Measuring Frequencies of Shrutis in Indian Classical Music

Abstract

Music in any culture is composed of 12 notes in an octave. It has been found that, the effect is pleasing, if the notes are related to each other by simple ratios like 3/4, 4/3 etc. However, this necessitates unequal distance between successive notes. That makes transposition difficult. The Western instruments makers evolved scale called equi-tempered scale, in which note frequencies are in geometric progression, whereas Indian classical music emphasizes on purity of notes. An octave is divided into 22 intervals called shrutis (microtones) in Indian classical music. In this paper we present analysis of some recorded samples to find out the exact frequencies of shrutis.