Orchestration in Indian Music

Although orchestration is primarily a western concept we need to remember one thing and that is prior to the 16th and 17th century there wasn’t any concept of orchestration in Europe. When we talk about the concept “harmony”­ even that harmony was born in the 16th century. Before that there wasn’t any harmony. So, those who believe that harmony is present in every kind of western music is not completely true. For thousands of years there was no harmony.What we call “modal music” comes from the Greek concept of “modes”.­ viz: Dorian, Lydian, Phrygian and Mixolydian modes. These modes are just like our “raags”. Their ascending and descending notes are fixed, which notes are included and which notes are excluded are also fixed. The excluded notes were not played in this kind of music based on a particular mode. So, there are some similarities with our raag based classical music. Music played based on these modes were called “modal music”. This trend continued for 600 years. So, basically the modal music continued for 1000 years. There is a close relationship between music and science. Musical instruments evolved and changed due to the advancement and impact of science and technology. From Harp came the Harpsichord which evolved into Piano. There would be no Beethoven without the Piano. So,when we arrived in the 16th to 17th century we experienced a dramatic change in musical instruments due to the impact of technology. Violin was designed and created in Italy. Without its scope and standard tuning Paganini would not have been there and violins current dominant role in orchestras would not be possible. Actually, violin came at the end of the 18th century. Before that there was another instrument called Viool which looked like a Violin, something between a Violin and a Cello It looked like a Violin and sounded like something between a Cello and a Violin and it was slightly larger than the Violin. Viool was mainly used for orchestration although it was a bit clumsy. This Viool was around till the middle of the 19th century before it was discontinued. Currently we have four members of the “Violin” family in an orchestra : 1st Violin, 2nd Violin, Viola and Cello. There is even a larger one which is called the “Contrabass” or the “Double Bass”. So, this is the Violin family. Besides this we also have the Woodwind family. This family has the English Flute or the Key Flute (played with a key), Oboe, Cor Anglais (English Horn ­ played often by the Oboist), Clarinet etc. After this we have the Brass family ­ which consists of Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba and French Horn. Then we have the percussion family and surprisingly the Piano is included in this family. We also have Timpany and various types of Drums in this percussion family. We also have a family of Flutes. One of the members is the little Piccolo and the other member is the Flute. We also have a Bass Clarinet. So, all these families are used to create the orchestra.

If we move a bit forward in time we come to the Baroque period or the period of Bach and Handel. During this period the use of Keyboard reached new heights. This was the time we had Clavichord or Well­Tempered Clavichord and Bach created some unforgettable music with the Clavichord. It was unbelievable how Bach mastered the Keyboard at that time. Even after 300 years nobody has been able to exceed Bach’s mastery in Keyboard or its successor the Piano. However, most of the music in the Baroque period was “horizontal” music. Polyphonic music with multiple counter melodies running in parallel with the melody line. These were divided often into different rhythm groups. Although Bach started as an organist he later moved to Harpsichord and he took this concept of orchestration to new heights. Although composers like Arcangello Corelli and Valerie led the path to orchestration, it was Bach who fully developed orchestration. We can compare Bach’s horizontal Baroque style with our “Dhrupad” style. With similar seriousness and solid foundation. After this came the classical age and Beethoven led and dominated this classical age with Mozart. They tried to give a “vertical” feel to the horizontal polyphonic music with multiple parallel streams. A bit like our melodies which have vertical movement. You will notice that Bach's compositions besides the melody line have various chord progression. I have an example of that and I will demonstrate that later. Although Mozart music is dominated with melody, Beethoven took the melody to esoteric heights by bringing in philosophy into it. Bringing in one hand the mankinds fight for freedom, his courage and his unstoppability and in the other hand his softness and his kindness. Shakespeare is considered as the greatest writer. Similarly Beethoven is considered the greatest in the world of music. This lasted quite a few years. Nothing lasts forever ­ so changes came. Just like in our country. From “Dhrupad” came “Khyal” and then came “Thumri”. Similarly, in the west changes came. So, from Baroque came the “Classical” music. Classical music in those days had some constraints by using only fixed scales like the major and the minor scale. This is the time when the Romantic age came when movements started to remove these constraints. This was the twentieth century and the famous names during the Romantic period were Mendelssohn, Brahms, Franz Liszt etc. They tried to get out of those constraints and opened up the music or gave it more freedom. This has happened in India also when Rabindranath Tagore experimented with melodies which were based on our traditional raags but not strictly following the rigorous raag structure. This was done to create the melody which would be compatible with the lyrics and this gave rise to our “Adhunik” or modern songs. Some were successful and some not ­ but this was the beginning of our romantic age. In the west classical music in this romantic age reached new heights. Following this, in the beginning of the twentieth century we saw the beginning of “Impressionistic music”. It is not easy to describe or explain this impressionistic music in a few words. In the west the painters usually use the expression ïmpressionistic”. In France we had painters like Monet, Cezanne etc. They said that they do not want to paint something as it stands but rather as they perceive it or their “impression” of it. This may not look like the object or the person they are painting at all. By this time, the musical vocabulary had expanded and enriched considerably. So, impressionistic music would be very similar.

