Practical Performance: Vocal or Instrumental
Domain 6 is the performance paper: the examiner listens for correct svara, steady laya, clean sam and a presentation that follows the raga's grammar.
Preparation
Tune the tanpura to Sa–Pa–Sa–Sa (or Sa–Ma–Sa–Sa) and settle your pitch before the first note. Daily alankars and palte build flexibility; practise them with tabla or metronome at vilambit, then madhya and drut.
Presentation order
For khayal: a short unmetred alap that establishes the raga's pakad, then the bandish beginning on sam, then vistar with badhat, taans, and a tihai that lands on sam. For dhrupad, alap–jod–jhala precede the composition. Instrumentalists play alap–jod–gat with jhala. Keep the sthayi as home base and return to it after each excursion.
Worked example
Plan an eight-minute Bhairav khayal in vilambit Ektaal. Tune to Sa–Pa–Sa–Sa; open with alap using komal Re and komal Dha, the raga's signature; begin the sthayi on matra 1 of Ektaal; develop vistar without slipping into Bhairavi's komal Ga and Ni; add drut taans; close with a tihai resolving on sam. The reasoning: Bhairav is a morning raga, so vilambit suits its serious mood, and its two komal svaras must be established before any fast passage.
Traps
Starting before the drone is tuned; ignoring sam so the tabla player must guess; introducing komal Ga into Bhairav; speeding up during taans and losing the cycle; never returning to the sthayi.