Abstract

Indian music is one of the most perfect and sophisticated music systems in the world. Microintervals, melodic models and rhythmic patterns, revealed by the Indian music, have made a valuable contribution to world music culture. This study is based on the analysis of the phenomenon of raga, the central concept of Indian musical culture, as the main concept for the perception of classical Indian music. A raga is an art of melodic improvisation, carried out in fixed boundaries of the mode and given rhythmic patterns. This article contains general information about the theory of music, aesthetics, philosophy, religion and history of India. A brief excursion describes the history of the emergence of musical culture and traditional forms of Indian classical music, as well as a list of musical instruments found in different traditions. This paper presents a laconic description structure of the Indian modal system and gives the correspondences to the intervals and scales of European music. Revealing the dominant element of the philosophical and aesthetic combination, the components of the raga and the relationship within the system are identified. Some questions of the differences between the notions of music in India and in the West are touched upon. In conclusion, raga has been regarded as a sound form by producing a certain way of thinking in the human psyche and helping create psycho-emotional states.

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