Maharashtra HSC Vocal Classical Music flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Vadi swara

The king note of a raga, the most emphasized and frequently rested-upon swara, usually placed on a strong beat and central to the raga's identity.

Pakad

The characteristic catch-phrase or short melodic motif that instantly identifies a raga; a scale without a pakad is only a thaat, not a performing raga.

Ten thaats

Bhatkhande's ten parent scales: Bilawal, Khamaj, Kafi, Asavari, Bhairavi, Bhairav, Kalyan, Marwa, Poorvi and Todi, each a scale rather than a performing raga.

Audav raga

A raga using five notes in aroha or avaroha, such as Bhoopali, which omits Ma and Ni; janya ragas may be audav, shadav or sampoorna in either direction.

Sam

The first matra of a tala cycle and the point of resolution; compositions and tihais are designed so that a phrase lands on sam.

Khali

An empty, unaccented vibhag of a tala, marked by a wave of the hand rather than a clap; in Teentaal khali falls on matra 9.

Teentaal theka

Sixteen matras in four vibhags of four, with tali on 1, 5 and 13 and khali on 9; theka syllables run Dha Dhin Dhin Dha through the cycle.

Rupak tala

A seven-matra cycle in 3+2+2 where sam itself is khali and tali falls on matras 4 and 6, an exception to the usual clapped sam.

Layakari

Rhythmic play within a tala, dividing each matra into equal parts: barabar (one), dugun (two), tigun (three) and chaugun (four).

Komal swara mark

In Bhatkhande notation, komal Re, Ga, Dha and Ni are written with a line below the letter or as lowercase r, g, d, n.

Octave dots

A dot below a swara places it in the mandra (lower) octave and a dot above places it in the tar (upper) octave; unmarked notes are madhya.

Tivra Ma symbol

The raised fourth degree, written as M with a vertical line above or as M-prime, distinguishing it from shuddha Ma in notation.

Sthayi and antara

The two sections of a bandish: sthayi in the lower and middle register, antara reaching into the upper register, each set to the tala's matras.

Tarana syllables

Meaningless rhythmic syllables such as nom tom, dere na, ta na and yalali, sung in a raga and tala to display speed and rhythmic command.

Sapat taan

A straight, stepwise fast run through the raga's scale, as opposed to koot taan (zigzag) or gamak taan (oscillating).

Bada khayal

A slow-tempo khayal, usually in vilambit laya and a long cycle such as Ektaal or Teentaal, allowing extended alap, bol-alap and vistaar.

Thumri

A romantic semi-classical vocal form in light ragas such as Khamaj, Kafi and Pilu, set in Deepchandi, Jhoomra or Dadra, stressing expressive bol-banao.

Dadra form

A short light-classical song usually set in Dadra (six matras) or Keharwa (eight matras) tala, with simple melody and often paired with thumri.

Bhajan

A devotional song, often in Bhairavi, Kafi or Pilu, with sthayi-antara structure and texts by poets such as Meera, Surdas and Kabir.

Ghazal

An Urdu poetic form of couplets (sher) with radif and qafiya, sung in light ragas with emphasis on text delivery rather than raga expansion.

Akar practice

Singing sustained phrases on the open vowel 'a' to build a steady, resonant tone and breath control before adding sargam patterns.

Meend

A smooth glide from one swara to another, a central ornament of khayal and thumri that a fixed-pitch harmonium cannot reproduce.

Andolan

A slow, deliberate oscillation on a swara, giving gravity to ragas such as Todi and Darbari Kanada, distinct from the quicker gamak.

Gwalior gharana

The oldest khayal gharana, linked to Haddu, Hassu and Nathu Khan, known for clear bol-bant, full voice and straightforward raga presentation.

Kirana gharana

A khayal gharana associated with Abdul Karim Khan and Abdul Wahid Khan, known for slow alap, sustained notes and heavy use of meend.

Bhatkhande

Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande (1860-1936), who systematized the ten-thaat classification and wrote Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati.

Tanpura jivari

The curved bridge of the tanpura whose thread setting produces the buzzing jawari overtones that enrich the drone and support intonation.

Sarangi

A bowed, fretless instrument with sympathetic strings, valued as vocal accompaniment because its sound and glides approach the human voice.

Bayan meend

The left tabla drum's bass pitch is bent by heel pressure, producing the glide called meend or ghees used to mark sam and khali.

Navarasa

The nine rasas of Bharata's Natyashastra: shringara, hasya, karuna, raudra, veera, bhayanaka, bibhatsa, adbhuta and shanta.

Rasa theory

From Bharata's Natyashastra: bhava (emotion) is evoked by the performer and ripens in the listener into rasa, the savoured aesthetic state.

Samay of raga

The prescribed time for a raga: Bhairav and Lalit at dawn, Marwa and Poorvi at sunset, Darbari and Malkauns late at night.