It would create music which would be an “impression” the composer creates from the musical and lyrical vocabulary of his composition and liberate it from any constraints.. Based on this a movement started and right now the greatest composer in the impressionistic school is the French composer Debussy. Another famous name is Stavinsky. After this another movement started which was led by Schoenberg. This has some similarity with us but not completely. Schoenberg talked about “Atonal” scale. The notes “Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni Sa” is named a “Diatonic” scale. The four notes “Sa, Re, Ga, Ma” is one “tone” and the notes “Pa, Dha, Ni, Sa” is another “tone”. Sa to Re is one full tone, Re to Ga is one full tone and Ga to Ma is one half­tone. Similarly, Pa to Dha is a full tone, Dha to Ni is one full tone and Ni to Sa is a half­tone. This is why it is called a “Diatonic” scale. Schoenberg said that there is no such thing as a diatonic scale. It is all a Chromatic scale. Since there are 12 notes in total between Sa and Ni, Schoenberg said that he would use all these 12 notes. He also said that there would be no “key signatures''. As we know that we identify symphonies by their key signatures like G Minor (Gm) or C major(C) or F major(F) etc. Schoenberg said that there is no such thing as “key signatures''. Music should be “Atonal”. and we will use all the 12 notes in a scale and there will be no concept of a “Sa”. The “Sa'' can change all the time. This movement was started by Schoenberg and also helped by Stavinsky and it lasted a long time. Currently there seems to me a movement to go back to the melody based composition. When Stavinsky first performed his “Four Seasons'' in Paris, the audience started a riot and broke down the chairs and tables as soon as they heard the atonal composition with dischords. However, that was right in the beginning. Right now, “Four Seasons'' is one of the most famous compositions in the world. What I was trying to explain earlier is that the main reason for this in the west was that the industrial revolution happened there long time ago followed by dramatic advancement of science and technology. The word “physics” had found new meaning and the application of science and technology in music progressed rapidly. Just consider the revolution in electronic music and the Synthesizer. In one instrument we can produce at least 500 different sounds ! By measuring and analysing the sound frequency of one musical instrument they have created the sound of that instrument in this synthesizer. In fact we have brought one with us today for demonstration. In this Synthesizer we can do many things. We can play the flute, the trumpet, the violin, the cello, the piano and many other instruments. We can also do some other wonderful things. For example: if you record just the note “Sa” in your voice on a cassette and load it in this Synthesizer then it will be ableable to create all the other notes in that scale in your voice. Now they have also created the sound of Sitar, even the legato (meenD) effect in Sitar and also Tabla. They have recorded the “Bayan” (left hand drum) and the Tabla for the right hand. Actually they have recorded the real Tabla and then transferred it to the keyboard. As a result, you will get the original sound. You won’t be able to distinguish between the real Tabla and the Tabla sound played by the keyboard. All this wonderful things are happening due to the advancement of science. Even in India we will not be able to record any music for films etc without this facility. For one thing ­ it saves getting too many hands playing different instruments because this one instrument is in fact working as multiple instruments and it also offers many different kinds of sounds.

