Elements in Indian Music
Rag
(or Raga)
Main
Instruments: Sitar or Sarod
Defining
rag (pronounced rarg) is difficult. It is partly a scale, but
also a melody and a set of characteristic melodic shapes. A
rag often has a different pattern going up and coming down.
Certain notes have special significance: the tonic, called SA
and always heard in the drone accompaniment, but also one or
two other notes known as vadi and samvadi. Specific rags also
have associations with times of day, seasons, moods etc. There
are around 250 rags in Indian music.
The
Indian Notation System (Sargam)
Most
Indian music is contained within three octaves. Notes of the
scale are given names, with the ‘tonic’ called SA.
Like Tonic Sol-Fa, this is movable, and in Indian music SA is
set so as to suit the range of the performer.
A
dot above the name = octave higher
A dot below the name = octave lower
MA
is sometimes sharpened, and this is indicated by a dash written
above MA
RE, GA, DHA and NI are sometimes flattened, and this is shown
by them being underlined
SA and PA are never altered.
Rag
Yaman
This
rag is associated with early evening, with a peaceful settled
feel. The particularly significant notes (other than the tonic
SA) are GA and NI. Notice that the ascent and descent patterns
are different.
Below
are certain characteristic melodic fingerprints in Rag Yaman.
Tal
(or Tala)
Main
Instrument: Tabla Drums
A
tal (pronounced ‘taal’) is a rhythmic cycle that
constantly repeats, coming back to the first beat. This first
beat is called the sum, and is an important moment where all
the musicians come together, even if they are improvising complex
patterns for the rest of the cycle – pieces always end
on the sum. Tals are split into sections called vibhags. Indian
musicians ‘keep’ tal by clapping on the first beat
of most sections. In every tal there is at least one section
which is in contrast to the rest, where the musicians make a
‘wave’ rather than a clap (turning the hand palm
upwards), and where the tabla (drum) player will play only on
the smaller (right hand) drum. This section is called the khali
vibhag.
Tintal
Tintal
(pronounced ‘teentaal’) is the most popular tal.
It has 16 beats divided into 4 sections (vibhags). Bols are
words used to help learn the different strokes on the tabla
(drums).
X
= Clap, O = Wave
Clap
etc |
X |
o |
o |
o |
X |
o |
o |
o |
O |
o |
o |
o |
X |
o |
o |
o |
Beats |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
Bols |
dha |
dhin |
dhin |
dha |
dha |
dhin |
dhin |
dha |
dha |
tin |
tin |
ta |
ta |
dhin |
dhin |
dha |
The
tabla player has two drums – the right hand drum is smaller
and higher-pitched. There is a round black patch in roughly
the centre of each drum called the duggi. The following are
some stroke patterns (although details vary in different areas):
dha
= LH strikes left drum with 2nd and 3rd fingertips
RH strikes the rim of the right drum with 2nd finger
dhin
= LH strikes left drum with 2nd and 3rd fingertips
RH strikes the right drum with a brushing motion between the
rim and the duggi
tin
= RH strikes the right drum with a brushing motion between the
rim and the duggi
ta
= RH strikes the duggi of the right drum firmly with 2nd and
3rd fingertips
Drone
Main
Instrument: Tanpura
A
drone is heard in the background of most Indian music. It basically
consists of two separate notes (the tonic SA, maybe in octaves,
plus usually the note a 5th above) played continuously. The
drone never speeds up, but stays as an unchanging element throughout
the piece.
Gat
This
is a set composition within a rag that fits with a specific
rhythmic cycle (tal – see below). This example is a gat
in Rag Yaman that fits with the particular rhythmic cycle known
as tintal (see below). Note that it starts on the 5th beat of
the cycle (start of the second section or vibhag). Notice that
the important notes in Rag Yaman (GA and NI) are prominent at
the start of each section. The X represents a clap and the O
a wave within the tal structure.
Tihais
A
tihais is like a rhythmic cadence, and is used to end an improvised
section or as the climax to a performance. In essence it consists
of an identical rhythmic pattern played three times ending on
the first beat of a tal cycle. Here are three possible rhythmic
patterns for tihais:
The
secret is to work out which beat of the tal cycle you need to
start on in order to finish up on beat 1 (the sum).
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