Changing Profile of Sarod of 20th Century: A Timbral Study

Abstract

Sarod is one of the long lasted classical musical instruments in India. From early days, through the ages, its shape changes continuously. Its resonant structure has been changing for the development of sound quality. All these were done by the then extraordinary talented craftsmen with the imaginative and emotional attachment of legendary music maestros. The primary objective for the structural modification of Sarod were: improvement of sound quality and easy to play all the required idioms and express best all the emotions of that related musician. Since the introduction of microphone to its growing sophistication, a number of structural modifications occurred in Sarod to produce suitable sound as per musician’s perception and changing taste of audience. In this study, we emphasize on the variation of the acoustical features occurred due to the structural development of Sarod from early to contemporary recordings. Timbre and spectral features are the keys to explain scientifically the changing profile of Sarod which was based on perception of the instrument makers and the players during 20th century.

Keywords: Sarod, timbre parameters, temporal parameter