I think we are moving away from our main subject. Today, our subject of discussion is “Is it possible to do orchestration in Indian Music”? Yes ­ it is possible. Well, it has been done. When the British first arrived in our country they brought many different kinds of musical instruments with them. We used to have the Scottish Highlander Bands. In Tagore’s house they had Organ, Piano and in those days it became a status symbol for people with good taste to have a Piano or an Organ. Then the Harmonium arrived.This Harmonium has actually revolutionised the Indian music. We never had any musical instrument which could play two or more notes at a time or together. Like this ­ (demonstration ­ playing in chords) ­ currently nearly every singer including the Rabindra sangeet singer plays in this style. We were discussing chords a little while ago ­ discussed by our late Buddhadeb Babu ­ for example how to orchestrate music based on raag, whether one could use discordant notes or not. Well, I am sure he understands this much more than I do. However, I think that if we want to orchestrate a raag in the form of modal music and if we put more emphasis on counterpoint than harmony. By counterpoint I mean ­ for example: two or three parallel counter melodies with different rhythms are playing along with the main melody and staying within the same scale of the raag. Salilda gives an example here by singing ­ three types of counterpoints against one melody line. I will demonstrate to you later. What I was saying is that if we want to orchestrate raag sangeet (raag based melody), we can. I am a composer of modern songs and not a classical musician. I think that since the romantic music period had already started in our country with composer like Tagore who already created the groundwork we do not have to be bound by the constraints set by the classical raag structure. Those who specialise in classical music should continue in promoting the classical music ­ we respect them. But ­ those composers who want to orchestrate modern music, they must have modern thinking and modern outlook. Otherwise, it will not be possible. But ­ we must keep the “Indianness”of the Indian music ­ which means that the melody must sound like an Indian melody; it must “feel” Indian. We listen to western orchestration quite often. If we just copy that then what would be our own contribution ? Basically it means that if the melody has that Indian feel we can fit According to the Oxford Dictionary the definition of harmony is its decoration. That means the chord progression for it. Let me now say something about “Chord”. Buddhadeb Babu said earlier that two mutually discordant or contradictory notes make a chord is not really correct ornamentation around the melody. So, if the melody is “linear” then the harmony is creating a third dimension for the melody.

Salilda now demonstrates by singing one note first (Ma) and then the first four notes of a scale ­ Sa, Re, Ga, Ma. He plays these notes. He says ­ you can play these notes in chords in at least twenty different ways. There is in fact no limit to it. He then plays these notes in chords. We did this to “dress up” our melody. So, the definition of harmony is ornamentation of the melody and the definition of a chord is ­ “three or more notes played together”. So, if you play just Sa and Ma together ­ they are four notes apart and this is neither harmony nor a chord. In western music this wouldn’t be used. He then plays Sa and Ma together and it does not sound nice. Sounds like a dischord. We must use three or more notes together. So, what kind of chord this formed ? Let us examine

