Articles written by James Hamilton
All 22 articles written by James Hamilton
Strategies for Improving Online Chess Play: Get a Better Rating While Improving Your Game
Category: Chess
Assuming that a player has a basic understanding of chess and has played a number of games, one can improve ones play ranking by following a few basic guidelines. more...
Alap and Gat : Classical Music from India: Introduction and Composition in Sitar Music
Category: World Music (general)
The learning of Indain Classical music requires a stepwise approach that begins with the study of gat (compositon) and ends with the mastery of alap. more...
Theories on Stonehenge: Druid Megaliths and the Celtic Calendar
Category: UK/Irish History (general)
The Megalith of Stonehenge is located about 80 miles south-west of London, England. more...
Shatrang or Indian Chess: An Achaic Version of the Game
Category: Chess
The verdict is still out on the origin chess, but an older version of the game is still prevalent in India. more...
Cathedral Lakes Lodge, B.C.: High Altitude Hiking near Keremeos, British Columbia, Canada
Category: Hiking & Trails
Cathedral Lakes Provincial Park is located about 30 kms southwest of Keremeos, BC. Cathedral Lakes Lodge is a base for high-altitude hiking. more...
What is a Mode in Musical Composition?: Mjusicologial and Ethnomusicological Views
Category: World Music (general)
The word mode is Latin in origin from modus meaning measure, standard, manner, or way, and this atricle discusses the use of mode in music and musical composition. more...
Titles for North Indian Musicians: Ustad or Pandit?
Category: World Music (general)
Leading musicians of a gharana are occasionally awarded or assume honorific titles such as ustâd or pandit (i.e Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Pandit Ravi Shankar). more...
Tagore Songs and the Harmonium: To Play or not to Play!
Category: World Instruments
The harmonium is a hand pump organ which missionaries in India had used to accompany their hymns and litanies. more...
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941): Bengal's Noble Prize Winning Poet
Category: Literary Culture (general)
Rabindranath Tagore was a poet and writer who also has made his mark in the realm of music and painting. more...
The Lyrical Genres of Bengali Traditional Music: A Rich Tapestry of Musical Genres.
Category: World Music (general)
Traditional Bengali culture contains a rich tapestry of musical genres. These range from plaintive folk melody to lyrical boatmen songs and the songs of mystics. more...
What is Dhun (Dhuna)?: Cross-genre Influences in Rag Music
Category: World Music (general)
The traditions of Hindustani "classical" and regional "folk" music have existed side by side in India for several hundred years. more...
Chess Game Fraud on Facebook: Bogus Games for Rating Points
Category: Chess
Cheating at sport is nothing new. Everyone has heard of boxers taking a dive or of the footballer who had a bet in against his/her own team. more...
Time in Indian Cosmology: The Mathematical Connection between Sacred and Secular Time
Category: Hindu Mythology
In Indian cosmology sacred and secular time are linked by a series of mathematical calculations. more...
Early History of the Celts: The Indo-European Connection
Category: Ancient History (general)
The word Celt is Greek in origin being derived from the word Keltoi meaning 'barbarian' or 'stranger.' more...
Gharana in South Asia: Custodians of Cultural Heritage
Category: World Music (general)
The musicologist D.K. Mukherjee writes that gharana is a Hindi word meaning `family' in the broad sense of the word. more...
The Mystery of the Spanish Mound: Evidence for Early Contact
Category: Canadian Settlement
Among the First Nations peoples of south-central British Columbia, there is a legend of buried Conquistador artifacts at a location referred to as the Spanish Mound. more...
What is a Musical Scale?: Musicological and Ethnomusicological Views
Category: World Music (general)
The word scale is Latin in origin, being derived from the word scala meaning "ladder", this article explores the use of scales in music. more...
Classification of Musical Instruments: Fron Natyashastra to Hornbostel and Sachs
Category: World Instruments
The organographic system popularized by Hornbostel and Sachs was possibly derived from an Ancient Indian one. more...
Origin of the Mandolin: Developments in Design and Repertoire
Category: Musical Instruments (general)
The instrument now commonly known as the mandolin has its roots in lutes of the ancient world. more...
Ragragini and Ragamala Painting: Personification of Indian Melodies
Category: World Music (general)
The fine and performing arts in India formed a unique association in the domain of Ragamala Painting more...
Origin of the Sitar: Tanburs in Northern India
Category: World Instruments
According to popular history it was Amir Khusrau who "invented" the sitar. It has been suggested that he may have modified the existing tritantri vina. more...
From Rebab to Sarod: The Gulam Ali Khan Tradition of Sarod
Category: World Instruments
Early in the 19th century musicians of Afghan descent, residing in North India, began to study and perform classical Indian Music. more...
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