The veena

Twenty-four frets fixed to the neck — and slides made by pulling the string sideways

Related

The sitarLuteHarp

The main line: the frets are fixed, yet the slides are pulled out of them

The veena (here the South Indian Saraswati veena) fixes twenty-four metal frets to a long neck, so the pitches look nailed down. Yet meend, the slide at the heart of Indian music, is still possible: the player does not change fret but pulls the string sideways across the fret — the string tightens and the pitch rises; release it and the pitch falls.

This is the cleanest contrast with the sitar: the sitar makes the frets movable, the veena fixes them and pulls the string out of the grid. One changes the instrument, the other changes the string; both turn fixed pitches into continuous sound.

Form: chamber, neck, twenty-four frets

• Main chamber (kudam): a large round wooden resonator, usually carved from a hardwood such as jackwood, with a sound hole; it carries the low end and the resonance.
• Secondary resonator: a smaller chamber near the player's end of the neck supports the high register; on some instruments it can be detached.
• Neck (dandi): long and straight, carrying twenty-four metal frets, levelled with wax or resin beneath.
• Strings: four main strings (traditionally steel), usually tuned Sa – Pa – Sa – Sa (the last an octave lower); plus three thala strings tuned to Sa or Pa, used for drone and rhythmic patterns.
• Head: often carved with a yali, a mythical beast — the instrument is also an object.
• Playing: the right hand plucks with index and middle fingers, the left stops the frets; the sideways pull (meend) and the pressed shake (gamak) are its signature.

Four main strings and three rhythmic strings

The veena is not a single melodic line. Of the four main strings, the first sings the melody and the others supply the fifth and the octave; the three thala strings are plucked when needed to give a drone and a rhythmic frame. One instrument carries melody, support and rhythm at once — the typical setup of a Carnatic solo.

"Veena" is a family, not one instrument

In Indian tradition veena names a family of stringed instruments: the North Indian rudra veena (a large stick-like veena) and the vichitra veena (fretless, played with a slide) are both veenas; the Saraswati veena of the South is one of them. When someone says "veena", ask which one — the same width-of-meaning problem as "fiddle" or "flute".

Against the sitar and the lute

• sitar: its frets move, the veena's are fixed; the sitar has sympathetic strings, the veena has thala strings. One moves the bridge, the other pulls the string.
• lute: the Baroque lute also has frets and a pear-shaped body, but its music is built on polyphony and harmony; the veena's is built on raga melody and drone.
• harp: a harp has no frets and takes pitches directly with the fingers; the veena has frets and then "erases" them by pulling the string.

Institution and stage

The veena was long central to South Indian court and temple music, and remains a key voice in Carnatic solo and accompaniment. In the twentieth century the family tradition of Veena Dhanammal, the solo style of S. Balachander, and players such as E. Gayathri and Jayanthi Kumaresh carried it from court and temple into the concert hall and the recording.

It is also a large instrument: modest in volume and awkward to carry, it needs a microphone even more in the amplified age. Physical size decides a place on the modern stage.

Three things to take away

1. Fixed frets + pulled strings: pitch is written on the fret, the slide is made on the string. 2. Four main strings + three rhythmic strings: one instrument gives melody, support and rhythm. 3. Veena is a family: when the word appears, first decide which instrument is meant.

HS classification

The veena's compass depends on the tuning of the main strings and the placement of the twenty-four frets; a common setup gives the schematic band C3–C6, with the working register C3–C5. The low end comes from the longest main string and the main chamber, the top from high positions; the thala strings supply a drone and do not extend the compass. Pitches are sounding pitch, not transposed.

Sources

• 萨拉斯瓦蒂维纳的形制、二十四品、四根主弦与三根 thala 弦、以手指拨弦与横向拉弦取滑音，参 Wikipedia "Veena" 与 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians "Vina" 条目；本文为原创表述
• 「veena」作为一类乐器名与萨拉斯瓦蒂维纳的区分、Carnatic 独奏传统，参 Grove "Vina" 与南印度音乐通行叙述；本文为原创表述
• 曲库无维纳琴录音，实例取 C1 的印度旋律、鲁特琴与钢琴曲作参照，逐条在 why 里写明取材角度

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.