What are the variations of chords ? We have “Major chord” ­ which has Sa, shuddh Ga and Pa (1st, natural 3rd and 5th notes). This major chord also has a “seventh'' variation. If we add the 7th note of the scale ­ komal ­Ni (flattened 7th), then the major chord becomes a seventh (7th) chord. We call it the “Dominant 7th” chord. Salilda now plays the seventh chord and sings the notes Sa,Ga,Pa,Ni.... Seventh chord creates a “problem” or a tension. So, how do we resolve this tension ? The note Ma resolves this ­ Salilda now plays the note “Ma” (4th) ­ along with “Dha” (6th) and also the “Sa” (1st). He plays these three notes together which is also a major chord and resolves the tension created by the 7th chord. Another important chord is the “Minor chord”. Here we use the “komal” Ga or the flattened 3rd stead of the natural 3rd. So, the minor chord is Sa, komal­Ga and Pa played together. There is another important chord which is called the “Diminished” chord. In this we use “komal­ Ga”, then taking this komal ­Ga as the “Sa” we calculate its komal­Ga and then again taking this as “Sa'' we work out its “komal­Ga”. These three notes played together are called the “Diminished Chord”. Each division therefore is a “Minor­ 3rd” interval. So, from Sa to komal­Ga is a “Minor 3rd” interval, From komal­Ga to KoDi­Ma (flattened 5th) is also a Minor­3rd interval and finally from “Kodi­ Ma” to Shuddha ­Dhaibat (Dha or the 6th note) is also a Minor­3rd interval. When we play these four notes together we create a “suspense” and this chord is called the “Diminished” chord. Salilda plays the diminished chords to demonstrate its effect. Another variation of this would be to use the “Major 3rd” interval ­ which would be to use the “Shuddha­ Gandhar” (natural 3rd) instead of the “flattened 3rd”. So, if we take this “Shuddha ­Gandhar” (Natural 3rd) as “Sa” then it's “Shuddha Gandhara” would be the “Komal­ Dhaibat” (flattened 6th) note. If we play these three notes together we get an “Augmented” chord. We can also add the 6th note or the seventh note to this and we will get Augmented 6th or Augmented 7th chords. More or less the harmonic principles have been created based on these four types of chords. This means that as the melody moves the changing chords also follow the melody. This can be demonstrated with a simple example. We will demonstrate the chord progression for “Jana Gana Mana”, our national anthem. Salilda now demonstrates the normal way to play chords with “Jana Gana Mana” in the key of C­Major. The chords are simple ­ in fact quite elementary and they are C­Major, F­Major, G7 and C­Major. We will now show how to sing it using modern technique. Recently a French Choir group visited Kolkata. They were a group of nearly 100 boys and girls with 60 musicians. They did some superb shows and they performed “Jana Gana Mana” with their own arrangement. However, their arrangement was quite different. We will now sing “Jana Gana Mana” with my orchestral arrangement. Please listen and let me know what you think. Salilda now hums the song with the whole orchestra using quite different chord progression​. He gets the chord chart and asks the audience if they would like to hear the singing again. He then explains what he did. He sings “jana gana mana adhinayaka jaya he” and says that the note “Ga” (3rd) is used for the words “gana mana adhinayaka jaya”. This is where the note “Ga” is basically not changing. But this is where our orchestra is moving­ the chords keep changing on this one note. Listen now ­ (humming and playing chords) “na, na, na, na ,na,na". a ,na, na, na..” Here the same note ­ Ga (3rd) is being repeated but our chords are changing. We are playing C­Major, E­Minor, C7, before arriving at F­Major. This movement is basically the western way of accompaniment in orchestration. When a note is being repeated at the same place the orchestral movement is changing, the chords are changing while the melody is not. Let us listen to the second line ­ “Punjab sindhu gujarat maratha...”­ here also you hear the same note (5th) is being repeated. Salilda also plays the chords with this line. So, you see there are 6 chords on the same note ! Salilda asks the group to play it again from the beginning. Antara now sings “Jana gana mana” and the orchestra accompanies her with modern chord arrangement. Salilda now explains that this is the technique for modern orchestration ­ how he used “Komal dhaibat” (flattened 6th or 5th ­sharp) and explains that although the song’s melody does not use that note he has used this note in a passing chord (augmented) and he asks the audience if it sounds odd. It sounds fine ! Earlier we discussed that if a note is outside a raag then the purists would be upset but it this case . But in this case we used an alternative chord progression in which one of the chords uses a flattened 6th (in an augmented chord) and it fits in perfectly. But it requires a lot of discipline and practice. I remember when I composed the song “surer ei jhar jharna” for my wife Sabita, I used 3­part harmony. That was more than 30 years ago. At that time many criticised me saying what kind of melody is this ? Three singers singing together in three different melodies ? Can’t they sing in one voice ? They can’t be very good singers ! We had to go through that criticism. But, now thanks to the radio, television etc it is quite common to hear harmony. Especially when we sing in a choir without any harmony it sounds quite dull. Here harmony has become a requirement.

So, we have become more used to this. Using harmony in orchestration also has become quite common. I will give you a demonstration of this kind of chord progression in of my songs. The song is “aaj noi gun gun gunjon premer” and I am sure you all know this song. I will first show you the chord progression of this song. Antara sings the first part of the song with orchestra and stops.They decide to start again from the prelude and sings upto the end of first antara and then stops. I don’t think there are any conflicts between the western music and our Indian music. A while back I had composed a song based of Mozart’s G minor symphony. Salilda hums the first few bars of the G minor symphony first and then sings the beginning part of “itna na mujhse tu pyar badha” to demonstrate the similarity. So, you see, it sounds quite good and doesn’t really sound alien to our ear. This song became quite popular. I will tell you about another song ­ Manna Dey sang in the film “Do Bigha Zameen”. In this film there is a song “Mausam beetaa jaay”. It is based on raag bhairavi (​Note: This is where the recording is cut for a short time. What Salilda wanted to demonstrate is his adaptation of Russian Red Army March in this song. He changed just one note in the chorus line of Red Army March by flattening the third (from Ga to komal­Ga) and that fitted perfectly with his song.​) So, you see that there is no conflict here. What is happening right now is that the western classical music is changing rapidly and I think it is approaching the Indian classical music style. The reason is that they are now coming out of their constraints of chord based compositions like the use of major chord or minor chord

