is now stuck in my head. The seven basic notes of classical music are the 101 of all basic music learning, yet I have never heard of them till last week when I was asked to memorize them till I could sing every song in these syllables. The first thing that came to my mind was Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Da Ni, the Indian counterparts which I have heard more than often yet underestimated their importance.  Two other new words that I encountered – “Solmization” is the attribution of a distinct syllable to each musical notes, and “Solfege” is a solmization technique used to teach sight reading of music in which each note is sung to a special syllable called solfege syllable.

Interesting historical evidence from Wikipedia on the origin of this system:

In the eleventh century, the music theorist Guido of Arrezo developed a six-note ascending scale that went as follows: ut, re, mi, fa, sol, and la. A seventh note, “si” was added shortly after. The notes were taken from the first verse of a Latin hymn below (where the sounds fell on the scale), and later “ut” and “sol” were changed to flow with the other notes, while “si” was changed to “ti” to avoid confusion with “sol”.

Ut queant laxis resonāre fibris
Mira gestorum famuli tuorum,
Solve polluti labii reatum,
Sancte Iohannes.

Going back to the Indian notes, or swaras as they are called, the seven notes are actually derivatives of shadja, rishabh, gandhar, madhyam, pancham, dhaivat and nishad. Interestingly, these swaras are believed to have originated from the sounds different animals, and some have additional meanings of their own. The association with animals is as follows: Sa (meaning Sagar) – Peacock, Re (Bull) – Bull, Ga (Gagan) – Goat, Ma (Middle) – Dove, Pa (Fifth) – Cuckoo, Dha (Dharti) – Horse, and Ni (Outcast) – Elephant. Unfortunately, I am unable to find better reading material related to the origin of these swaras, but I am sure there are references in most sacred Indian texts.

Isn’t it uncanny that two different systems of music that originated centuries ago in separate continents were developed with almost the same kind of notation. Maybe music historians have better empirical detail on their origins, but it makes me wonder if this similarity is causal or coincidental. Maybe there is a common underlying mathematical foundation that guided the early musicians in developing these swaras and solfege syllables alike, or maybe there was a transitional culture that influenced both the aryan and germanic ones. Sometimes, these basic constructs that we so easily take for granted have such a rich and complex history spanning centuries and thousands of influences, that we have to but feel belittled by their enormity. I can’t help thinking that one day there will be a “Da Vinci Code”-like revelation about this coincidence.