Eight minutes, a tanpura left at C sharp, and a voice that sits at A
The practical examination gives each candidate eight minutes: about two minutes of alap, one full avartan of a composition, and a short viva. The room's tanpura has been left at C sharp because the harmonium used by the previous candidate is fixed at C sharp. This candidate's comfortable Sa is A, a major third lower, and during rehearsal the voice went flat within three minutes at C sharp. The candidate has prepared raga Bhimpalasi with a composition in a sixteen-matra cycle, and has a second, less rehearsed option, raga Yaman. The examiner's briefing note says that candidates will be asked to explain one omission in the raga's aroha, and that marks are given for a structured alap rather than for speed. The candidate is next but one, and there are ten minutes before the door opens.
1. Decide the pitch and say what you would do about the tanpura and the harmonium, with reasons.
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Fix the voice, not the pitch of the music. A major third above a comfortable Sa is not a question of courage: the register break will sit in the wrong place, the upper Sa will be reached by pressure instead of support, and by the third minute the voice will drift flat, which the examiner hears as poor swara and which no correct sargam will outweigh. So ask for the tanpura to be retuned to A before the clock starts. A tanpura's strings are tuned to the performer's Sa, so this is its normal use and takes about a minute. If a harmonium is wanted, it must transpose or be dropped; a tanpura drone alone is entirely acceptable for a solo raga, whereas a harmonium sounding in C sharp against a voice at A is not an accompaniment but a trap. Say the reason aloud before starting: 'my Sa is A; may the tanpura be set to A' is ordinary professional practice, not a complaint, and examiners expect it.
2. Choose between Bhimpalasi and Yaman for this slot, and plan how the two minutes of alap are spent.
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Choose Bhimpalasi, on range and on rehearsal. Its identity lives in the lower and middle register - the komal gandhar, the Ma-heavy phrases, the descending line through komal ni and komal gandhar - whereas Yaman demands a secure upper Sa' and an exposed teevra Ma at a pitch that is already uncomfortable, and it is the less rehearsed option. In two minutes, do not run the aroha and avaroha up and down; that displays the scale, not the raga. Use roughly the first half to establish the lower tetrachord with slow held notes and the characteristic movement around Ma and Gandhar, then let the second half touch the upper register and come down through the notes the raga uses only on the way down. Leave a clean breath before the composition. Two minutes is enough for one clear statement of the raga's shape; it is not enough for a three-octave alap, and attempting that is the commonest way to lose marks.
3. The examiner asks which swara Bhimpalasi omits in the aroha and why that matters for the alap you just sang. Give the answer and the reasoning behind its form.
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Answer: Re and Dha are omitted in the aroha, which moves n S g m P n S', while the avaroha is complete, S' n D P m g R S. It matters because the ascent must actually skip them: touching Re or Dha on the way up blurs the raga towards its neighbours and changes what the listener hears. The consequence for the alap is that the upper register is approached without Dha as a stepping stone, and Re appears only once the phrase is turning downwards. Add the two facts that complete the answer, that Ma is the vadi and Sa the samvadi, and that the raga belongs to the afternoon. Close by tying the answer to your own performance: 'that is why I held Ma and came down through Dha instead of climbing through it'. The viva is testing whether you can explain your own singing, not whether you can recite a scale.