Maharashtra HSC Instrumental Music common mistakes
Maharashtra HSC Instrumental Music · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
While writing swaralipi in Bhatkhande notation, the candidate writes shuddha Ma where tivra Ma is required (or omits the underline under tivra Ma), and uses the wrong octave dot placement, so the notated raga no longer matches its own aroha-avaroha.
Candidates memorize raga descriptions verbally but practise notation only by copying ready-made swaralipi; they never test their written line by singing it back against the aroha-avaroha, so accidental and octave-marker errors survive.
What to do instead
After writing any swaralipi, sing the line aloud while pointing at each symbol, checking three things in order: shuddha vs tivra/vikrit swara, komal position (re, ga, dha), and octave dots above or below. Keep a one-page reference card of Bhatkhande symbols (underline for tivra Ma, dot below for mandra, dot above for taar, horizontal line for avagraha/khali) and verify the notated aroha-avaroha of the raga matches the written composition note-for-note before submitting.
The candidate describes a raga's pakad and vadi-samvadi correctly in words but cannot demonstrate them: when asked to sing or play the pakad, the phrase produced is a generic aroha fragment that does not identify the raga, and the vadi note is not stressed in the chalan.
Raga study is done from tables and notes rather than from the voice or instrument; the pakad is memorized as text, not as a musical phrase with its own rhythm and ornamentation, and vadi is treated as a fact to recite rather than a note to emphasize.
What to do instead
For each prescribed raga, learn one short pakad phrase by ear and practise it slowly until it is unmistakable, then deliberately exaggerate the vadi with a longer stay and an andolan or kan where appropriate. Record yourself, listen back, and ask whether a listener could name the raga from that phrase alone; if not, the pakad is not yet learned.
In comparative raga questions the candidate lists two ragas' aroha-avaroha side by side but gives no differentiating phrase, no statement of which note is vadi in each, and no time-of-day or thaat contrast, so the answer reads as two separate descriptions rather than a comparison.
Comparative questions are prepared by revising each raga in isolation; candidates do not build paired 'confusion sets' (for example ragas sharing a scale but differing in chalan), so they have nothing to say about the difference beyond the scale.
What to do instead
Prepare a comparison sheet for every likely pair, with columns for thaat, aroha, avaroha, vadi-samvadi, pakad, distinguishing phrase, and prescribed time. In the exam, write the comparison as explicit contrasts ('X takes shuddha Dha in aroha where Y takes komal Dha; the identifying phrase of X is ... whereas Y is recognized by ...') and finish with one line naming the single most reliable discriminator.
When writing a tala composition, the candidate's bols do not add up to the correct matra count per vibhag, khali and tali are marked on the wrong matras, and the theka is written without the sam clearly indicated, so the composition cannot be clapped through.
Candidates memorize theka as a chant and never count it on paper; they confuse the position of khali in talas such as Jhaptal and Rupak, and they treat sam as 'the first bol' rather than a structural marker.
What to do instead
For each prescribed tala, write the vibhag divisions first as a skeleton (for example 2+3+2+3 for Jhaptal), mark tali with the traditional symbol and khali with 0 on the correct matras, then fit the bols into that skeleton and count aloud with claps and waves. Do this from memory, then check against a reliable reference; repeat until the skeleton can be drawn in under a minute for every prescribed tala.
Asked to demonstrate layakari, the candidate speeds up the whole composition uniformly instead of producing a genuine rhythmic relationship (for example duplicating or tripling the bols within the same tala cycle), and loses the sam so the layakari does not land on the first matra.
Layakari is practised as 'playing faster' because the candidate has never internalized the arithmetic of barabar, dugun, tigun and chaugun within one avartan; without a metronome or tabla accompaniment the sam drifts and the exercise becomes a tempo change.
