Vedic music had 3 notes, Komal Nishad (Ni), Shadja (Sa) and Komal Rishabh (Re). Shlokas composed in the Vedic scale make the mind calm and introspective, but never sleepy.
On the other hand, a typical Trumpet "alert" call has 3 notes too - Shadja (Sa), Shuddha Gandhar (Ga) and Pancham (Pa). This has the effect of waking the mind up, drawing attention, creating a sense of urgency.
The question is, why this difference?
I will put forth a conjecture:
Human speech undergoes inflections according to emotions. Perhaps, the reverse is true also.
When we are calm and talking with stable emotions, upward and downward inflections are relatively small. As an example,
- When we say"Uh-huh". "Uh" is at Komal Ni and "huh" is at Sa.
- When we ask "So?", The inflection starts at Sa and ends in a Komal Re.
Thus, the Vedic scale represents normal human tonic structures, codified as relative upward and downward changes in notes. (Svarita - baseline, Uddatta - higher, Anudatta - lower)
When we want to call out to someone, or call someone to us, our inflections are relatively bigger. As an example:
- "Anybody home?" - can be approximated to a Sa-Pa transition.
- "Come here" - can be approximated to a Pa-Ga transition
On the other hand, a typical Trumpet "alert" call has 3 notes too - Shadja (Sa), Shuddha Gandhar (Ga) and Pancham (Pa). This has the effect of waking the mind up, drawing attention, creating a sense of urgency.
The question is, why this difference?
I will put forth a conjecture:
Human speech undergoes inflections according to emotions. Perhaps, the reverse is true also.
When we are calm and talking with stable emotions, upward and downward inflections are relatively small. As an example,
- When we say"Uh-huh". "Uh" is at Komal Ni and "huh" is at Sa.
- When we ask "So?", The inflection starts at Sa and ends in a Komal Re.
Thus, the Vedic scale represents normal human tonic structures, codified as relative upward and downward changes in notes. (Svarita - baseline, Uddatta - higher, Anudatta - lower)
When we want to call out to someone, or call someone to us, our inflections are relatively bigger. As an example:
- "Anybody home?" - can be approximated to a Sa-Pa transition.
- "Come here" - can be approximated to a Pa-Ga transition
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