The Shrutiphone

Introducing the Shrutiphone, the first Raga-tempered and customized saxophone to better express the subtle nuances of North Indian Classical music.

To properly convey on saxophone the delicate nuances and inflections of the ragas—alankart (ornaments), gamak (heavy accent note from above or below), mulki (grace note), and especially the meend (bending and smooth gliding between notes)—I needed to innovate a new playing style by exploring many extended techniques and alternate fingerings. Furthermore, in order to express the non-tempered nature of tuning and shrutis (micro-tonal tuning) of a raga, I added micro-tuning adjusters and modified the key heights to overcome the temperament of the saxophone’s Western tuning system. Working for over 6 years in the Cosmo Music woodwind repair shop in Toronto, under the mentorship of head repair technician Kevin Rohm, provided me with the appropriate technical knowledge to creatively make some of these adjustments, leading me to co-design with Kevin what I call the “Shrutiphone”, a non-tempered saxophone with a tuning system appropriate for Indian drone-centric music. I believe the Shrutiphone is the first innovative step forward in the evolution of North Indian classical music on the saxophone.