Dynamics of Melodic Discourse in Indian Music

This chapter presents an analysis of a performance of ālāp, with reference to the compositional principles that it demonstrates. Following a long succession of ethnomusicological and musicological studies, including Nettl (1974), Lortat-Jacob (1987), Nettl and Russell (1998), Treitler (1974, 2003), Nooshin (2003) and many other contributions, it is clear that compositional principles are no less important in music that is unwritten and “improvised” than in music that is written and “composed”; and that indeed, one can no longer speak of “improvisation” and “composition” in any oppositional sense. It also seems clear that the importance of compositional principles in unwritten music, such as ālāp, is related both to the performer’s need to recall memorised material and invent new material that is grammatical, and at the same time to the listener’s need to engage with, comprehend, and be stimulated by an auditory experience that, for him, happens in real time, whether a written score exists or not, and whether he is listening to a live performance or a recording. In this essay I will consider primarily the listener’s perspective; how far the cognitive processes involved in performing and listening to ālāp are equivalent remains an open question, but that they are closely related seems likely.