Digital Design Principles and Indian Classical Music – An attempt to

relate the unrelatedKingshuk Banerjee

The two disciplines seem far apart in time and nature

• Indian Classical Music (ICM) is a right brain activity whereas Digital (computer) design is a left brain activity.

• ICM has a much older history than computers.– centuries compared to decades

Can one understand the other?

Creative artists, not logic-(al)?

Logic-(al), scientific and no art?

This is NOT a story of application – a comparative study of the principles

It is not about• Use of Technology in Music

OR

• Music Therapy in making the left brain more efficient

It is:

An attempt to show the striking similarities in the guiding (design) principles of the two apparently unrelated disciplines. – ICM and Digital Design.

First Principle: All are synchronized at regular intervals

• Digital Design – All activity synchronized to one or more clocks.

• ICM – All activity synchronized to the Taal (beats).

First Principle: The clock generator is the time keeper of the system

• Digital Design – clock generation

• ICM – The Tabla

Second Principle: Combine building blocks to create a design/composition

• Digital Design- instructions (add, xor, or, and) are combined to produce desired logic in between clock cycles.

• ICM- notes are combined intuitively to form alankarsin different forms of raagas.– Synchronized to taals.

Second Principle : Combinational Logic and Raaga – combination of notes

Putting the time and logic together –The design and composition

• Digital Design

• ICM

Third Principle: To synchronize the run-aways, independence with constraint

• Digital Design – to keep data sanity while merging data from independent clock domains.

• ICM – to keep artists’ improvisations under control – The Sum

Fourth Principle: Faster the clock, higher the power consumption

• Digital design – clock speed is not uniformly fastest, due to power saving. Parts of the design are switched off or put on slower clocks to save power.

Fourth Principle: Control the tempo for an engaging performance

• ICM – A musical performance is never run on the same tempo. The tempo varies according to the duration and stage of the rendition. – saves energy of the performer.

Fifth Principle: Synthesis – break down the abstract into details

• Digital Design – A high level design or program is synthesized into lower level of instructions (digital design) by a computer program – compiler

Fifth Principle: Synthesis – break down the abstract into details

• ICM – The musician’s mind (and ears) is the compiler. He converts the song into notations.

Conclusion – A short comparative study – nothing deeper

• There is logic in Indian Classical Music• There is art in Digital Design• Disclaimer

– This is a comparison at a very superficial level. It is not intended to undermine the depth of either discipline. –with due respect to ICM maestros and Digital designers.

– This is not a research topic. Take it the way you want. Hopefully for some it’s informative and thought provoking.

– All images used are taken from Google Images.

THANK YOU

Digital Designer CommunityIndian Classical Music Community