The Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India and the Deccan c9.124

c9.124

An example of an irregular melody is shown below. The two first periods consist of nine and seven bars respectively. This frequently occurs in Indian music, and is probably produced simply by rests having in course of time been either lengthened or disregarded; or by a bar imitated, repeated, or overlapping; so that a symmetrical period is transformed into one of an uneven number of bars. The effect produced is original, and often very pleasing. That this has been fully recognised by musicians in Europe is well known, and many examples might be quoted from the works of classical composers to prove that this has been largely appreciated as an important element of variety—