Can a Western guitarist, violinist or pianist learn to play Indian classical music?

Yes, a Western guitarist, violinist or pianist can learn Indian classical music; KalaSudha teaches it online in live one-to-one lessons from Foundation. We add workshops and summer camps where enough learners sign up. The new part is the raga, a melodic framework of set notes, stressed notes and characteristic phrases.

On the Hindustani violin, fingering and bowing join the notes. On Indian slide guitar, a bar glides between them. The piano cannot glide, so pianists learn to suggest meend, the glide between notes. In South Indian music, Ludwig Pesch writes, each note's ornament, its gamaka, depends on its melodic context.