Santoor: how is it tuned?

[Richard Darsie]

Greetings,

I recently acquired a recording of Indian santoor music. (I can't
remember the artist's name at the moment but I can post it tomorrow
if anyone is interested.)

I play the American/western European version of the santoor,
called the "hammered dulcimer". I would really like to learn
some of this Indian santoor music because it's so wonderful, but
it is obvious that the santoor is tuned differently than
the hammered dulcimer. I was wondering if anyone on this group
knew what the tuning was so I could experiment some.

Thanks in advance.

Richard Darsie
dar...@ece.ucdavis.edu

[B. R. Shankar]

Somehow the earlier post got messed up, sorry about that, hope
this one makes it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Richard,

This is just what I learned when the Maestro, Pt. Shivkumar
Sharma, was here about 2 weeks back for a concert. I must warn
that I may have misinterpreted what he said, so if anyone thinks
that this is wrong, please have mercy and correct me.

Panditji told me that his santoor had 85 strings mounted on 29
bridges. (3 strings on 25 bridges, 2 strings on 3 bridges and 4
strings on one bridge), apparently the santoors are customised
according to the needs of the players. The set of strings on one
bridge are tuned to the same note and 'Sa' or the tonic of his
instrument is the 'D' note on the western scale.

Now the important thing, the tuning of the different bridges
depends on the 'raga' being played. So i think it is safe to say
that the tuning is not fixed or unique (like in the guitar). The
first half of his performace was the raga 'Puriya Dhanashree' and
before he went on to perform raga Mishra Khamaj, he took a break
and had to retune his instrument. From what i gather, they tune
the successive bridges so that when they slide the "hammer", it
goes on the notes prescribed by the scale of the raga.

As far as i am concerned, i wouldnt try tuning a 85 string
instrument on my own (tuning a 12 string guitar to a reasonable
level is hard enough). Whatever the tuning maybe, I think that
you should go to a guru who knows how to play the santoor (who
are very rare) or atleast go to a guru who can initiate you into
the wonderful world of Indian classical music.

hope this helps,

regards
Ravi

[B. R. Shankar]

Richard Darsie (dar...@eecs.ucdavis.edu) wrote:
: Greetings,

[RupeK]

In article <2qtc96$j...@solaris.cc.vt.edu>, ra...@trident.aoe.vt.edu (B. R.
Shankar) writes:

Hello,

The Santoor is tuned in two ways! One way is when you play with Light
music such as film songs etc. And the other is when you play Solo
Classical.

In Solo you tune the right side of your instrument to the Raga that you
are playing. In Light music you tune it just like your Instrument.

The santoor has many strings at least a 100. I Have modified my santoor
to give more Octave's and more depth.

You would have to change your Instrument to have three playing strings on
each peg. It's going to be hard to produce sound like the Santoor but you
can try.

Also Change the strings to a lower guage. Thick Strings on bottom half and
thin near the top.

Hope that helps,

Rupesh Kotecha
Kala Kalpa
School of Music, Dance, Art & Culture
909-396-4968

P.S. I learned Santoor from Tarun Bhattacharia from CullCutta

[fahim...@gmail.com]

I just bought my Santoor and am in process of tuning it. Am a total novice. Have downloaded PITCHED TUNER Application. I wonder if someone can help me here.

[rajarsh...@gmail.com]

Santur (Santoor) - Tuning and Stringing
STANDARD STRINGING AND TUNING OF A SANTOOR
STRINGING
The Santoors are usually dispatched by us with the stringing below. For the second and fourth note, thicker strings can be used in order to expand the tonal range to the lower octave of the keynote:

1st and 2nd string wound 0,65 mm
3rd , 4th and 5th string steel 0,45 mm
6th, 7th and 8th string steel 0,37 mm
9th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th string steel 0,35 mm
15th, 16th, 17th and 18th string steel 0,30 mm
19th, 20th, 21st, 23rd and 24th string steel 0,27 mm
25th , 26th, 27th, 28th and 30th string steel 0,25 mm
Tuning
Our Santoors are tuned to the keynote D. According to the chosen key or the raga that you want to play, you can tune the Santoor differently. The well-known Santoor maestro Shivkumar plays his Santoor with a diatonic tuning i.e. all strings of the Santoor are tuned to the chosen scale. This has the wonderful effect that the strings that are not struck reverberate and resonate at the same time. This produces a particularly beautiful and full sound. A further advantage is that you cannot strike a wrong note since all the strings are in tune.This tuning is the most common.

You can also tune the Santoor chromatically. The 15 notes on the right are tuned to the diatonic scale whereas the strings on the left then complete the half-tones that are missing in the diatonic scale (corresponds to white and black keys of the piano).