Ram Narayan - Style

Style

Narayan's style is characteristic of Hindustani classical music, but his choice of solo instrument and his background of learning from teachers outside his community are not common for the genre. He has stated that he aims to please the audience and create a feeling of harmony, and expects the audience to reciprocate by reacting to his playing.

Narayan's performances are strung together from the meditative and measured alap (non-metrical introduction) and jor (performance with pulse) in dhrupad style, followed by a faster and less reserved gat section (composition with rhythmic pattern provided by the tabla) in khyal style. He experimented with a style of jhala (performance with rapid pulse) developed by Bundu Khan, but considered it more appropriate for plucked instruments and stopped performing it. The gat section includes one or two parts with compositions. When two gats are used, the first one tends to be at a slow or medium tempo, and the second one is faster; the gats are usually performed in the 16-beat rhythmic cycle tintal. Narayan often completes performances with ragas associated with thumri (a popular light classical genre), which are referred to as mishra (Sanskrit: mixed) because they allow for additional notes, or with a dhun (song based on folk music).

Narayan practices and teaches using a limited number of paltas, exercises in a small scale range that are used to prepare playing different numbers of notes per bow. Derived from paltas are lengthy note patterns called tans, which contain characteristic "melodic shapes" and are used by Narayan for fast playing. He uses his left (fingering) hand for runs and to play an extended melodic range, and his right (bowing) hand for rhythmic accentuations. Narayan's fingering technique, his low right hand position, keeping the bow in a close to right angle to the string, and his use of the full bow length are unusual among sarangi players.

Narayan is associated with the Kirana gharana (stylistic school of Kirana) through Abdul Wahid Khan, but his performance style is not strongly connected to it. Most of Narayan's compositions are from the singing repertoire of his teachers and were modified and adapted to the sarangi. He has created original compositions and in performance varies those he was taught. Narayan disfavors the creation of new ragas, but developed compound ragas, including those of Nand with Kedar and Kafi with Malhar.

Narayan uses a sarangi obtained from Uday Lal and built in Meerut in the 1920s or 1930s in his concerts and recordings. He plays on foreign harp strings to produce a clearer tone. Narayan experimented with modifications to his instrument and added a fourth string, but removed it because it hindered playing. In the 1940s, he exchanged gut with steel for the first string and found it easier to play, but reverted to using only gut strings because the steel string altered the sound.