Karnatic rhythmical structures as a source for new thinking in western music

Abstract

This thesis addresses the issues of how rhythm could be taught differently in the West, how the new methodology described here could impact the performance of rhythmically complex contemporary music as well as becoming the starting point of a new creative approach for improvisers and composers. The three main goals of this research are to describe South Indian (Karnatic) rhythmical concepts which could be considered sufficiently universal to be integrated with western classical and jazz aesthetics, to show how these techniques can be utilised to analyse and perform western contemporary music with more understanding and accuracy, and to demonstrate how these concepts can be integrated within a western creative framework, be it improvised or composed.