BSEH SS Music Melodic cheat sheet

Swara: a single musical tone; the seven shuddha swaras are Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni, with Sa and Pa fixed (achala) and the rest movable (chala).

Shruti: the smallest perceptible interval; Bharata's Natyashastra names 22 shrutis per saptak, used theoretically to locate swaras rather than as singable units.

Saptak: the seven-note octave span; mandra (lower), madhya (middle), and tar (upper) saptak are the three registers used in performance.

Alankar: a melodic ornament or exercise pattern; palta-type alankars move in systematic order (e.g., Sa Re Ga, Re Ga Ma) and train both pitch accuracy and tala placement.

Vadi: the principal or king swara of a raga, most frequently emphasized; Samvadi: the second most important (usually a fourth or fifth from vadi); Anuvadi: supporting swaras; Vivadi: a swara foreign or dissonant to the raga.

Jati: the classification of a raga by its swara count - audav (5), shadav (6), sampurna (7) - applied separately to aroha and avaroha, giving labels such as audav-sampurna.

Gayan-shaili: a style or manner of singing; the main Hindustani forms are dhrupad, khayal, thumri, tarana, and tappa, each with its own ornament (gamak vs. murki/khatka) conventions.

Varna: the four kinds of melodic movement - sthayi (static), arohi (ascending), avarohi (descending), and sanchari (mixed/wandering).

Lakshana: the defining characteristics of a raga - aroha, avaroha, vadi, samvadi, pakad, jati, time of performance, and any special rules (varjit swaras, vakra prayogas).

Aroha-avaroha: the ascending and descending scale of a raga; a raga may omit different swaras in each direction (e.g., aroha audav, avaroha sampurna).

Pakad: a short, characteristic phrase that instantly identifies a raga; it is the practical test of raga recognition in viva voce.

Time theory: ragas are assigned to prahar (three-hour periods) of the day; e.g., ragas of the morning vs. evening, and sandhi-prakash ragas at twilight (Ahir Bhairav, Marwa).

Bilawal is the shuddha sampurna parent of the Bilawal thaat; Alhaiya Bilawal (also Bilawal-ang) uses komal Ni in avaroha and is a common comparative pair with Bilawal.

Kalyan (Yaman) is sampurna with tivra Ma and teevra Ma emphasized; its komal-Ni variant is Yaman Kalyan, a standard comparative question.

Bhairav: komal Re and komal Dha with a graced, oscillating (andolan) treatment; morning raga. Bhairavi: all komal swaras, often used as a concluding raga.

Comparative rules: distinguish ragas by vadi/samvadi, pakad, and varjit swaras rather than by scale alone - e.g., Bhoopali (audav, no Ma/Ni) vs. Deshkar (audav but different vadi and pakad).

Matra: the basic beat unit of a tala; Vibhag: the bar/grouping of matras; Tali: a clapped vibhag; Khali: a waved (empty) vibhag.

Teentaal: 16 matras, 4 vibhags of 4; tali on 1, 5, 13 and khali on 9; theka syllables: Dha Dhin Dhin Dha | Dha Dhin Dhin Dha | Dha Tin Tin Ta | Ta Dhin Dhin Dha.

Jhaptaal: 10 matras, 4 vibhags (2+3+2+3); tali on 1, 3, 8 and khali on 6; theka: Dhi Na | Dhi Dhi Na | Ti Na | Dhi Dhi Na.

Ektaal: 12 matras, 6 vibhags of 2; tali on 1, 5, 9, 11 and khali on 3 and 7; used mainly in dhrupad and vilambit khayal.

Rupak: 7 matras, 3 vibhags (3+2+2); khali falls on the first matra (sam), an exception worth noting in viva.

Laya: the tempo; vilambit (slow), madhya (medium), and drut (fast). Barabar, dugun (double), and chaugun (quadruple) are laya multiples used in tala recitation.

Sam: the first matra of the cycle and the point of resolution; compositions and tihais are designed to land on sam.

Tala recitation (padhant) requires speaking theka syllables with hand gestures: clap for tali and a sideways wave for khali, keeping vibhag boundaries clear.

Bhatkhande (Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, 1860-1936) devised the Hindustani notation system in his Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati; it is the standard for sargam notation today.

Swara symbols: shuddha swaras written as S R G M P D N; komal swaras use a lower stroke (Re, Ga, Dha, Ni) and tivra Ma uses an upper stroke.

Register marks: a dot below a swara indicates mandra saptak, a dot above indicates tar saptak; no mark means madhya saptak.

Octave/register is shown with dots; the notation places swaras in a horizontal line with vertical bar lines marking vibhag divisions of the tala.

Tala is written above the swaras: matra numbers or theka syllables are placed over the corresponding notes, with an X marking sam and 0 marking khali.

