Carnatic Vocals
Carnatic music is a form of Indian classical music with origins in Southern India. Lyrics in Carnatic music are largely devotional. Many songs emphasize love and other social issues or rest on the concept of sublimation of human emotions for union with the divine. Carnatic music as a classical form is always thus required to be a culturally elevating medium.
In Carnatic vocal music, the raga is particularly difficult to master and emphasis on the solfege of Carnatic music is highly pronounced in vocal training.
Hindustani Vocals
Hindustani classical music is the classical music of northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It may also be called North Indian Classical music or Hindustani Shastriya Sangeet.
This music combines the Indian classical music tradition, resulting in a unique tradition of Gharana system of music education.
Around 1900, Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande consolidated the musical structures of Hindustani classical music, called ragas, into a few thaats based on their notes. This is very flawed system but is somewhat useful as a heuristic.
Keyboard / Piano
A Keyboard instrument is a musical instrument played using a keyboard , a row of levers that are pressed by the fingers. The most common of these are the Piano organ, and various electronic keyboards, including synthesizers and digital Pianos.
Today, the term keyboard often refers to Keyboard-style synthesizers. Particularly in the 18th century, the harpsichord, the clavichord and the early piano competed, and the same piece might be played on more than one.
The term keyboard classifies instruments based on how the performer plays the instrument and not on how the sound is produced.
The Piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when pressed on the keys. There are two main types of Piano, the grand Piano and the upright piano. In the nineteenth century, influenced by Romantic music trends, the fortepiano adopted changes such as using the cast iron frame and aliquot stringing gave grand pianos a more powerful sound. The Piano is widely employed in classical jazz, traditional and popular music for solo and ensemble performances, accompaniment and for composing, songwriting and rehearsals.
Harmonium
Harmonium is a stinged instrument made of wood, metal, brass, and cloth. A kind of portable wooden box, it was originated in West Bengal. The Harmonium has thus become an integral part of Indian music. It is extensively used to accompany in all music forms like folk, classical, Sufi, Bhajan and Gazal compositions for both music and dance.
Violin
The Violin is one of the most important instrument in western classical music, owing not only to a unique strength of tone that stands out among other instruments, but also because of its tremendous musical agility which enables complex sequences of notes to be played in rapid succession.
The violin is usually used as accompaniment for vocal music but is also played a solo instrument, although the instrument is held – and handled- differently to Western Classical Music.
Tabala
Tabla is a popular percussion instrument used in the Hindustani classical, religious music. The tabla is invented in the first half of the 18th century (about 1738) by Amir Khusro. It is subtle and melodic percussion instrument that could accompany the original style of music called Khayal.
Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion (king of Percussion) instrument in Hindustani classical music where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with the other instruments and vocal.
Guitar
The Guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player’s body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strings against frets with the fingers of the opposite hand.
There are three main types of modern guitar, the classical guitar(Spanish Guitar/nylon-string guitar), the steel-string acoustic guitar or electric guitar and the Hawaiian guitar (played across the player’s lap).
The guitar is used in a wide variety of musical genres worldwide.
Drums
The Drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. Drums are the world’s oldest and most ubiquitous musical instrument.
Drums may be played individually, with the player using single drum, and some drums such as the djembe are almost always played in this way. Others are normally played in a set of two or more, all played by the one player such as bongo drums and timpani. A number of different drums together with cymbals form the basic modern drum kit.
