Music mysteries to be unveiled

TIMES NATION, The Times of India, Mysore,
Tuesday, January 9, 2007.

Mysore: Internationally famed musician Anasuya Kulkarni said that research is being carried out on various melodies and musical instruments across the world.

Speaking at the inauguration of the two day international symposium on Frontiers of Research on Speech and Music (FRSM), she said, “Indian music is based on raga or is melody oriented, and we have melodies for all times of the day, like morning, afternoon and evening”.

She added that vibrations produced by particular melodies with swaras or notes, during any particular hour, affect the human or animal body differently. Music has come in handy to heal many human diseases, and like many other therapies, music therapy is also coming into its own.

Communities living in forests, hilly regions and caves utilize musical instruments for various purpose. Wind instruments are used to catch or chase animals, pungi to catch snakes, flute to chase away leopards and stringed instruments while singing and meditating, as they are most soothing.

Deliberating the objectives of the symposium, FRSM committee chairman A K Dutta said speech and music are two subtle forms of human cognitive behaviour. He hoped that the platform would unfold novelties in these areas, and be critically examined by professionals in the field.

The symposium will be held in sessions and will cover topics like speech analysis, synthesis, perception and others. The theme of the symposium is acoustics of speech and music.

Around 100 foreign delegates and from across India will take part. It has been arranged by ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Kolkata, Sir C V Raman Centre of Physics and Music, Kolkata, and All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore.