to comparison on the same raga.

 

Here, some degree of anticipation has to be done based on each musician’s  knowledge of the preferences of other performing musicians.  Sometimes the anticipation misfires, and musicians often have to perform ragas they had not planned because the previous performer has already performed what they had planned for themselves.

 

The final consideration is the audience profile.  High-brow, middle-brow, and low-brow audiences respond to different kinds of ragas.  Unless the purpose of the concert is explicitly “educational”, and if the musician is temperamentally inclined to take audience profiles into account he will chose ragas to suit their level of aesthetic maturity.

 

With all the planning, of course, the performer or the stage is ultimately a slave of a responsive and appreciative audience.  Indian musicians occasionally receive requests for specific ragas from audiences, and a good musician’s inventory of comfortable “ragas” is normally large enough to enable him to oblige.

 

Except on radio or television, I personally cannot recall many concerts where I played only what I had planned, and played everything I had planned. This is why Western audiences find, often to their discomfort, that an Indian musician’s repertoire for a concert is seldom announced in advance

 

TALA SELECTION 

 

The second aspect of planning, which is more in the territory of treatment than substance, has to do with the choice of the basic composition, specifically the rhythmic cycle of the composition Just as there are different ragas with different moods, there are talas-rhythmic cycles – each with its own distinctive lilt and mood.

 

The more serious ragas lend themselves to rendition in certain rhythmic cycles with strong, symmetrical, and elongated structures The lighter ragas representing the lighter side of human emotional states lend themselves better to rhythmic cycles with asymmetrical and shorter best structures. Some rhythmic structures are appropriate for serious as well as light ragas.

 

REPERTOIRE  PRESENTATION 

 

Repertoire presentation deals with [a] the duration of each piece of music presented [b] its treatment

 

[a] The duration of each piece is guided substantially by the character of the “raga” and profile of the audience

 

With the normal middle-to-high brow Indian audiences for a 3-hour single performer concert, there would be a main raga which is amenable to elaborate treatment lasting 45-90 minutes, and subsequent pieces of progressively shorter durations 

 

Low-brow Indian audiences and relatively uninitiated foreign audiences cannot handle the melodic complexity of some ragas, and also cannot follow the evolution of the melodic structure through the different phases of presentation. The choice of ragas to be presented to such audiences is therefore limited. And, it is expedient to curtail the duration of each piece to a maximum of 30/35 minutes, and even preface each piece with introductory and explanatory remarks.

 

There are, of course, exceptions to this. Many foreign audiences have today reached a level of understanding of Indian classical music which is comparable to the cognoscenti back home.

 

[b] The treatment in Indian classical music is to some extent, determined by the duration of each piece. A typical raga rendition goes through Six or seven distinct movements for full-length presentation of 45/90 minutes, for an elaborate raga with unlimited scope for development.

 

Because of the improvisational and interactive quality of Indian classical music, the musician has a considerable degree of flexibility in the treatment of his repertoire.

 

If a musician favours shorter durations, he will skip some of the movements or give them only summary treatment.

 

THE DEMANDS OF THE CONCERT FORMAT 

 

Broadly, Indian classical music is presented on the stage in three formats:

 

[a] A single-performer concert lasting two and a half to three hours during which, the musician will present three or four pieces of music. Normally, such concerts are given only to mature performing musicians.

 

[b] A two-performer concert. Two musicians share a concert with each taking 90 to 120 minutes, with an intermission in between. Such concerts are normally available to upcoming and middle-level performers.

 

[c] 2/3 day festivals of course there are occasionally 6/7 day festivals also- with two / three musicians performing on each day. Such festivals normally feature the stars and super-stars of classical music. Each musician normally takes upto 120 minutes. But, there is no formal binding on the duration. Each musician will perform as long as he/she pleases and the audiences are willing to listen or ask for more.

 

There appears to be no distinct pattern in the audience profiles at concerts of different formats.  All formats now attract larger numbers of the relatively uninitiated audiences.

 

Then there is the audience-neutral” format of Radio and Television concerts where duration of each piece vary from 20 minutes to one hour. Normally, a musician broadcasts two/three items during the day when commissioned usually pre-recorded.

 

Repertoire selection and treatment are guided by the time of the day, the time of the year, and the needs of duration and variety through the different broadcasts during the day.

 

From the audience-size point of view, nothing matches the reach of radio and TV.

But, from the point of view of the creative process, radio and TV are very unsatisfactory media because the audience is absent, and its profile is indeterminate.  From the commercial point of view also, radio is not a very significant vehicle for classical musicians because it pays poorly, and the frequency of exposure is too low to make any impact on the concert market.  However, some musicians give their best introspective recitals in the quite, peaceful environment of the studio undisturbed by audience behaviour or response.

 

CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS AND ISSUES 

 

Appreciating and enjoying Indian classical music demands tens of years of training of the ears, the mind, and indeed, the soul. And, it is in the midst of audiences of such cultivation that our music can express its full aesthetic potential.

 

As a musician, I have not found it difficult to present any serious brand of music to a large enough audience in India or abroad without having to worry about the economic consequences of an uncompromising stance But, mine may be perhaps the last generation to have this privilege.

 

Not long ago, great classical musicians did not have to worry about making a living because the Feudal States supported them comfortably. The rest had to be willing to live in penury.

 

Today, classical music no longer needs to be pursued as a lifelong mission totally immune to the economic consideration. Thanks to the booming market, it is now viable, and even profitable as a profession for the exceptionally gifted. Therein may lie the cause of its decay.

 

And, because our music is not written, nor rigidly structured, the signs of decay can too easily go unnoticed by undiscerning audiences exposed to the gloss of modern presentation. This is paradoxical because the structure of Indian classical music based on the raga system and a system of education based on a personalised master-pupil relationship, was designed precisely for continuity within change, for an evolution through the millennia without losing its basic meditative-contemplative character.

 

I like to compare Indian classical music with the Rolls Royce which has evolved over the years without ceasing to be a Rolls Royce, a masterpiece of human creativity and craftsmanship. Even if it lost commercial value, it would deserve to be on the roads as the ultimate yardstick for judging everything else on four wheels.

 

Inevitably, growing markets will create a demand for BMWs, as well as Hondas and Volkswagens. But, it will be tragic if the survival of Rolls Royce should someday depend on fitting it with a Honda engine. And, this tragedy may well come to pass it the Honda Motor Car Co. finds it profitable to offer a Rollys Royce body as an optional feature.

 

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS 

 

The character of Indian classical music is such that the musician performs for himself rather than for others, and the only audience worth having is one where every member of the audience would qualify as a critic.

 

The process of decision making with respect to repertoire selection and treatment is therefore highly audience-driven. Partly, it is conditioned by what the loyal following of each musician has come to expect of him. But, it is largely determined by the aesthetics of the classical tradition which defines what is appropriate for different times of the day, and different seasons of the year.

 

Beyond this, it is conditioned by the extent to which a musician is inclined to tailor his repertoire and treatment to the aesthetic levels and dimensions of the audience he is confronted with.

 

Serious musicians in India are today greatly concerned that the electronic media have expanded the size of the market for classical music faster than it is possible to elevate levels of appreciation With a progressive dilution of audience quality, there are signs of a dilution in musicianship amongst professional musicians, and in the emotional richness of the aesthetic experience they create.

 

I conclude my paper with the fear that, the soul of Indian music may henceforth have to be preserved by musicians who do not commercialise music and consider it an exploration of man’s divine potential.