SA RE GA MA PA DA NE SA

Where the universe came from? How the universe is being built? So many people having these queries in their mind. For these, I don’t have the answers,

But I have the answer for the queries such as, what is music? How music is being pleasant and why some sounds are being not pleasant? etc.,

The answer is SA RE GA MA PA DA NE SA

From long back, I was so curious what is that ‘SA RE GA MA PA DA NE SA’, what does that mean, why these terms are being related to music, why seven letters why not ten letters, why that ‘SA’ repeats again. These questions are always in my mind. By the time passes, I am also started travelling with the queries. Even though I got some information about why these things are getting used in the music, I didn’t get the scientific understanding about that. So, I started searching for that. 

After some time, I got to know that there is mathematics behind that and I realized that Mathematics is the root of the music. Several pieces of music were being composed by satisfying the mathematical requirement to make the best ever music. Anyway, it is also not that much complex like calculus, it is just the simple arithmetic.

Sound is just the mechanical wave which gets transmitted from one place to another using some medium such as Solid, Liquid and Gas. Most of the sound waves what we hear are being transmitted through the air (atmospheric gases) and it reaches the ear.

When one object vibrates with some fixed rate, it disturbs the surrounding air in the same rate which then reaches the eardrum, eardrum then senses the vibration of the air and it sends the signal to the brain which then perceived as sound.  How fast the vibration repeats, based on that, low and high-frequency sounds are being created. Frequency in music terms called as pitch or note. You might have heard the term ‘Bass’ somewhere which means it is the low-frequency sound or low pitch. High frequency called as ‘Treble’, this we don’t use mostly. Since most people want the bass sound when they hear, the reason is that our body parts are more sensitive in the low-frequency region sounds.

If the vibration happens at 440 cycles per sound, it is 440 Hz, meaning it vibrates the air 440 times a second. Music is always not easy, it is mixed up with several pitches or tones. For example, Suppose, if we make music with 440 and 880 Hz, it sounds so good and it sounds similar to the 440 Hz and if we make music with any random number like 440 and 789 Hz, it sounds horrible.

If two pitches or tones which form the 2:1 ratio, people named as the octave. When we play tones in an octave, it is as similar as like that lowest pitch in that ratio. There is the reason behind that why they named as the octave. It means eighth. By that time, people were so curious to find what are the other ratio will give pleasant sounds. All the ratio started coming inside the 2:1 of the frequency of sound. They got so many ratios which gave pleasant sound, but not like the octave ratio. Around the world, people started using a different number of ratios based on the need for music. They arranged the ratio on the basis of the pleasant sounds. Most of the people in the world started using 12 ratios by considering the nature of their music need. They started making the scales inside the octave by using the ratio of the frequencies of sound. It is the birth of ‘SA RE GA MA PA DA NE SA’. Using the ratio arrived by the people, they arranged the frequencies inside the octave. Instead of calling using the numbers, they started naming according to their convenience. In India, people started following SA RE GA MA PA DA NE SA. In the western side, they named C D E F G A B C or Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si.

But you might be thinking that he said it is 12 ratio, but here it is only 7 ratio. Out of 12 ratios, 5 ratios gave the sharp or flat response for the music. Then it considered as filler in the music. That’s why in piano’s, the black keys are present.

In 19^th century, to make the instruments and music easy, people started following equal temperament scale that is the octaves being divided into 12 parts with the sequential ratio of 1.0595. If we multiply 12 times of 1.0595, it will give approximately 2. Each frequency or pitch or note in between the octaves are 1.0595 times the previous frequency or note. It is followed in western music to make the instruments tuning easily.

SA RE GA MA PA DA NE SA is just the name of the frequencies of sound in the musical notes. After 7 notes get finished, the SA repeats consequently until the human recognize the sound. Mostly, the notes start with the frequency of 16 Hz and end up around 8000 Hz. Within this, 8 octaves present, most of the music is formed within theses range of frequencies and using the musical notes inside the 8 octaves.

Note: Kindly comment, if you need any clarification or if you find any mistakes in the content.