Correcting a Fourfold Instrument Classification in Viva
In a practical viva, a candidate is given eight instruments: sitar, sarod, violin, harmonium, flute, tabla, mridangam and ghatam. The candidate must place each into one of the four traditional categories and justify the placement. The answer sheet reads: sitar, sarod, violin and harmonium under tata; flute under sushira; tabla, mridangam and ghatam under avanaddha; the ghana column is empty. In the oral explanation the candidate says, 'The harmonium has strings inside, and the ghatam is struck, so it is avanaddha.' The examiner must decide whether to award full marks, partial marks, or ask a follow-up before marking. The candidate has correctly identified flute as sushira and has not confused tabla with ghatam.
1. Identify the misclassifications and explain the criterion that resolves each, not just the label.
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Two placements are wrong. The harmonium is not tata: it has no stretched strings; it produces sound by air driving free reeds, so it belongs to sushira in the traditional fourfold scheme. The ghatam is not avanaddha: avanaddha requires a stretched membrane, and a clay pot has none; it is ghana, a solid percussive body. Violin is correctly tata because it is a bowed string instrument. Flute is correctly sushira because it is an air-column instrument. Tabla and mridangam are correctly avanaddha because both have stretched membranes. The empty ghana column is therefore the sign of the ghatam error. The criterion is not 'how it is played' but 'what vibrates to produce the sound.' The candidate has partial knowledge but has used a playing-action shortcut.
2. The candidate argues that 'ghatam is struck, so it must be avanaddha.' How should the examiner respond using a counterexample and a definition?
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The examiner should say: 'Striking is not the defining test. A manjira is struck and is ghana; a tabla is struck and is avanaddha. The difference is that the tabla has a stretched membrane, while the ghatam and manjira are solid bodies with no membrane.' The definition should be stated: avanaddha = membrane-covered percussion; ghana = solid, non-membrane percussion. The candidate's argument confuses the player's action with the acoustic material. A follow-up question could be: 'If you put a skin over the mouth of the ghatam, what would it become?' That tests whether the candidate can apply the criterion rather than repeat a label. The examiner should mark the reasoning, not just the final table.
3. Propose a corrected table and explain how the examiner should award marks.
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Corrected table: tata - sitar, sarod, violin; sushira - harmonium, flute; avanaddha - tabla, mridangam; ghana - ghatam. If the exam requires one example per category, the candidate can choose sitar, flute, tabla and ghatam, and mention the others as additional examples. The candidate should note that violin is tata even though it is bowed, and that harmonium is sushira even though it has metal reeds rather than a simple air column. This table also shows that a category can contain instruments with different playing techniques: plucked, bowed, blown and struck. The candidate should be awarded partial marks for correct sitar, sarod, violin, flute, tabla and mridangam, but not full marks until harmonium and ghatam are corrected.