Audience response and expressive pitch inflections in a live recording of legendary singer Kesar Bai Kerkar

This chapter examines several "snapshots" from a recording by the legendary singer Kesar Bai Kerkar (1892-1977), in which the customary audience response to a concert of classical Hindustani music, in the form of appreciative verbal interjections, is clearly audible. These responses identify "special" moments in the performance, which can be considered particularly expressive. Praat software was used to generate pitch-lines, which elucidate what is happening in the performance at these selected moments. The analyses must be understood within the framework of the music being performed and the ideas about aesthetics of expression. A brief outline of expressivity in the context of Hindustani music is given. The recording is from one genre, a particular period, and one school, and the introductory sketch about expression of emotion and the role of raga in the context of Hindustani music is necessarily a brief synopsis of a vast subject.