Tanpura
-The tambura, tanpura, tamburi is a long-necked plucked lute (a stringed instrument found in different forms in Indian music culture. Hindustani musicians speak of 'tanpura' whereas Carnatic musicians say 'tambura'; 'tamburi' is a smaller instrument used for accompanying instrumental soloists. For practical use, all these types are called 'tanpura' in the text. The body shape of the tanpura somewhat resembles that of the sitar, but it has no frets – as the strings are always plucked at their full lengths. One or more tanpuras may be used to accompany vocalists or instrumentalists. It has four or five (rarely six) wire strings, which are plucked one after another in a regular pattern to create a harmonic resonance on the basic note or keynote.(bourdon or drone function). Tanpuras form the root of the ensemble and indeed of the music itself, as the tanpura creates an acoustic dynamic reference chord from which the ragas derive their distinctive character, color and flavor. Concerning its history, a quote from Shri A. D. Ranade: 'The first unambiguous reference to the tanpura is in Sangit Parijat (1620). It is neither mentioned by the earlier texts nor does it find a place in sculptures'. An electronic tanpura, a small box that imitates the sound of a tanpura, is often used in contemporary Indian classical music performances instead of, or in addition to a tanpura.
Tanpuras come in different sizes and pitches: larger "males", smaller "females" for vocalists, and a yet smaller version is used for accompanying sitar or sarod, called tamburi. Male vocalists pitch their tonic note (Sa), often at C♯; female singers usually a fifth higher, though these tonic notes may vary according to the preference of the singer, as there is no absolute and fixed pitch-reference in the Indian classical music systems. The male instrument has an open string length of approximately one metre; the female is three-fourths of the male. The standard tuning is 5-8-8-1 (sol do' do' do) or, in Indian sargam, PA-sa-sa-SA. For ragas that omit the fifth tone, pa, the first string is tuned down to the natural fourth: 4-8-8-1 or Ma-sa-sa-Sa. Some ragas require a less common tuning with shuddh NI (one semitone below octave sa), NI-sa-sa-SA. With a five-string instrument, the seventh or NI (natural minor or major 7th) can be added: PA-NI-sa-sa-SA (5-7-8-8-1)or MA-NI-sa-sa-SA (4-7-8-8-1).
The name tanapura is probably derived from tana, referring to a musical phrase, and pura, which means "full" or "complete". Both in its musical function and how it works, the tanpura is unique in many ways. It does not partake in the melodic part of the music, but it supports and sustains the melody by providing a colourful and dynamic harmonic resonance field based on one precise tone, the basic note or key note. Also, it is not played in rhythm with the music, as the precise timing of plucking a cycle of four strings in a continuous loop is a determinant factor in the resultant sound.
The special overtone-rich sound and the audible movement in the inner resonances of tone is achieved by applying the principle of jivari or 'jawari' which creates a sustained "buzzing" sound in which particular harmonics will resonate with focused clarity. Jiva refers to "soul", that which gives life, implying that the tanpura embodies an "animated" tone quality. Another linguistic reference is 'sawari' which means 'saddle'. The principle of jivari can be compared to the prismatic refraction of white light into the colours of the rainbow, as its acoustic twin principle at work, amplifying the inner resonances of a tone to audible harmonics.
To achieve this effect, the strings pass over a wide, arched bridge, the front of which slopes gently away from the surface of the strings. When a string is plucked, it has an intermittent periodical grazing contact with the bridge; this intermittent grazing of the string on the curved bridge will move around in the sonation process, as the points of contact will gradually shift, being a compound function of amplitude, the curvature of the bridge, pitch and string tension. When the string is plucked, it has a large amplitude, moving up and down and contacting the bridge on the down-phase. As the energy of the string's movement gradually diminishes, the contact point of the string with the bridge slowly creeps up the slope of the bridge like a wave out of the sea spending itself on the beach. Depending on scale and pitch, this can take between three and ten seconds. This dynamic process can be fine-tuned using a cotton thread between string and bridge: by shifting the thread, the grazing contact sequence is shifted to a different position on the bridge, changing the harmonic content. Every single string produces its own cascading range of harmonics and, at the same time, builds up a particular resonance. According to this principle, tanpuras are attentively tuned to achieve a particular tonal shade relative to the tonal characteristics of the raga. These more delicate aspects of tuning are directly related to what Indian musicians call raga svaroop, which is about how characteristic intonations are important defining aspects of a particular raga. The tanpura's particular setup, with the cotton thread as a variable focus-point, made it possible to explore a multitude of harmonic relations produced by the subtle harmonic interplay in time of its four strings.