“Chess and Music - a parallel”
“Chess and Music - a parallel”
This is an attempt to draw parallel between my two loves; “Chess and Music”: a fundamental understanding of classical music for my chess friends and a fundamental understanding of Chess for my musically inclined friends!
“Chess like music and love, has the power to make men happy” - Dr.Seigbert Tarrasch
“Without music, life would be a mistake” - Friedrich Nietzsche
The classical musical form and it's science is the basis of all sounds that are heard - forget music! Even the birds chirping, wind blowing, sounds produced by various animals and insects, the yawning, why even donkeys braying is fundamentally composed of the “Swaras” - the bedrock of any musical form.
There are seven fundamental notes of which two notes does not oscillate and have no variants: the “Sa” and “Pa”. All the other five notes, namely “Ri”, “Ga”, “Ma”, “Da”, “Ni” have two variants each. All these Swaras have a particular range of frequency.
Any sound that is produced in this world, have at least one of the above notes! Even a “Caw” - the harsh sound of a crow is not devoid of it: a crow’s caw has a sustained flat “Da” finishing with a touch of “Pa”!
Certain birds make a shrilling sound which is in the range of a reverberating “Ri” with oscillations within!
But, only a combination of a minimum of 5 Swaras make up for an ’aurally pleasing raga’ (Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna tried with 4 Swaras and composed raga “Lavangi” - but you can only sense a repetition of the phrases).
A particular raga has a range of Swaras in ascent called as “Arohana” and a set of Swaras in descent known as “Avarohana”. There are various combinations possible and a raga which has all the seven basic notes in the Arohana and Avarohana are called as “sampoorna raga” and a raga which is devoid of one or more Swaras in either Arohana or Avarohana are called as “audava” (with only five notes) or “shadava” (with only six notes). The “Sa” is the only constant component of any raga.
Likewise, in Chess, the pieces and their movements can be related to the Swaras and their oscillations. Unlike music, in a game of chess, all the pieces need to be deployed for playing a game. Like “Sa” which is the only swara which is present in all ragas; a chess game has the king which is the only piece which does not leave the board! But like lone “Sa” cannot make a raga, a lone kings left on the board cannot make a game or interesting position.
Like various different composition of Swaras in a particular order make up for a beautiful raga; so does in chess where during the opening, a particular set of moves make up for an opening.
The various raga with their particular array of Swaras give rise to distinct flavour for a particular raga with its constituent “sangathis” along with deployment of “anuswaras” and “gamakas”, which further establishes the further course of the raga at various octaves (sthayi): the manthra (the lower octave) madhyama (Middle); and tara (higher); at times anu-mantra (sub-lower) and athi-tara (supra-higher). So does a particular set of moves which along with its variants and timing, give rise to the character of the openings and lays road for the further course of the game into middle game and the endgame.
Now, for the most important aspect in both music and chess. The most important and fundamental aspect of music is the “sruti” or the pitch. “Sruti” is the smallest interval of pitch. In simple terms, Sruti denotes the fabric of a song on which the Swaras and sahitya are weaved into by a musician, and a dip or deviation in the chosen sruti is unacceptable as it diminishes the aural effect.
Each one of us have an “adhara sruti” - a particular pitch which suits our vocal cord and it's capacity to producing a particular range of sound, where the singer feels comfortable, without any strain or needing any particular effort. This only varies by the passage of age (gets reduced). In order to align ones sruti and ensure that it neither sags or sways, a drone instrument is played at the background while a song is rendered.
In Chess, we may grossly compare this to the basic principles of the play with regard to the pawn structure, determining the control over centre, harmonious placement of pieces, and also the proclivity for a particular type of play arising out of the opening a player prefers to play in chess, which he feels more comfortable with, and finds it easy to develop further play.
Well, this is a very gross attempt at drawing a basic parallel between chess and music. I hope you found this, at-least, not boring! I shall try to deal with some finer aspects of both Chess and Music in my subsequent articles, as and when I find time and shall try to make it more interesting.
