Why there is no scale known as E-sharp in Carnatic music?
But the scale exists in Western music. (Lakshminarasimhan) Neither Carnatic nor Western music has 3 1/2-kattai or E-sharp. This can be easily explained. Since the Western music system has the major diatonic scale as its base, the notes occurring in this scale have the notes: C, D, E, F, G, A and B. One may notice here that all the notes here except E represent flat values. E already represents the sharp (extreme high) value of that note, so cannot have a sharper value, since that would take us to the next note, which happens to be F. In Carnatic music terms, the above scale would be equivalent to the Sankarabharanam mela in which case, E would represent Antara Gandhara, which is the highest Gandhara. The next note would be Suddha Madhyama. Besides, since we currently follow the Western system to determine the pitch, we also don t have E # or 3 kattai. The word Kattai itself refers to the keys on the harmonium or piano. • Can you give a brief note on Raga Vasanti? (V Sowmya) Raga Vasant
