Melharmony
Shrinking the globe through similarities
Definition & scope
Melharmony is a progressive approach to composing and fusion, initiated by musician-composer Chitravina N Ravikiran in the year 2000 during his collaboration with artistes of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in UK for Kalasangam's Global Echoes Project in the Millennium Festival.
Melharmony can be defined as “harmony and vertical layers of music with an emphasis on the rules and principles of highly evolved melodic systems (which use 12-tone in an octave)” . The raga system of Indian music, Chinese music systems and Makam system of Persia are examples of evolved melodic systems. But the first two, which use 12-tones per octave like Western Classical would be amenable to melharmony.
Melharmony aims to create a synergy between melodic concepts not common in the West (in terms of form and structure and ornamentation) and harmonic dimensions that are almost totally absent in the East. Melharmony is anchored on showcasing the similarities between diverse cultures while its superstructure enables appreciation of the distinctions between them. Melharmony not only creates new melodies but also explores new harmonic possibilities. The video endeavours to give a glimpse of the ABCD (Approach, Basis, Context and Definition) of Melharmony.
Paper on Melharmony
A more detailed and intricate examination of Melharmony is available in the paper published by Prof Robert Morris (Eastman School of Music, NY) and Ravikiran in Music Theory Spectrum, Vol. 28, No. 2, Fall 2006. (View adjacent PDF file).
Robert Morris has also developed Melharmony theory considerably from both Western and Indian standpoint including categorising the 17 parent ragas (melas) that can generate thirds as well triads as well as principles of melharmonizing 6 and 5 tone scales. (Watch video excerpts.)
Distinctive features
In Melharmonic compositions, the very approach to harmony is distinctive from conventional approaches to harmony employed in Western systems, because not only the main melody but each counterpoint and chord also has to conform to melodic rules including scale, sequence and hierarchy of notes, ornamentation and integrity of a given mode (raga).
Robert Morris notes that "Melharmony suggests that voice leading should be derived from the melodic and combinational structure of a given mode". While seemingly challenging, the melharmonic approach actually offers enormous scope to explore unchartered territories in the world of harmony. In short, Melharmony is a sophisticated and organised approach with comprehensible, context-specific rules that can be understood rationally and applied consistently to any well-defined melodic system of music.
The fundamental aims of Melharmony are:
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To create an attractive system that negotiates the differences between melodic & harmonic systems such as Indian & Western.
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To showcase similarities between such diverse systems, which can lead to a positive appreciation of the contrasts between them.
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To create a theoretical framework that enables composers and musicians from any part of the world tocreate melharmonic music.
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To highlight sophisticated melodic concepts to audiences used to harmony through compositions and arrangements.
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To bring a rich feel of harmony and texture into melodic systems such as Indian without intruding upon their fundamental identity or values.
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To explore new chord, counterpoint possibilities anchored on strong theoretical base as well as aeshetics using melharmonic principles.
Distinctive approaches of Melharmony, Western Classical, Jazz, Contemporary Fusion & Film
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Western Classical and Jazz have specific rules of chord creation and harmonic progression.
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Contemporary fusion between diverse systems like Indian Classical and Jazz or other forms of world music usually mixes rules between systems or ignores one more in favour of another in a quest of mutual exploration.
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Indian Film music was initially more melody-centric, often drawing from classical ragas or folk melodies with occasional attempts at harmonization using Western principles. In recent times, composers have explored not only Western Classical but also jazz, rock, pop and other contemporary trends. However even today an occasional piece suggestive of raga is attempted by several noted composers. However, since the primary aim is not so much to create an entire melody based on a single raga in film music, one can often see shades of other ragas within a single piece either melodically or harmonically.
Melharmony employs a studied and systematic approach that takes into cognizance not merely the scale or shade of a raga but several of its deeper features, while finding inventive ways to harmonize them in a manner palatable to listeners of diverse systems. This makes melharmony a distinctive system in theory and a highly exciting and attractive system and practice.