Re: Indian classical music

[Dave Stagner <dstagner@icarus.net>]

On Tue, 8 Oct 1996, Pete Koniuto wrote:

> 
> Loopers,
> 
> On Mon, 7 Oct 1996, Dave Stagner wrote:
> 
> > The other source was a book by English free improvisor Derek Bailey,
> > called (appropriately enough) "Musical Improvisation".  Bailey devoted
> > two chapters of this rather thin volume to Indian classical music,
> > praising it extensively as an improvisational structure.  He spent
> > much time dealing with the basic musical theory, which is more
> > philosophical than "musical" in nature.  Because there really isn't a
> > written form for the music, there is debate over even the number of
> > notes in an octave.  
> 
> Small correction:  The book by Derek Bailey is actually called
> _Improvisation: its nature and practice in music_, published in 1980, 
>but 
> then a second edition appeared in 1992 from the London publisher, British
> Library National Sound Archive.

Thanks for the correction.  I'm going from memory here.  Heck, I only
recently rediscovered my copy, buried in a box with a bunch of
half-demolished electronics I stripped for parts.  I was terrified I
had loaned it out to someone and never got it back!  

> But, alas, even the second edition is out of print already.  However,
> i am sure a copy of at least one of these editions is available in
> your local library.

I've NEVER seen it in a library, including a couple of university
libraries.  Then again, given the typical Ivory Tower conservatory
attitude toward improvisation... 

> There is another *excellent* book for those interested in the 
>fundamentals
> of Indian Classical music--the terminology and such.  It was written by 
>a 
> woman whose name eludes me for the moment, but i have it at home 
>somewhere,
> i believe.  So i'll post the info tomorrow.

Please do!  All I have are my Ali Akbar Khan records, the Bailey book,
and memories of a conversation from years ago.  It seems to me Indian
music theory might go a long way toward capturing an understanding of
looping, where Western theory falls flat. 

-dave

By "beauty," I mean that which seems complete.
Obversely, that the incomplete, or the mutilated, is the ugly. 
Venus De Milo.
To a child she is ugly.       
   -Charles Fort              dstagner@icarus.net