Duration: a plain swara occupies one matra; a dash or extended spacing indicates a held note (more than one matra), and a bracket groups notes within one matra.

Composition notation includes the sthayi and antara sections, with the text written below the swaras, so the same notation can be sung to lyrics.

Ornaments in notation: meend is shown by a curved line between two swaras; kan (grace note) is written as a small swara; khatka/murki are indicated by grouped small notes.

Bharata's Natyashastra (c. 200 BCE-200 CE) is the earliest surviving treatise covering shruti, swara, grama, and murcchana; it defines 22 shrutis.

Sarngadeva's Sangita Ratnakara (13th century) is the major medieval treatise systematizing raga and tala before the split into Hindustani and Carnatic systems.

Amir Khusrau (13th century) is traditionally credited with introducing the sitar and tabla and with developing the qawwali and early khayal forms; many attributions are traditional rather than documented.

Tansen (Mian Tansen, 16th century) was the court musician of Akbar and is associated with ragas such as Mian ki Malhar and Mian ki Todi.

Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande (1860-1936) created the ten-thaat classification and the modern Hindustani notation system.

Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar (1872-1931) founded the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya (1901) and pioneered institutional music education and the public concert.

Allauddin Khan (c. 1862-1972) was a multi-instrumentalist and teacher whose students included Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar; he shaped the Maihar gharana.

Gharana: a school of performance tracing its lineage to a founder; transmission is guru-shishya and each gharana has signature ragas, ornamentation, and repertoire.

Khayal: the dominant vocal form, with sthayi and antara, sung in vilambit or drut laya; it allows improvisation through alap, taan, bol-taan, and sargam.

Dhrupad: the oldest surviving vocal form, in four parts (nom-tom alap, dhrupad, dhamar, and the concluding piece); uses pakhawaj and emphasizes gamak and a steady, expansive alap.

Thumri: a light classical form with romantic text, in Punjabi, Banaras, and Lucknow styles; uses bol-banao, murki, and khatka rather than extended alap.

Tarana: a fast composition using meaningless syllables (nom-tom, yala, dara) instead of text; often set in teentaal or ektaal and used to close a khayal performance.

Dhamar: a dhrupad-family form set in Dhamar tala (14 matras) and associated with the Holi festival.

Major khyal gharanas: Gwalior (bol-banao, clear sargam), Kirana (slow, sustained alap and meend), Agra (nom-tom, forceful), Jaipur-Atrauli (complex ragas), and Patiala (thumri and tappa).

The Natyashastra's fourfold classification: tata (stringed), avanaddha (membranophone/skin), sushira (wind), and ghana (solid/idiophone).

Tata vadya: sitar, sarod, sarangi, esraj, veena, dilruba, santoor - sound produced by vibrating strings.

Sushira vadya: bansuri, shehnai, nagaswaram, harmonium (reed, classed as sushira in practice) - sound produced by a vibrating air column.

Avanaddha vadya: tabla, pakhawaj, dholak, mridangam - sound produced by a stretched membrane.

Ghana vadya: jal tarang, manjira, ghatam, kartal - sound produced by the solid body of the instrument itself.

Sitar: fretted plucked lute with sympathetic strings (tarab); associated with the Maihar and Imdadkhani (Etawah) gharanas.

Sarod: fretless plucked lute with a metal fingerboard and skin-covered resonator; known for meend and continuous glides; associated with Amjad Ali Khan and the Senia-Bangash lineage.

Sarangi: bowed, fretless instrument with sympathetic strings, close to the human voice; used to accompany khayal and thumri; associated with Ram Narayan and Sultan Khan.

Bansuri: transverse bamboo flute, a sushira instrument; associated with Pannalal Ghosh, who adapted it to Hindustani classical music.

Standard khayal presentation order: alap (unmetered), then vilambit khayal with sthayi and antara, then taans, then drut khayal, ending with a tihai on sam.

Alap rules: begin in madhya or mandra saptak on the vadi or samvadi, expand gradually, avoid exposing the raga's full scale before the pakad is established.

Composition singing: sthayi is sung first, then antara; the sam must coincide with the first syllable of the composition, and the tala theka is kept internally.

Tala recitation (padhant): recite theka with tali claps and khali waves; demonstrate dugun or chaugun by doubling or quadrupling syllables per matra.

Viva voce frequently asks: identify the raga from a sung pakad, state vadi/samvadi, name the thaat, and give the time of performance.

Practical exam ragas are commonly drawn from a prescribed list; for each, be able to sing aroha-avaroha, pakad, one composition in a prescribed tala, and one alankar pattern.

When demonstrating a raga, keep the aroha-avaroha consistent with the lakshana; a wrong komal/shuddha swara or an extra varjit swara is the most common mark-losing error.