This is an attempt to draw parallel between my two loves; “Chess and Music”: a fundamental understanding of classical music for my chess friends and a fundamental understanding of Chess for my musically inclined friends!
“Chess like music and love, has the power to make men happy” - Dr.Seigbert Tarrasch
“Without music, life would be a mistake” - Friedrich Nietzsche
The classical musical form and it's science is the basis of all sounds that are heard - forget music! Even the birds chirping, wind blowing, sounds produced by various animals and insects, the yawning, why even donkeys braying is fundamentally composed of the “Swaras” - the bedrock of any musical form.
There are seven fundamental notes of which two notes does not oscillate and have no variants: the “Sa” and “Pa”. All the other five notes, namely “Ri”, “Ga”, “Ma”, “Da”, “Ni” have two variants each. All these Swaras have a particular range of frequency.
Any sound that is produced in this world, have at least one of the above notes! Even a “Caw” - the harsh sound of a crow is not devoid of it: a crow’s caw has a sustained flat “Da” finishing with a touch of “Pa”!
Certain birds make a shrilling sound which is in the range of a reverberating “Ri” with oscillations within!
But, only a combination of a minimum of 5 Swaras make up for an ’aurally pleasing raga’ (Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna tried with 4 Swaras and composed raga “Lavangi” - but you can only sense a repetition of the phrases).
A particular raga has a range of Swaras in ascent called as “Arohana” and a set of Swaras in descent known as “Avarohana”. There are various combinations possible and a raga which has all the seven basic notes in the Arohana and Avarohana are called as “sampoorna raga” and a raga which is devoid of one or more Swaras in either Arohana or Avarohana are called as “audava” (with only five notes) or “shadava” (with only six notes). The “Sa” is the only constant component of any raga.
Likewise, in Chess, the pieces and their movements can be related to the Swaras and their oscillations. Unlike music, in a game of chess, all the pieces need to be deployed for playing a game. Like “Sa” which is the only swara which is present in all ragas; a chess game has the king which is the only piece which does not leave the board! But like lone “Sa” cannot make a raga, a lone kings left on the board cannot make a game or interesting position.
Like various different composition of Swaras in a particular order make up for a beautiful raga; so does in chess where during the opening, a particular set of moves make up for an opening.
The various raga with their particular array of Swaras give rise to distinct flavour for a particular raga with its constituent “sangathis” along with deployment of “anuswaras” and “gamakas”, which further establishes the further course of the raga at various octaves (sthayi): the manthra (the lower octave) madhyama (Middle); and tara (higher); at times anu-mantra (sub-lower) and athi-tara (supra-higher). So does a particular set of moves which along with its variants and timing, give rise to the character of the openings and lays road for the further course of the game into middle game and the endgame.
Now, for the most important aspect in both music and chess. The most important and fundamental aspect of music is the “sruti” or the pitch. “Sruti” is the smallest interval of pitch. In simple terms, Sruti denotes the fabric of a song on which the Swaras and sahitya are weaved into by a musician, and a dip or deviation in the chosen sruti is unacceptable as it diminishes the aural effect.
Each one of us have an “adhara sruti” - a particular pitch which suits our vocal cord and it's capacity to producing a particular range of sound, where the singer feels comfortable, without any strain or needing any particular effort. This only varies by the passage of age (gets reduced). In order to align ones sruti and ensure that it neither sags or sways, a drone instrument is played at the background while a song is rendered.
In Chess, we may grossly compare this to the basic principles of the play with regard to the pawn structure, determining the control over centre, harmonious placement of pieces, and also the proclivity for a particular type of play arising out of the opening a player prefers to play in chess, which he feels more comfortable with, and finds it easy to develop further play.
Well, this is a very gross attempt at drawing a basic parallel between chess and music. I hope you found this, at-least, not boring! I shall try to deal with some finer aspects of both Chess and Music in my subsequent articles, as and when I find time and shall try to make it more interesting.
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