On Determination of Tonic Note for Singers of Indian Music
Chandrakant J. Gaikwad, Pradip Sircar · IETE Technical Review · 2018
This paper addresses the problem of tonic note selection and voice range determination for singers of Indian music. The tonic note of a singer determines the pitches of other notes used in raga/song sung by the singer. The voice range of a singer refers to the span of notes over which the singer's voice is powerful and melodious. In Indian music, the main emphasis is on the vocals, and instruments are played as an accompaniment. We study different perceptual attributes of the singer’s voice and develop criterion that is considered in the selection of tonic note. We analyze voices of famous Indian singers and illustrate the criterion considered for the selection of tonic note. According to the developed criterion different parameters are calculated and analyzed for all the notes of the singer. These parameters are then used to select the tonic note and voice range of the singers.