Both the Indian Hindustani Classical music and the Indian Carnatic Classical music have a set of ragas which are taught by various gurus, who in turn have learnt from their gurus. Does Western classical music have anything similar to Ragas?
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I'm not sure why you describe a raga in terms of how musical education takes places traditionally in the Indian classical music ecosystem. Any particular reason for this?– user11110Commented Oct 11, 2022 at 4:25
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3The short answer to "Does Western Classical music have anything similar to Ragas" is, "Not really." One could view scales as an approximation to a raga in that any raga has an ascending and descending scale (arohana and avarohana) associated to it. But this is a very rough approximation, and the concept of a raga has no equivalent notion in Western Classical music.– user11110Commented Oct 11, 2022 at 4:28
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@Namaskaram, I am assuming the the teacher (guru) that is associated to a raga something called as gharanas or ragas are totally independent, in that case who formed these ragas or it was just a evolution music.– Up-In-AirCommented Oct 11, 2022 at 21:41
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Hmm, well, that assumption turns out to be incorrect.– user11110Commented Oct 12, 2022 at 7:58
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1 Answer
Ragas do not have a direct — or even close — analogous structure in western classical music.
Ragas encompass scales, rhythms, and ornamentations as well as improvisational expectations that are all viewed as separate, independent features in western music. In might even be said that a raga is closer to a "genre" in western music.
A search of this site's sister, Music Practice and Theory will turn up many questions and explanations of what a raga is and the various components that constitute a raga, as well as how those components do or do not relate to western conceptions of musical structure.
