Cultural Diversity Music: Western Music vs Indian Music

Cultural Diversity Music
Name
Institutional affiliation CULTURAL DIVERSITY MUSIC
Western Music vs Indian Music
Abstract
India has a deep history with music and despite this fact more efforts have been put to study western music compared to Indian. The truth is music had a significant role in the Indian culture. People used it for many purposes and events for example weddings and burials. It was most importantly used for religious functions. Indians are religious people and music was crucial for their spiritual needs. Music in India has a deeper history compared to western music. Researchers argue that western music does not have a deep history and it gained popularity early in the 20th century. This paper concentrates on the two types of music. It seeks to determine the major differences between the two and both sides view the other type of music. When western music tends to glorify people Indian music is the opposite and is meant for specific meanings.
In India music has very deep roots. In fact, classical Indian music has been categorized among the oldest musical traditions in the world. Despite the big history little has been done to study Indian music compared to the vast efforts that have been put to study western music. The two are different and given that they come from two different continents they have a lot of differences. They also have similarities. One of the primary differences is from the tradition of both music genres. According to a recently concluded research, music is a social activity. In this regards it has some aspect of spiritual experience that ancient Indians were so concerned with. Ancient Indians could not resist the spiritual power of music and that was the birth of Indian classical music (Raman and Dowling, 2016). On the other hand, western music had a hold on religion at first but as day’s civilization spread it lost its hold.
Another significant difference appears in the harmony and melody. It is primarily the major difference between the two whereby Indian music is polyphonic meaning that different notes are sounded at the same time while western music relies on harmony which is created by the same notes. Indian music is monophonic that is only one note is sung at a time (Manuel, 2015). Key attention is paid to the melody aspect of the music. It is also more concerned with the emotional aspect. On the hand, western music is harmonious in that different notes are played at once. While Indian music is strongly linked to religion and emotions, western music is the opposite as it is linked to partying and self praises. Another major difference appears on the rhythm. Indian music has carefully drafted rhymes that appear to the end of the song. Of a song rhymes a lot it is given much preference. The western side however lacks this feature in that the rhythm is not reciprocated. In India rhythm gives the song a good mood and it’s widely enjoyed.
The western music uses chord progressions that occur in scales while Indian music has no such chords but has phrases to define...