The joys of any art grow with the awareness of its governing
principles. This is true also of Hindustani music.
A Hindustani musician shapes his rendition under the discipline of two governing forms. The first is the Raga which constitutes its “Commanding
Form”. But, though the Raga is a definitive and recognizable form, it is a “formless Form” in the sense of not being a composition. It manifests itself in communicable form through
the appropriately sequenced movements (the architecture) of the second regulatory form – the genre in which it is
performed.
A connoisseur of Hindustani music has intimate knowledge of both
these forms – the Commanding Form and the Manifest Form. Through an
understanding of these two, he is able to gain insights into the
individualistic manner in which the Commanding Form has been visualized by the
musician for communication. It is these insights that are the source of his
delight in the exposure to Hindustani music, and differentiate him from the
average music lover.
The aspirant to the status of a connoisseur needs therefore to cultivate
his understanding of two facets of the tradition -- Raga-ness as the principle of aesthetically coherent and emotionally suggestive creation, and of the various genres, as the principle for the organisation of musical material. Neither of these facets is
satisfactorily understood by reading books on music. They may be partially understood by
undergoing a decade or two of training in music under a competent Guru. For those who do not have this benefit, but
have the sharp ears and cultivated mind as the basic equipment, appreciation
can be cultivated by an intensive and extensive exposure to performances and
recordings.
