Indian string instruments are a ‘speciality’

Indian string and brass instruments are known as a “speciality” for a reason: They’re incredibly complex, rich and varied.
But a new study has found that some Indian string players have mastered the art of picking the right sound to go with the instruments.
In fact, they’re even better at it than some of the world’s best musicians, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Nature.
The study, led by a team at the University of California, Berkeley, is the first to examine the performance of Indian string musicians on their instruments.
They found that those who were skilled at picking the correct sound, called sutras, were more likely to perform well on the instruments, than those who didn’t.
“It’s not just one instrument, it’s the whole instrument, the whole repertoire,” said David G. Smith, a professor of music at UC Berkeley and the study’s lead author.
“And that is what makes these instruments so special.”
The study focused on a single instrument: the Indian string instrument, which has a range of 12 to 22 octaves, and which has been used for centuries in many different cultures.
The researchers conducted a series of experiments to determine whether the performance abilities of the Indian instrument players were related to their training and their musical aptitude.
In the first experiment, the researchers asked the Indian players to pick a string from the middle of a large drum.
The drum is usually made up of a series, with the strings that make up the sound.
When the researchers played a drum that contained the strings from the previous experiment, they found that the Indian player was able to pick the right one.
In another experiment, a string of a different color was played.
The Indian players were also able to tell which color was being played by their instruments, Smith said.
“When they played a color of a similar color, it was more likely for them to play the correct color of the drum,” Smith said in a statement.
In addition to playing the correct drum color, the Indian musicians were also asked to play a single note in a series that had been recorded and then analyzed.
They were able to accurately pick out the notes that were correct, but they weren’t able to spot any that were off.
“The sound of the instrument is a reflection of the musicians’ abilities,” Smith added.
“As long as they’re learning the sound, it shouldn’t be difficult to get good.”
For the second experiment, Smith and his colleagues played a piece of string music and played the Indian instruments while also playing the piece.
The sound of each instrument was recorded and analyzed.
“We asked them to pick out a note on the drum and they were much more accurate at picking that note than we were,” Smith explained.
“This is why they have a special skill.
They can pick out those notes.
And it’s so good that they are able to do it even though they don’t have any training on playing the instruments.”
But there was one other finding that was surprising.
The instruments that were played at a high level had a much better overall performance.
“That was really surprising,” Smith told ABC News.
“These instruments are so much better than the instruments they played in the past.”
The findings have a wide range of applications.
“There are a lot of instruments that are in concert or at a concert,” Smith noted.
“They all play very different instruments, but if you play the Indian String Instrument well, you’re not going to sound different.”
“It is so important that the players learn the instrument and the sound so they can get a good performance,” he said.