Final Project Tracking & Progress

Gratitude tracker for help on final project: Anthony, Gert, Cyrus

Some context on my project

My background in classical music

Much like any other good South Indian, I've been traiing in Carnatic (South Indian classical) vocals since I was 5-6 years old. Over 2 decades with many gaps and multiple teachers, lots of distractions and interruptions, I'm finally at a point in my training where I could be considered "intermediate". My teacher therefore is currently teaching me how to improvise. Similar to jazz, this is when you're given an allowable permutation of notes (a "raga" in Carnatic music - more context below), and you can play around with them in any order to create new melodies, patterns, and riffs. This is in contrast to existing, structured songs that were composed within that raga already, though you can pick up some note patterns from existing compositions as inspiration.

Some definitions & context on Carnatic music

Things to know to understand this project:

• Indian classical music has 2 prominent styles: Carnatic (from the South) and Hindustani (from the North). I'm trained in the former, but the same basic principles apply in both.
• Our music also uses the 12 unique notes of Western music, A through G with sharp or flat variations. However, they are called different things in Indian classical music (the notes are Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni -- analog of Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti). More importantly, the notes are important, but equally critical is the infinite space between the notes, i.e., microtones.
• Carnatic music is organized into 72 fundamental "ragas" (and infinite derivative ones). A raga is a framework. It is basically a permutation of notes and rules for creating unique melodies. While it is fundamentally a scale, Indian classical music also assigns very specific moods, personalities, phrases, ornaments, emotions etc. to each raga.
• Finally, as mentioned above, "alapanam" is a slow improvisation done by a musician within a specific raga. In other words, they pick the raga they want to improvise in, and then use only the notes of that scale/raga to compose melodies on the fly. In doing so, they have to convey the emotion of that raga. It's often used as an introduction to get an audience situated in the mood of the raga, before the performer starts to perform actual compositions within it.
• For the purpose of this assignment: a raga is a permuation of notes. My teacher is teaching me to do alapanam within a raga called Maya Malavagowla, which is the most fundamental and very first raga that any new student learns in Carnatic music.

The project idea

As you've seen, I want to make a practice device to help me get better at alapanam, especially since most of my practice happens alone without supervision. We already use a device called a "shruthi box" for practice, which is either electronic or analog and produces a continous stringed instrument riff to keep you aligned to your reference pitch (mine is G). Inspired by this, I want to create a box that is a raga alignment checker. As you do your alapanam, or in fact any song within a specified raga, it is aware of the allowable notes (and microtones), and will indicate to you whether you've deviated from this. It will also track how much you've deviated over the whole duration of your practice, and allow you to review your best and worst riffs.

The system overview

Find my simplified system diagram below. I forgot to add the body/casing, but this will be housed within a 3D printed enclosure that pays homage to a shruthi box (though I'm hoping to be a bit more creative with design)

Schedule for execution

Rough schedule below:

Meet with instructor for review

Done. Thank you Gert for helpful advice, including naming this "SitarHero", and telling me to breadboard it before milling the PCB so I can see the electronics working.