What to do instead
Practise layakari on a single tala cycle with a metronome or tabla: keep the theka tempo fixed and fit exactly two, three, or four bol-units per matra, always returning to sam. Start with a short phrase, count the matras aloud, and only increase tempo after sam is consistently accurate at the slower speed.
In the practical performance, the candidate presents a raga as a scale: aroha and avaroha are sung correctly, then the vistaar moves up and down the scale without vakra movement, without the raga's characteristic skip or turn, and without a settled development in the poorvanga and uttaranga.
Practice time goes into memorizing compositions, and alap is improvised on the spot from the scale; the candidate has not studied recorded alap of the raga or been taught phrase-by-phrase development, so the grammar of the raga is unknown even when the notes are right.
What to do instead
Learn alap as a set of phrases, not a scale: for each raga, prepare three or four vistar phrases for the poorvanga and the same for the uttaranga, including the raga's vakra or characteristic turn, and practise moving between them slowly with rests on the vadi. Listen to one authoritative recording of the raga's alap and imitate its phrase order before attempting free improvisation.
The candidate names a gharana's founders and famous performers but attributes specific stylistic traits to the wrong gharana (for example crediting the nom-tom alap to a khayal gharana, or mixing up which gharana is known for a particular bandish or for the bol-bant style), and gives no dates or period context.
Gharana history is revised as name lists without the stylistic markers that define each school; candidates also rely on vague memory of 'famous names' and never anchor the schools to a century or a region.
What to do instead
Build a gharana table with columns for region, founding figure and approximate period, distinguishing stylistic features (alap style, bandish repertoire, treatment of laya, ornamentation), and representative performers. Write one sentence per school explaining what you would hear that identifies it; test yourself by describing the style first and naming the gharana second.
In the notation-systems question, the candidate confuses Bhatkhande and Paluskar conventions, for example using Paluskar's symbols for komal and tivra while claiming to write in Bhatkhande notation, or asserts that one system uses staff notation, and cannot explain what each system was designed to record.
Both systems are learned from the same textbook chapter and the symbols look similar; candidates memorize the names of the systems but not the specific graphic conventions or the historical reason each was created.
What to do instead
Make a two-column symbol chart, one column per system, covering komal, tivra, mandra, madhya, taar, avagraha, and the treatment of meend and kan. Write the same short composition in both systems side by side, then explain in one sentence each what problem the system solved (for example Paluskar's simplified symbols for mass teaching versus Bhatkhande's more detailed notation for archival accuracy).
When asked about musical forms, the candidate defines khayal, dhrupad, dhamar, tarana, thumri and bhajan with interchangeable generalities ('devotional song', 'classical composition') and cannot say which tala, language, tempo, or improvisational structure belongs to each.
Forms are studied as vocabulary definitions rather than as performance structures; candidates have not heard enough examples to associate a form with its typical tala (for example Dhamar in Dhamar tala, dhrupad in Chautal) or its improvisational conventions.
What to do instead
For each form, write a one-line profile covering tala, language or text type, usual tempo, improvisational components (for example bol-alap and bol-taan in khayal, nom-tom and layakari in dhrupad), and one well-known example. Listen to one short example of each form and note which features you actually heard; this converts definitions into recognizable structures.
In the aesthetics and listening-appreciation answer, the candidate defines rasa and bhava in abstract terms but never connects them to a specific raga, phrase, or performance moment, and the critical writing is a plot summary of the piece with no evaluative judgement about intonation, laya control, or treatment of the raga's grammar.
Aesthetic vocabulary is memorized as a list of nine rasas without practice in applying it; candidates also avoid judgement because they fear being 'wrong', so the critical writing stays descriptive and safe.
What to do instead
Practise the two-step move: name a specific musical event (a particular phrase, a sustained vadi, a slow meend) and then say what bhava it produced and why, citing the musical means. For critical writing, use a fixed checklist (accuracy of raga grammar, clarity of laya, balance with accompaniment, communication of mood) and give one judgement plus one piece of evidence for each point.