In this edition of Perspectives, we continue our conversation with Dr. Raghavasimhan Sankaranarayanan, an engineer and violinist. As part of his Ph.D. research at Georgia Tech, he developed Hathaani, a novel robotic violinist that is designed to play Carnatic music. He is also an experienced violinist, who has been training for several years with Saṅgīta Kalānidhi Vid. A. Kanyakumari. In Part 2 of the interview, our conversation centres around the implications of Hathaani and some general aspects of the music field.

What are some ways in which Hathaani will benefit Carnatic musicians? 

First, one of the main motivations behind Hathaani is to help composers who are not conversant with playing the violin, but want to hear how their composition sounds.

A dictum that Ilayaraja sir has repeated in many interviews can be paraphrased thus: I can imagine/compose anything. But, if a musician cannot play the music on their instrument, that composition is of no use.

Raja sir composes for the instrument and for the musician. Many composers are unable to do that because they do not have information about the possibilities or scope of that particular instrument. There are many good composers who do not play many instruments. Robots which play instruments would be of great help to them.

Second application of such robots is as a teaching aid. There is no teacher-student barrier with a robot. A student can learn from a robot in the same way they would learn from their friend, i.e., they can learn at their own pace. This is not always possible with a teacher due to human constraints. 

Third, this could be a new sub-genre of Carnatic music in future, just like electronic music or EDM, wherein technology plays the main role in music making. 

If a student wants to get into this interdisciplinary area of music and AI, what is the educational background/training they need?

To work on music technology and AI, it is not crucial to know music, although knowing music does provide an advantage. But, one does need to be a trained engineer (computer, mechanical, electronics or related fields). One area of study for music technology that is indispensable is digital signal processing. To get started with machine learning, one actually does not have to implement everything from scratch, thanks to the existence of many open-source libraries. To get into musician robotics, it is strongly advised to be well-versed in any one of mechanical, electrical, electronic, digital signal processing or computer science. It would be beneficial to know the basics of all other streams as well.

Do you think it is necessary for students of music to pursue the sciences in some form or other?

Pursuing physics/some form of engineering related to physics would definitely be helpful in deeper understanding of concepts such as resonance, octaves and frequencies, in a musical context . Music is largely a creative pursuit. In some sense, scientific training induces logical thinking, which in my case helped to balance my creative thinking. In my opinion, it would definitely help if music students pursued the sciences.

Many Carnatic music students who want to pursue higher studies, be it in music or otherwise, away from Chennai, feel a sense of missing out on the music scene due to the centralised nature of the art. Maybe you also faced this dilemma as a Carnatic violinist. How did you deal with it or overcome this internal struggle? What advice would you give students who are facing this problem?

Personally, I did, and still do miss playing as many concerts as I used to. But, in general, I would say that one can always go back and continue. There is a caveat though. For example, there are a lot more violinists today than a few years ago, when I was playing. But, if you succeed in developing a unique identity for yourself, there will always be people who will follow you and miss you. This will make it possible to go back and continue, even after moving away from the core music scene for a while.

What is your opinion on the Carnatic music field and music education in India? If you could modify one thing, what would it be?

I think we should open up more. Overall, the field can probably be more open-minded.

We are also quite resistant to change. A musician is influenced by many different sources and genres of music. If one plays a new phrase as part of a Rāga, it takes time for people to accept it. The audience reaction is almost never positive, atleast at the beginning. This needs to change in my humble opinion.

Regarding teaching, students can be given more freedom to explore various styles of Carnatic music and also other genres, so that they can develop their own individualistic styles.

Could you describe the Thrayam app that you had developed with Kumaresh sir?

Thrayam is the brainchild of Kumaresh anna. It consists of three components - tuner, Tanpura and Thaalam. Hence the name Thrayam. The tuner is specifically designed for Carnatic music. If the Tanpura is set to a pitch/key, the tuner will tell you if it is Sa, Ri, Ga etc., instead of C, D, E etc. So one does not really need to know the Western notes in order to use the tuner. Tanpura is a standard dual Tanpura. An interesting feature is that you can play manually on this Tanpura by swiping. Thaalam component consists of an animated hand that can show the Aṅga-s and put Tāla. You can choose from the 35 Tāla-s, as well as Chaapu Thalams. You can also choose the speed. The Thaalam component can be a very useful teaching aid.