Maharashtra HSC Vocal Light Music key terms

A Marathi song form built around emotional expression rather than strict classical structure; its poetry and melodic line carry a single dominant mood, and it is usually set to a simple raga-based tune with light rhythmic accompaniment.

Songs composed for Marathi musical theatre, where the lyric advances the drama and the tune draws on classical ragas and talas; the singer projects character and emotion through a written theatrical score.

A Marathi musical play combining spoken dialogue, songs and dance; the genre flourished from the late nineteenth century and turned natya sangeet into a distinct professional repertoire with trained singer-actors.

A Marathi devotional song praising Vitthal, composed by poet-saints such as Tukaram and Dnyaneshwar; it is sung in bhajan and kirtan settings with a simple raga-based tune and a steady, repetitive rhythm.

A Marathi folk song-dance form from rural and theatrical traditions, performed to the dholki in fast rhythm; its lyrics range from humorous to social comment and the singing demands vigorous, precise rhythmic delivery.

A Marathi ballad narrating heroic deeds, traditionally sung to the dholki or tuntuni in a declamatory, marching rhythm; the Shivaji-era ballads are the best-known examples of the type.

A devotional Marathi folk performance tied to the goddess tradition, in which a group sings and dances through the night; the songs have repetitive refrains and strong percussive accompaniment that drives the ritual.

A short Marathi verse form, often of four lines, used in folk song, lullaby and women's group singing; its metre is simple and regular, so it is easily set to melody and often borrowed by composers.

A Marathi devotional performance in which a narrator sings and explains abhangs and bhajans, usually with cymbal and pakhavaj accompaniment; the form blends storytelling, philosophical commentary and congregational singing.

An Urdu poetic form of paired couplets sung in light classical style; each couplet stands alone in meaning, and the singer repeats the opening line as a refrain, emphasising subtle emotional shading.

A light classical Hindustani song form with a romantic or devotional text, sung in a flexible, heavily ornamented style; it permits liberties with raga rules and values mood and expression above structural expansion.

A light classical Hindustani form set in the six-beat dadra tala, with a short romantic text; it is simpler and more rhythmic than thumri and is usually sung in a gentle, flowing style.

A devotional song, usually in Hindi or a regional language, sung solo or in groups; the melody is simple and repetitive so that devotees can join the refrain without training.

The film-song repertoire of Marathi and Hindi cinema; it absorbed classical, folk and western elements and became the main popular vehicle for light music from the 1930s onward.

The composer in Indian music, who sets a lyric to a raga- or tala-based tune and arranges the accompaniment; in Marathi light music the title is used for figures such as Vasant Prabhu and Sudhir Phadke.

The lyricist who writes the text of a song; in Marathi bhavgeet and film music the geetkar's poetry largely determines the mood, metre and imagery that the composer then sets.

A school of performance traced through a line of teachers and disciples who share a recognisable style of phrasing, ornament and repertoire; gharanas shape vocal training, though light music borrows freely across them.

The distinctive manner of singing of a performer or tradition, covering voice production, ornament, phrasing and pacing; comparing gaayakis is a standard part of critical listening and concert review.

The aesthetic flavour a performance evokes in a prepared listener; classical theory names nine rasas, such as shringar for love and karuna for compassion, and a light music item usually aims at one dominant rasa.

The emotional state or meaning carried by a lyric and its rendering; in criticism bhava is what the singer communicates, while rasa is the relish the listener experiences from it.

A knowledgeable listener who responds to both the emotional and technical content of a performance; the term is used respectfully in Marathi and Hindi writing about music and theatre.

Written notation of music using swara syllables and symbols for register, duration and ornament; Indian swaralipi works mainly as a memory aid and teaching tool rather than a fully fixed score.

The practice of singing swara syllables such as Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni in place of the text; it is used for notation, for exercises and for demonstrating the raga framework behind a song.

A melodic framework of selected swaras with characteristic ascending and descending paths and identifying phrases; light music uses ragas loosely, borrowing their colour without full classical development.

The ascending order of swaras that shows how a raga rises from lower to higher register; the aroha may include or omit swaras differently from the descending avaroha.

The descending order of swaras in a raga; together with the aroha it fixes the raga's shape, and the two paths are often deliberately asymmetrical.

A short identifying phrase of a raga that immediately reveals its identity; singers use the pakad to keep an improvised or light classical rendering securely inside the raga.

The first beat of a tala cycle, on which melodic phrases are resolved and the cycle restarts; arriving cleanly on sam is a mark of good rhythmic control in light music.

A single beat or time unit of a tala; the matra count fixes the length of the cycle, for example sixteen matras in teentaal and six in dadra.

One complete cycle of a tala, running from sam back to sam; performers plan phrases so that the melody and the percussion arrive together at the end of the avartan.

The tempo or speed of a performance, measured against the tala's matras; light music commonly moves between vilambit, madhya and drut laya within a single song.

A rhythmic figure of three identical phrases, calculated so that the final note falls exactly on sam; it is a common cadential device at the close of a light music item.

A smooth glide from one swara to another, produced by continuous pitch movement; it is essential to expressive light classical singing and is shown in swaralipi by a curved line.

A quick, delicate cluster of notes used to ornament a main swara; it is lighter and faster than a meend and is common in bhavgeet and thumri melodic lines.

A grace note touched briefly before or after the main swara without taking its own rhythmic value; in notation it is written small beside the principal note.

The seven-note series Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni that repeats in octaves; singers distinguish mandra, madhya and tar saptak when describing the range of a song.