Thesis (Ph. D.) -- Brown University, 1980. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 238-247).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Wesleyan University, 1974. / Typescript. "Vol. IV. 'Mrdangam lessons in western staff notation' previously published Indian music, not microfilmed at request of author, and Vol. V. 'Tape recordings of Mrdangam lessons, ' available for consultation at Wesleyan University library." Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

The rasa theory of Indian aesthetics is concerned with the nature of the genesis of emotions and their corresponding experiences, as well as the condition of being in and experiencing the aesthetic world. According to the Indian aesthetic theory, rasa ("juice" or "essence," something that is savored, that is tasted) is an embodied aesthetic experienced through an artistic performance. In this thesis, I have investigated how the aesthetics of rasa philosophy account for creative presence and its experiences in Karnatik vocal performances. Beyond the facets of grammar, Karnatik rāga performance signifies a deeper ontological meaning as a way to experience rasa, idiomatically termed as rāga-rasa by South Indian rāga practitioners. A vocal performance of a rāga ideally depends on a singer's embodied experience of rāga and rāga-bhāva (emotive expression of rāga), as much as it does on his/her theoretical knowledge and skillset of a rāga's svaras (scale degrees), gamakas (ornamentation), lakṣhaṇās (emblematic phrases), and so on. Reflecting on my own experience of being a Karnatik student and performer for the last two decades, participant observation, interviews, and analysis of Indian aesthetic theory of rasa, I propose a way of understanding that to sing rāga is to embody bhāva opening the space that brings rasa into being. Reflecting on the epistemology of rāga theory, particularly its smaller entities of svaras and gamakas, and through a phenomenological description of the process through which a vocalist embodies rāga (including how a guru transmits this musical embodiment to his shishya [disciple]), I argue that the notion of rāga-rasa itself has agency in determining the nature of svaras and its gamakas in a rāga performance. Additionally, focusing on the relationship between performers and rasikas (drinkers of the juice), this thesis examines how the embodiment of rāga-bhāva and the experience of rasa open the possibility for musicians and audiences to live rāga-rasa in a performance.

I had performed a recital of my compositions on April 22, 2016. This thesis is a portfolio of all of my compositions, including the program from my recital, program notes for each piece, and all scores. My senior recital consisted of two distinct halves. The first half was an exploration of abstract, theoretical, and experimental concepts in Western Art Music. The second half was an exploration in synthesizing the Carnatic music system with Western Art Music styles. This half was also an experiment in reversing musical orientalism, which has been historically prevalent in Western Art Music.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 1991. / "A dissertation in music submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy ..." Includes bibliographical references (v. 1: p. 390-391).

La présente étude aborde la problématique de la fonction et du statut du compositeur - comme celle de son influence et de son style - au sein de la tradition musicale classique de l’Inde du Sud (musique carnatique) à travers ses trois plus grands représentants ou « Trinité carnatique » : Śyāmā Śastri (1762/63 – 1827), Tyāgarāja (1767-1847), Muttusvāmi Dīkṣitar (1775-1835). Elle se concentre sur la forme reine d’un vaste répertoire que ces trois musiciens ont portée à son apogée : le kṛti. Instrument privilégié de la mystique hindoue appelée bhakti, le kṛti est d’abord destiné au chant, ses compositeurs sont aussi poètes et s’il apparaît tout entier dédié à la louange divine, il s’avère aussi le lieu privilégié de l’expression personnelle sur le plan tant littéraire que musical. La création musicale en Inde du Sud est par ailleurs le fruit d'une incessante et subtile alternance entre improvisation et composition : les formes compositionnelles contiennent une part d’ouverture qui en assure non seulement la vie mais aussi la pérennité. Comment le compositeur prend-T-Il en charge le devenir de ses œuvres et de quelles manières ? Comment, tant par ses compositions que par le modèle de son existence même – par le jeu hagiographique – s’inscrit-Il dans le processus créatif, notamment celui de l’interprétation ? En quoi le kṛti, et particulièrement ceux de la Trinité carnatique, constitue un terrain particulièrement favorable pour la dialectique de la fixité et de la mobilité ? Ces éléments de problématique impliquent une approche à la fois historique et anthropologique tout en ouvrant un vaste champ à l’analyse musicale. / The topic of this study presents the part and status of a composer – as well as his influence and style – within the traditional classical music in South India (carnatic music) through its three major representatives, so called carnatic Trinity : Śyāmā Śastri (1762/63 – 1827), Tyāgarāja (1767-1847), Muttusvāmi Dīkṣitar (1775-1835). It concentrates on the most radiant aspects of a large repertoire which has been brought to its achievement by these three musicians, the krti. As an essential tool to implement the Indian mysticism so called bhakti, the kṛti’s first purpose is linked to singing; its composers are also poets and though it is entirely dedicated to God’s praise, it appears to be also a unique way for personal expression, on literary as well as musical aspects. In South India, musical creativity is also a subtle and endless combination between improvisation and composition: the composition side remains partly opened which makes it not only vivid but also perennial. How does the composer manage the future evolution of his work and through which arrangements? Where does he stand in the creation process, including interpretation, through his compositions and his own life standard, thanks to hagiography? Why does the kṛti, especially those belonging to the carnatic Trinity, form a particularly favorable field for the dialectic of permanence and change? These aspects of the question need to be treated from a historical as well as anthropological standpoint but keep opened a wide area for musical analysis investigation.

This research looks at contemporary understandings of performance arts in India, specifically Karnatic Music and Bharatnatyam as ‘religious’ arts. Historically, music and dance were performed and patronized in royal courts and temples. In the early 20th century, increased nationalist activities led to various forms of self-scrutiny about what represented ‘true’ Indian culture. By appropriating colonial discourses based on the religious/secular dichotomy, Karnatic Music was carefully constructed to represent a ‘pure’ Indian, specifically ‘Hindu’ culture that was superior to the ‘materialistic’ Western culture. Importantly, the category called divine was re-constructed and distinguished from the erotic: the divine was represented as a category that was sacred whilst the erotic represented ‘sexual impropriety.’ In so doing, performance arts in the public sphere became explicitly gendered. Feminity and masculinity were re-defined: the female body was re-imagined as ‘sexual impropriety’ when in the public sphere, but when disembodied in the private sphere could be deified as a guardian of spirituality. Traditional performing communities were marginalized while the newly defined music and dance was appropriated by the Brahmin community, who assumed the role of guardians of the newly constructed Indian-Hindu identity, resulting in caste-based ‘ownership’ of performance arts. Mechanical reproduction of Karnatic Music has created a disconnect in contemporary Indian society, in which Karnatic Music is disembodied from its contexts in order to be commodified as an individual’s artistic expression of creativity. This move marks a shift from substantive economics (music was performed and experienced within a specific context, be it royal patronage or Indian nationalist movements) to formal economics (music as a performer’s creative property). I question the understanding of Karnatic Music as ‘religious’ music that is distinguished from the ‘secular’ and seek to understand the colonial patriarchal mystification of the female body in the private sphere by deconstructing the definition of the ‘divine.’ In doing so, I also question the contemporary understanding of Karnatic Music as an item of property that disembodies the music from its historical context.

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