Describe in your own words the characteristics of time and pitch including drone, melodic contour, improvisation, ornamentation/”pillar” tones, and phrase structure of the alapana section. (Answers should vary.)
What will be an ideal response?
—Time characteristics
• absence of meter
• melody made up of free-flowing rhythms that increase in speed and complexity as the section unfolds
—Pitch aspects
• drone sustains tonal center and the tone a fifth above tonal center throughout entire section anchoring tonal center of composition
• the drone part stabilizes the music and balances the highly improvised melody
• melody seems to unfold through a series of improvised phrases that gradually rise from tonal center (sa) and then gradually descend back to the tonal center (sa)
• much note-bending and sliding between pitches and ornamentation of the melody
• melody frequently returns to pillar (resting/stable) tones such as sa and pa.
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