Uday Shankar wrote:But the problem statement I made is different: with normal "just" intonation rules, the interval between S-R2 (9/8) is slightly higher than the interval between P-D2 (10/9), unlike the guitar which is equally tempered.
Oh, I see now. Uday, I probably didn't read your comments properly earlier, but I get exactly what you mean now. But then, we don't necessarily play every note on its own fret, do we? When I play Saveri, for example, I play practically all the Ri notes on the Sa fret (and Dha on Pa). On the first string, I play the Madhya sthayi Ri by using the part of the string behind the meru (and similarly for Mandra Dha on second string). Well, anyway, it's all a trade off, isn't it? A lot of Western musicians absolutely hate their even-tempered scale, but what can they do? They need it to get their harmonies properly.
The Sitar does have an advantage in this matter. What do you think of the idea of tuning the first string of the Veena to Mandra Pa? I made a few observations on this, but would like to have your views.
Uday Shankar wrote: It's part of the nonsensical "Indian tradition" of division of labor between armchair theorists and workmen. "Upper" class Indians cannot even turn a screwdriver or hammer a nail, leave alone work with wood. In contrast, any westerner who has theories also works with his hands. Solution - we have learn to use the tools and materials ourselves!
Wow! That is uncanny. It is exactly what I myself have been complaining about to others in different contexts. Our engineers do armchair theorising with no practical understanding or skills to demonstrate or try out anything, our technicians take a mindless "monkey see, monkey do" kind of approach to work with no conceptual knowledge, and never the twain shall meet, and neither of them can command the respect of the other, which explains why we remain so backward technologically, by and large.
I also complain that so many new training institutes are being opened newly for teaching software even in rural areas, and nothing is being done to impart training in useful hands-on skills with tools, when we have such a shortage of skilled and knowledgeable electricians, mechanics, plumbers and so on. We assume we are doing students a favour by seating them all in front of computers, and we never stop to think about the students' aptitudes or interests; of whether some of them would prefer to work with their hands on other things. The result is that today we cannot find many competent electricians, plumbers, woodworkers, technicians, etc. that can do a good job, simply because we have neglected these things.
Luckily for me we have had a business in the family that involved manufacturing, and all my childhood summer holidays were spent playing with drills and lathes and other stuff, so I've grown to enjoy working with my hands and also have acquired a lot of tools that I use all the time.
But some jobs require very specialised tools and materials, which are not really worth acquiring just for a one-off job, nor would it have been convenient to use such things in my residence, I wasn't clear about usage of some of the materials as I hadn't used them before, and so on, so I thought I'd go to the "experts" on that occasion, which turned out to be a mistake. Yes, nothing like doing things oneself and gaining additional knowledge and skills even from mistakes.