Published on : 03 February 20203 min reading time

Hindu yoga music

Indian modal music was offered to the Gods and played exclusively in temples. Nowadays, we have the joy of practicing it as yoga in the intimacy of the inner sanctuary. Our body constantly vibrates to the rhythm of the heart beating at its own rhythm.

Vocal Yoga

It is a practice of sound harmonization using the vocal techniques of Indian classical music: Raga science, mantras, and various aspects of Indian devotional singing. The singer quickly learns to locate himself in a precise vocal space, moving up and down the scale of melodies, guided continuously by the reference note of the drone (tanpura).

Indian musical instruments

The Dilrubâ

It is a bowed instrument with a skin-covered resonance chamber. It is composed of many resonance strings which give it an increased sound.

The Vîn

Also known as Bîne, is the oldest of the Indian fretted lutes. It consists of a bamboo on which two spherical resonators made of dried squash. They are fixed by means of metal tubes. It gave birth to SITAR and SAROD. The Vînâ family includes several instruments such as the rudra vînâ or the carnatic vînâ.

The Sârangî

It is India’s main bowed instrument that consists of a massive resonance chamber topped by a large handle. The easel rests on a stretched skin. It has three or four gut strings that are played with a short bow in the shape of an arch. It also contains Thirty-five to forty metal resonance strings that are placed under the main strings.

The Sitâr

It is the most common instrument nowadays and its current form was established around the 18th century. It is composed of a hemispherical resonance box mounted on a very long handle on which are fixed, in slides, movable keys. The strings are played with a plectrum held between the thumb and index finger or with a metal tab. The sitar used at the beginning of the 19th century was very different from the one we are using nowadays. The link that the modern sitar maintains with its ancestor, the Iranian Sitar of the 19th century, is that it had three strings. It has now about twenty strings.

The Sarod

It is a very old instrument. It is the most sonorous and one of the most beautiful instruments in India. It is composed of a hemispherical resonance chamber covered with a very smooth metal plate that serves as a key. It has four melodic strings and many resonant strings. It is played like the Vînâ and the Sitâr, with steel wire tabs.