Bol, Kayda, Palta and Tukda: Composition Types
Bol, Kayda, Palta and Tukda are the composition family. The exam asks you to define each, identify it from notation and explain how it is presented.
Definitions
- Bol are the syllables of the drum: Dha, Dhin, Ta, Tin, Na, Ge, Ke, Tirakita. A bol-composition sets these in a taal.
- Kayda is a rule-bound theme (mudra) developed through paltas; it is played in barabar laya, then dugun, and closes with a tihai.
- Palta is a variation of the kayda theme. It must keep the theme grammar and return to sam; it is not a free improvisation.
- Tukda is a short, fixed composition, usually one avartan, ending on sam; it is not developed like a kayda.
- Tihai repeats a phrase three times so the final bol lands on sam.
Worked example
In Teental, take the three-matra phrase Dha Dhin Na. Three repetitions span nine matras. To end on sam, begin on matra 9: phrases on 9-11, 12-14 and 15-16-1, with the last Na on sam. That is a tihai, not a tukda; a tukda would be a single fixed passage.
Presentation
Solo order often moves from uthan to peshkar, kayda and paltas, tihai, rela, gat and tukda. Keep the theme audible; paltas should sound related, not like unrelated tukdas.
Traps
Do not call every short composition a kayda. Do not treat palta as a synonym for tukda. Do not end a tihai before sam. Do not write a tukda with development sections; it is fixed.