Melharmony

Melharmony is an avant garde form of composing that aims to blend the two primary, yet diverse concepts in world music - melody and harmony. It was first proposed by musician-composer^[1] Chitravina N. Ravikiran. Melharmony is an inclusive, comprehensive approach to music that takes into consideration the rules and aesthetics of melody-centric systems (like Indian Classical) as well as harmony-anchored systems (like Western Classical & Jazz). Some of these approaches can be fundamentally very different between cultures - including concepts of consonance & dissonance, melodic rules in modal/scalar systems as opposed to rules of counterpoint in harmony based systems. Melharmony aims to come up with artistic solutions to create music that is enjoyable and acceptable to connoisseurs and scholars of both melody-centric and harmony-centric systems while performed by symphony/chamber/string orchestras as well as jazz and world music ensembles.

Definition & Approach

Melharmony has been technically defined as "harmony and vertical layers of music with an emphasis on the rules and principles of highly evolved melodic systems".^[2] It was initially seen as a unique classical fusion engaging Western and Indian Classical systems,^[3] though it has subsequently also been a synthesis of melodic rules of India's classical music with jazz, brazilian and other world cultures.^[4]

American composer and music theorist Robert Morris notes, "Melharmony therefore suggests that voice leading should be derived from the melodic and combinational structure of a mode (raga). Further, while almost any note combination could be workable when rendered successively, only certain combinations will be palatable when rendered simultaneously, which makes melharmony all the more intricate."^[5]

While a number of systems like the Raga system of Indian Carnatic Music/Hindustani classical music, Chinese Music and Makam system of Persia or have been built upon solid melodic principles dating back to thousands of years, Indian and Chinese systems, which use twelve-tone musical system like Western Classical music would be easier to "melharmonize" as opposed to Persian/Arabic systems, some of which could have as many as nine micro-tonal intervals or comma within every whole tone^[6]

Classical Western Harmony and Melharmony

Classical Western approach to harmony has been Triad-centric for centuries though other important tools include ostinato, contrary movements, rhythmic augmentation or diminution, imitation etc are also vital techniques. However, extrapolating a triad-centric approach to melodic systems like Indian Carnatic Classical which have intricate rules for hundreds of modes (ragas) often creates conflicting results.^[7]

Likewise, the rules of counterpoint in Western systems have features that are quite distinct from the rules of mode (raga) based systems.

Melharmony shifts the focus from Triad-centric harmony to Fragmentation for creating multiple parts.^[8] If fragmentation were to anchor harmony in close alliance with melodic rules of diverse systems, one will be able to employ triadic harmony, ostinato and other tools around it, which will result in reconciling both melodic and harmonic approaches.

This concert example shows how the approach to creation of Harmony is distinctive in Melharmonic compositions from typical approaches in the West.

Melodic principles in Melharmony

Melharmony functions on a sophisticated set of principles that also take into consideration melodic rules and structure. Melodic systems in many parts of the world have tended to expand horizontally, exploring more scales and modes with specific ascending and descending sequences as opposed to the primary Major or Minor scales which form the core of harmonic systems. An instance of this would be the Carnatic music^[9] of India where each raga (mode) demands integrity to scale, sequence, key phrases (fragmentation), hierarchy of notes within its structure and so forth. Melharmony pays attention to these rules while creating multiple parts.

A few melodic rules are illustrated below.

Illustration

Illustration 1 - Sequence of notes: The sequence of a raga Kadanakutoohalam is C D F A B E G C - C B A G F E D C. Even though it is using the same notes as C Major, a major chord like C-E-G will not sound as appropriate in a Melharmonic context as E-G-C. D-F-A would work very well but in the case of E-G-B, an inversion (B-E-G) could be a good option. F-A-C, G-B-D and A-C-E would also be non-appropriate.

Illustration 2 - Hierarchy of notes: Arabhi uses a simple sequence: C D F G A C - C B A G F E D C. But B and E are employed only fleetingly in this raga, which eliminates several chord options including C-E-G (in any permutation). However, careful choices such as F-A-D (rather than D-F-A) can make the melody come alive since all three notes are dominant in this raga.

Illustration 3 - Ornamentation of notes: Raga Shankarabharanam, (one of the "Big-6" modes in Carnatic) is the equivalent of the major scale: C D E F G A B C - C B A G F E D C. But several chords that are routinely employed in Western compositions may not sound appropriate to the raga's character, because of certain ornamentation which include oscillation of notes like D, F and A, a force imparted to B which almost pushes it to the high C and so forth. Chord triads which sound appropriate in a melharmonic context (such as diminished B-D-F ) are more exceptions to the rule.

The above illustrations do not imply that Melharmony is limited in scope. Quite the converse since there are diverse harmonic options in many ragas which can be explored and employed appropriately. Similar melharmonic options can be created for any highly evolved melodic system.

Performance Repertoire

Melharmonic compositions employ musical forms of Western Classical such as Caprice,^[10] Étude and Concerto for various instruments and also forms like geetam and krti (also spelt as kriti, which are used in Indian Carnatic music. They often showcase ragas^[11] novel to Western audiences and often feature inventive rhythmic cadences^[12] and mathematical patterns.

Melharmonic arrangements of traditional Indian composers including Tyagaraja,^[13] Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi and Muthuswami Dikshitar have been introduced to various symphonies, ensembles, Jazz/world music groups and school orchestras.^[14]

Melharmony also plays a dynamic role in Jazz and world music concerts, when coupled with interesting rhythms.^{[15] [16]}

Academic perspectives

Prof. Robert Morris' (Chair of composing, Eastman School of Music, NY) paper - 'Ravikiran's Concept of Melharmony: An Inquiry into Harmony in South Indian Ragas"^[17] in the Society for Music Theory Conference in Nov 2005, Boston, USA, brought out several theoretical aspects of Melharmony that could be applied by both composers and students of Western systems. Papers, panel discussions and lectures have been presented in various conferences in Amsterdam, Houston, Orlando and other cities which have highlighted diverse aspects of the concept.^[18]

Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY has now devised a Credit Course on the subject.^[19]

Melharmony and Harmony in Contemporary Indian & Film Music

Several composers including leading film music composers in India have often attempted to harmonize raga-based songs in diverse ways. Since their aim is to more often than not suggest a raga rather than pursue it through the course of a piece, they have not hesitated to use melodies or harmonies outside of the raga. Attempts by other orchestras and ensembles in India to harmonize new music or works of traditional composers have also been directed more towards creating conventional harmony, which contrasts with the melharmonic approach.

References