and creating a much more constrained free environment. They are just breaking down the barriers. They are saying we can use any note with any other note. So, if the notes of a raag have certain properties , say the Todi raag, and if we use the notes of the Todi raag then we see that we can use the diminished chord quite well. Salilda then plays the notes of a Todi raag, identifies the root note (Sa) first and then sings the notes “Re Ga Re Sa Ni Sa Re Ga Ma Dha Ma Ga..”and when I arrive at this “Shudh­ Ni”(7th) then I am getting the B­major chord. So, if we follow the notes of this raag and analyse the chords in this raag we can then experiment with different chord variations and chord improvisation rather than strictly follow the major minor augmented diminished pattern. There should not be any problem. You may remember that years ago I composed a song “Runner”which was recorded by Hemanta Mukherjee. In that song the “Sa” (Root) changes at least five times.But ­ it doesn’t sound odd. But ­ these changes follow certain rules. Those of you who are planning to learn orchestration and do not master the western technique will never be able to do orchestration. You can of course break the rules but only if you know the rules. “You must know the grammar to break the grammar”. That has been a big problem here. In that respect teaching of western techniques here is very little.

Well, we do have conservatism in our classical music. That is fine and maybe it should be there in order to preserve old traditions and I am sure these traditions and customs will become stronger and will be retained. That is fine because we have no right to wipe out our past history and tradition. Music is actually a language. When I speak in Bengali I am not creating the Bengali language. In order to express myself and present my thoughts clearly I arrange the language in such a way that you can understand what I am saying. If I talk nonsense you will not understand me and feel that I am incomprehensible. It is exactly similar with music. The language of music has developed and matured for thousand years and it is now fully formed. None of us are actually creating any new music or new melody. What we are doing is that we are rearranging the music. The world is getting smaller and there is increased communication and cultural exchanges. Just like the English language which has become quite common in our culture the music has also gone through changes and as a result ­ some of the principles and techniques in western music do not appear to be so alien to us anymore. So, just like a language goes through changes the music can and does change through time and it will never stay still. If those of you who are talented and budding composers do not come forward and take the leading role in bringing this change mediocre people will end up dominating the music. That will be a loss to our music.

Unfortunately the time today is quite limited for me to discuss the enormous possibilities we have and maybe I myself do not know everything. But to explain whatever I have learned it would take multiple sessions every three or four days. I could have then explained why I am using certain chords, why I am using this progression etc. For example ­ all of you here are music students and you all know the theory of music and the notes ­ the “Sargam” (octave). Salilda now plays the melody of one of his compositions ­ “”aaj tabe ei tuku thaak” and starts singing the first line of the song and then the notes ­ aaj tabe ei tuku thaak (sa, ni, pa, ga, sa ,ni) baaki kathaa pore habe (ni, re, pa, pa,re, ga, re, sa) dhusor dhoolir por (ni, re, ma, ma, bhenge poDe aachhe rath (re, ma, dha, dha, ni, dha, pa) bohudoor door (ma , dha, re, re, ga, re re) ­ “komal re” jete habe (dha, ni, sa, ni) He sings these lines and explains that if you think in the Indian style you will never be able to explain it. You will not be able to compose such melody without knowing the western technique. This was a simple example. We can also give an example of a more complex composition. I had composed a song “ei roko prithibir gaaDitaa thamaao”. Here the “sa” is F­ ei roko (sa, ni, sa) prithibir gaaDitaa thamao ( pa, ni, sa, ga, sa, ni, sa) aami neme jaabo (ni, dha) ­­­> chord change here and the “dha” becomes the “sa”. We call it the “relative minor”. Every major chord has a relative. Ex: C­major’s relative is A Minor. Relative of F­major is D Minor. There is a way to find out the relative minor of a major chord. Salilda sings(in the key of F) ­ sa, ni, dha ­ this “dha” will be our “sa” for the relative minor. How do I go to this relative minor from the major key ? We need to find the dominant 7th of this minor key first ­ in this case the “dha” of F­major is “D “ so, we will require the dominant 7th of D minor ­ which is A7. So, to go to D ­minor key I must go via A7th chord. Salilda now sings (with Antara and orchestra) the full song. The key changes to G ­major in the second part of the song. Salilda says So, you can see that we went to a different scale. The start was in F Major and now we are in G Major. How did we do that ? This is called harmonic progression. There is a definite way you can move from one key to another. It should be such that it doesn’t sound awkward or strange to ears. It means that there is a progression or a method to do that. For example: in the previous song we went from the key of F major to the key of D minor via the A7th chord. From D minor we went to F# major, then D major and then to G major and from G major we came to C­major chord. Now, we need to go from G major. So, we went a full tone from F to G through chord progression. This can not be done without learning and without knowing. Those of you who want to learn orchestration should learn this technique to chord progression. There are many knowledgeable people in Kolkata. You can invite them and they can teach you all this. Those of you who know the Indian “sargam” and are trained in Indian music would find western music relatively simple. However, if you have learnt the western method by learning their staff notation or their “Do­Re­Mi” system, this chord progression technique may not be easy. I can identify a wrong note from a distance just by listening and I think that is because I know the Indian music theory. We think in “sa, re, ga, ma...” way which helps to identify a wrong note just by listening. So, if we know the Indian notation system very well, it becomes a lot easier to learn the western system. We understand the movement of music.

