Music and Us – Class 9 Arts Chapter 6 Notes & NCERT PDF

Introduction

The Music section of Madhurima opens with a verse from the Saṅgītaratnākara (Svarādhyāya):

Nādena vyajyate varṇaḥ padaṁ varṇāt padād vachaḥ | Vachaso vyavahāroʼyaṁ nādādhīnamato jagat ||

Meaning: Nāda manifests the letters, letters make words, and words make sentences. All of life is carried on through language, so the whole world is based on nāda (musical sound).

Chapter 6 asks a simple question: can you imagine a world without music, with no lullabies, no wedding songs, nobody humming a tune? Music tells us who we are and where we come from, and it connects us to our deepest emotions.

Key Ideas

Forms and styles of music

India has one of the most diverse musical cultures in the world, shaped by geography, language and culture.

Three broad categories of Indian music

Genres are not watertight compartments. They overlap and interact, giving rise to sub-categories such as devotional and fusion music, film songs based on rāgas, and film songs derived from folk music.

Song structure

A devotional song usually has a chorus, called the pallavī (Carnatic) or sthāyī (Hindustani), followed by two or more verses, called charaṇas or antarās. A contemporary song may start with an introduction before the chorus.

Learning by listening: Kumar Gandharva

By age 12, Kumar Gandharva could exactly reproduce records of legends like Abdul Karim Khan and Fayyaz Khan. At 23, he fell ill with tuberculosis and lost his voice. Confined to bed for years, he listened to village folk songs, temple bells, birds and wind. When he sang again, his voice had changed, but his music was deeper and fearless. Listening opened a whole new world of music for him.

Music and emotion

Folk songs as storehouses of knowledge

Folk music is closely tied to community traditions. The book's seed-sowing song from Nagaland, Hashei Bu Bu-Ow, is sung by the damsels of the Yingli Phom tribe. It describes the farming year: in the month of Ketnyiü (December) they clear shrubs for new jhum land, erect an altar and pray for a good harvest, build a farm house after the field is burnt, and prepare seeds of paddy, yam, maize, cucumber and pumpkin. They shelter from the sun with bamboo shields, relish rice brew and sing while weeding.

Kala Utsav

Kala Utsav is an annual arts festival for secondary-level students, held under the Ministry of Education, Government of India, and organised by NCERT. Videos of musical forms can be watched on PM e-Vidya Channel #33.

Activities in the Chapter

Key Terms

Artists & Traditions

Kumar Gandharva, Abdul Karim Khan, Fayyaz Khan, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (Vande Mātaram), the Yingli Phom tribe of Nagaland, and Kala Utsav participants from Assam (flute and bhortāl), Goa (singing with guitar) and Manipur (penā).

Connect to Your Life

Think about the songs your family sings at festivals, the music you choose when you feel stressed, and how film songs mix folk, classical and global sounds.

Common Mistakes

Let's Reflect

Why are both classical and folk music called traditional, and how do they differ? Classical music has structured rules for composition and improvisation, while folk music belongs to a particular region and community.