Assam ASSEB Higher Secondary Skill Subject Hindustani Vocal key terms

A musical note considered as a pitch degree within the octave; Hindustani music recognises seven shuddha swar and five vikrit forms, giving twelve positions used in melodic practice.

The written notation system for Hindustani music, in which notes are shown by letter-symbols, octave by dots, and time by vertical bar-lines dividing the rhythmic cycle.

The set of seven notes spanning one octave; distinguished as mandra (lower), madhya (middle) and taar (upper) saptak, marked in notation by dots below or above the note.

An altered form of a shuddha note, either komal (flattened) or tivra (sharpened); komal applies to Re, Ga, Dha and Ni, while tivra applies only to Ma.

A note sung at its natural, unaltered pitch position; the seven shuddha notes form the basic scale from which all ragas are derived.

The most important note of a raga, the one given greatest prominence and frequency; it acts as the melodic centre around which phrases are built.

The second most important note of a raga, usually a fourth or fifth away from the vadi; it supports the vadi in shaping the raga's identity.

A supporting note in a raga that is neither vadi nor samvadi; it helps fill melodic movement but does not define the raga's character.

A note that is foreign or discordant to a raga and is therefore avoided or used only fleetingly; its presence would distort the raga's identity.

A melodic framework of Hindustani music defined by a fixed set of notes, characteristic ascending and descending movements, and dominant notes that together create a distinct mood.

The ascending movement of a raga, showing which notes are taken and in what order when the melody rises; it may differ from the descending path.

The descending movement of a raga, specifying the notes and order used when the melody falls; in many ragas it is more elaborate than the ascent.

A scale of seven notes used to classify ragas into ten groups under the Bhatkhande system; each thaat is a parent scale, not a performable raga.

The classification of a raga by the number of notes used in ascent and descent, such as audav (five), shadav (six) or sampurna (seven), giving combinations like audav-sampurna.

A short, recognisable phrase that captures the essential melodic identity of a raga; hearing it allows a listener to identify the raga quickly.

The characteristic melodic movement or gait of a raga, showing how its phrases typically proceed; it is broader than a single pakad phrase.

A rhythmic cycle in Hindustani music made up of a fixed number of beats, organised into sections and marked by claps and waves so that performers stay together.

A single beat or unit of time within a tala cycle; the total number of matras defines the length of the cycle, such as sixteen in Teentaal.

The first beat of a tala cycle, marked by a clap; it is the point of resolution where melodic and rhythmic phrases commonly come to rest together.

An unaccented section of a tala cycle, indicated by a wave of the hand rather than a clap; it contrasts with the sounded sections and helps performers track the cycle.

The tempo or speed of rhythmic movement in performance; described as vilambit (slow), madhya (medium) and drut (fast), and central to the effect of a composition.

The art of playing with tempo, including patterns that place notes at double, half or intermediate speeds against the basic pulse, demonstrating rhythmic command.

A sixteen-beat tala divided into four sections of four beats each, with claps on beats 1, 5 and 13 and a wave on beat 9; widely used for khayal and instrumental compositions.

A twelve-beat tala arranged in four sections of two beats, with claps on beats 1, 5, 9 and 11 and waves on beats 3 and 7; common in vilambit khayal.

A ten-beat tala divided into sections of two, three, two and three beats, with claps on beats 1, 3 and 8 and a wave on beat 6.

A six-beat tala in two sections of three beats, with a clap on beat 1 and a wave on beat 4; used for light classical forms such as dadra and thumri.

An eight-beat tala in two sections of four beats, with a clap on beat 1 and a wave on beat 5; common in light classical and folk-derived songs.

The principal vocal form of Hindustani music, setting a short poetic text in a raga and tala, developed through improvised melodic expansion in slow or fast tempo.

A fixed composition in a raga and tala, comprising text, melody and rhythmic structure; it serves as the base from which improvisation proceeds.

The first section of a bandish, usually set in the lower and middle register, which states the main melodic idea and returns as the point of resolution.

The second section of a bandish, generally moving into the upper register and introducing new melodic material before the singer returns to the sthayi.

A slow tempo used especially for the opening khayal, allowing elaborate, ornamented melodic expansion and clear presentation of the raga's phrases.

A fast tempo, used for the concluding composition or section, where short phrases and rhythmic play replace the expansive movement of slow tempo.

A melodic ornament such as a glide, shake or oscillation that decorates a note; ornaments give Hindustani singing its expressive, speech-like continuity.

A smooth glide from one note to another, produced without breaking the sound; it is a fundamental ornament in both vocal and instrumental Hindustani music.

A school of performance tracing its style to a particular lineage of teachers; each gharana has distinctive approaches to voice, ornament and repertoire.

A musicologist who systematised Hindustani ragas under ten thaats and published widely used notation-based teaching texts, shaping modern institutional music education.

In acoustics, amplitude corresponds to loudness and frequency to pitch; a steady periodic vibration is heard as a musical note with a definite pitch.

The basic sound or tone from which music is produced; distinguished as ahata (struck, audible) and anahata (unstruck), the latter being a philosophical rather than acoustic category.

Overtones sounding above the fundamental frequency, present in voice and instruments; their relative strength gives each voice or instrument its characteristic timbre.