So, when the “sa” changes (i.e the key changes) we just think in the Indian system by identifying the “gandhar”or “madhyam” relative to that “Sa”. Going back to the song “ei roko” we came from F major to D minor and our “Sa” changed to “D”. For us the notes for “amaar swapno bhora” would be “sa, sa, sa, sa, sa, pa, pa, pa, pa, pa”.If we follow the western method then we are still in the key of F and the notes would quite complicated ! They would be “dha, dha, dha, dha, dha, dha, ga, ga, ga, ga”. Then the notes in the melody (“ei koolie, mahakaal...”) are “pa, pa, pa, dha, pa, pa, ma, ma, ma, ma, ga,ma, re”. So, if we use D as our “sa” we can write the “sargam” very easily. We can give many such example but we don’t have much time.

There is another composition of mine which has three ­part harmony and I will sing the melody first. First Salilda sings the melody line of the song “Surjer aalo ese ghase poDe”. Then, Antara and Sabita sing the other two harmony parts with Salilda. The song is like an experiment. You may or may not like it. But, if we are afraid of making mistakes then we will never move forward. All the students here who are present in this session ­ please don’t think that I am the last word. The last word in the sea ! But ­ you have to be adventurous and you must know the theory. Otherwise you will fall into traps. First learn the fundamentals and then you can take risks and make mistakes. May be after 10 mistakes there will be one success. You would then know and understand what mistakes you made. To all my Indian classical colleagues here I have a plea and request and that is that please try to broaden the horizon. Our classical heritage will always be there. However, if you can’t show any new ways or broaden the horizon then the whole thing will remain static. In our country we have famous classical artists such as Abdul Karim Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali, Amir Khan etc. Nobody can come close to these stalwarts. Who can come even closer to them ? But ­ this will remain our treasure and will be become our inheritance. If you all can add to this treasure by adding new dimension then who knows one day some famous artist can make your creation popular and open up new doors. You can also try to do orchestration based on raags. Try new experiments, break rules. I showed you how I broke rule in “Jana gana mana”. I showed you that I used “komal dhaibat”(flattened 6th) which is not even in the song’s notation. But, it is following the rules of chord progression. Salilda plays the first line of “Jana gana mana” with chords and uses a passing augmented chord (uses flattened 6th) which sounds wonderful. Unless we are adventurous we will never be able to find new ways. I composed another song first time recorded by Sabita. It is in two part harmony. Sabita and Antara sing “surero ei jhar jharnaa” with orchestra. Now, I would like to present a composition by Bach ­ “Prelude and fugue in C”. Antara will play. This is composition for harp and we have the notation. Bach never wrote any counter parts for this piece. I have, as an experiment, created a counterpart in violin for this composition. we will demonstrate a part of it. Here the principle is the same. If you are unable to identify the chord for each note you will not be able to write the counterpart. Bach in this piece is going through some quite complex chord progression. I had to identify each chord and then decide which note in the chords should I use to create my counterpart. For example ­ in a 7th chord there are 4 notes, a diminished chord has 4 notes. So, which note should I use to create the counterpart ? Salilda asks Antara to play the melody and asks Debu (Debojyoti Misra) to play the counter melody. Live demonstration by Antara on a digital piano and Debu in violin.