Before we talk about raags, we need to talk about something much more basic: which pitch are we starting from? In Western music you might say “this song is in the key of C” or “in the key of G”. In Indian classical music we often talk about patti – literally the “scale” or “pitch-reference” a performer chooses.
Traditionally in Marathi and some other Indian systems, these scales are named using the words Safed (white) and Kali (black), followed by a number. This lines up very neatly with the white and black keys on a piano.
| Indian Scale Name | On a Piano |
|---|---|
| Safed 1 (White 1) | C |
| Kali 1 (Black 1) | C# / D♭ |
| Safed 2 (White 2) | D |
| Kali 2 (Black 2) | D# / E♭ |
| Safed 3 (White 3) | E |
| Safed 4 (White 4) | F |
| Kali 3 (Black 3) | F# / G♭ |
| Safed 5 (White 5) | G |
| Kali 4 (Black 4) | G# / A♭ |
| Safed 6 (White 6) | A |
| Kali 5 (Black 5) | A# / B♭ |
| Safed 7 (White 7) | B |
A singer or instrumentalist chooses a patti that fits their comfortable range. Once that is chosen, the raag is performed relative to that pitch. So if a vocalist says “I sing in Safed 5”, you can think “ah, their Sa is G”.
Just like in Western music you can play the same song in many keys, in Hindustani music you can present the same raag from different pattis. The relationships between the notes stay the same; only the absolute pitch changes.
The beauty of Indian music is that the actual pitch is always chosen to suit the human being – their voice, their age, their comfort. The theory bends around the artist, not the other way around.
Natural tuning vs. tempered tuning
There is one more subtle but important difference between Hindustani music and most modern Western instruments like the piano: tuning.
Western pianos are normally tuned in 12-tone equal temperament. That means the octave is divided into 12 equal steps. Each semitone is the same size, and some intervals (like major thirds) are slightly “compromised” so that you can play in all keys without retuning.
Hindustani music, on the other hand, is traditionally based on natural (just) tuning – intervals are chosen to resonate with the natural harmonic series. The exact position of Re, Ga, etc. is adjusted by the artist so that they “lock in” beautifully with the tanpura and the tonic Sa.
- Equal temperament – mathematically even, great for fixed-key instruments and modulation between keys.
- Natural/just tuning in Hindustani music – slightly uneven, but every interval is chosen for maximum sweetness and resonance with Sa.
This is one reason a raag performance can feel so “in tune” and soothing, even if you can’t explain why. Sa and Pa on a tanpura are tuned to very pure frequency ratios, and the singer places the other swars in subtly adjusted spots (using shrutis, microtones) to match that purity.
If you play along with a piano, you may notice tiny clashes here and there. That’s not a mistake – it’s the difference between a system optimized for all keys and a system optimized for maximum resonance around a single tonic. Patti in Hindustani music is always anchored to this natural, Sa-centered way of hearing.