| History
of Indian musical instruments
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Revered Hindu religious scriptures of the Vedas speak of the
use of musical instruments in worship. The fact that Indian
musical instruments are mentioned in such ancient religious
works is indicative of the fact that music had an important
role in ancient India. The foundation of Indian music was rooted
in three different forms of performance-art. These were Vocal
music or singing, instrumental music and dance.
Medieval musical instruments are those that were used between
the fifth and seventeenth centuries AD in India. Many religious
songs that dealt with the story of Radha and Krishna were composed
during this period. During the Muslim invasion of Northern India
Indian music came to be divided into the Northern Hindustani
music and the southern Carnatic style of music. The instruments
used in the medieval era by musicians from both styles of music
included the veena, the sitar, the sarod, the shehenai, the
tabla, the harmonium and the pakhavaj to name just a few.
Indian music has two main aspects. Rag which deals with the
area of melody and Tal which has to do with rhythm. The system
of Rag involves the arrangement of seven notes.
Today, many ancient musical instruments are hard to locate and
some rare musical instruments that were once an important part
of
Indian musical tradition are no longer used at all. The 'been',
a traditional blowpipe as is usually depicted in pictures of
snake-charmers and the 'bhopung', a one-stringed musical instrument
are some examples of these.
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