Practical Performance: Prescribed Ragas, Compositions, Alankara and Solo Presentation
This is the practical and viva component: prescribed ragas, compositions, alankara and a structured solo, judged on accuracy of swara, tala and form rather than speed.
Alankara and palte
- Alankara is a patterned exercise. Sapat moves straight (S R G M P D N S̄); vakra moves in zigzag (S R G M, R G M P); patterns in threes and fours build flexibility.
- Practise alankara inside the prescribed ragas, not only in the shuddha scale, so komal and tivra intonation is drilled.
Composition types
- Khayal: sthayi (middle/lower register) and antara (upper register), set to teental or jhaptal; the mukhra is designed to arrive on sam.
- Dhrupad: sthayi, antara, sanchari, abhog, usually in chautal.
- Sitar gat: masitkhani (vilambit, teental) and razakhani (drut, with jhala).
- Tarana: rhythmic syllables without lexical meaning.
Solo format
Alap (unmetered unfolding of the raga) → jor/jhala (pulse established) → vilambit composition → madhya and drut → tihai landing on sam.
Worked example. Build a tihai in teental: three identical 5-matra phrases separated by two half-matra gaps. 5 + ½ + 5 + ½ + 5 = 16, so the final note falls exactly on sam. Check: 3 × 5 = 15, plus 1 = 16 - the arithmetic must be shown, not guessed.
Traps. Beginning the bandish on sam when the mukhra exists precisely to reach it; ending a tihai a matra early or late; importing komal notes from a neighbouring raga into the drut gat; singing alankara without vadi emphasis, so the raga loses its shape; skipping tuning and the announcement of raga and tala before playing.