Why ‘Sa’ is not equal C

Here’s a list of five things every Indian musician should know about western music.

BENGALURU: Most Indian musicians want to explore the relationship between Indian and western music, since the world is getting smaller, and we all want collaborate with artistes from different musical traditions and understand different musical styles.   Here’s a list of five things every Indian musician should know about western music. 

• Sa does not equal C- This is possibly the biggest misconception around the relationship between Indian and western music.  Sa is not always C. It is not.  Sa is the tonic, or first note of the scale.  So in the Key of D, Sa is D. In the key of E, Sa.  
• Note reading isn’t rocket science, but it does take practice - For most of us that have learnt music by ear, the idea of reading western notation can seem daunting, and sometimes frankly not worth the effort.  Note reading is simple and straightforward.  It isn’t hard to learn, but to be fluent, you need to practice regularly.  
• Western music has ornamentation - Sometimes Indian musicians assume that Western music doesn’t have ornamentation, like we have gamakas and other ornaments in Indian music.  The truth is, western music does have ornamentation, whether it’s trills and mordents or slides.  Each style of western music has it’s own style of ornamentation.
• Notes make chords, make chord progressions make harmony - The idea of chords and harmonies and chord progressions can seem overwhelming to Indian musicians who are used to thinking only melodically.  The thing to remember is a chord is a group of notes.  A sequence of chords makes a chord progression, which is harmony.  There is a lot to learn, but it’s not impossible. 
• There is no single type of western music - Although many people think of it as “western music” that’s a generic term that could apply to many, many styles of music, just like “Indian music” could mean anything from bhajans, bhangra or Bollywood.  Figure out the stylistic elements, including ornamentation relevant to the particular style of music you want to play. 

(The authors run SaPa - the Subramaniam Academy of Performing Arts)