Maharashtra SSC Indian Music Vocal & Instrumental Divyang flashcards

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

Saptak

The seven-note register of Indian music. Three are used in practice: mandra (lower), madhya (middle) and tar (upper). Sa of the madhya saptak is the performer's tonic.

Achala and Chala Swar

Achala swar are fixed: Sa and Pa never take komal or tivra forms. Chala swar are movable: Re, Ga, Dha and Ni take komal forms, and Ma takes the tivra form.

Vadi and Samvadi

Vadi is the most important swar of a raga, the sonant; samvadi is the second most important, usually a fourth or fifth from the vadi. Anuvadi are the remaining notes and vivadi are avoided.

Twelve Swar-Sthan

The twelve pitch positions in one saptak: Sa, komal Re, shuddha Re, komal Ga, shuddha Ga, shuddha Ma, tivra Ma, Pa, komal Dha, shuddha Dha, komal Ni, shuddha Ni. Seven shuddha, four komal, one tivra.

Aroha and Avaroha

Aroha is the ascending order of swar in a raga and avaroha is the descending order. They may differ in note content or in the number of notes used, which helps identify the raga.

Audav Shadav Sampurna

Jati terms for the number of notes a raga uses: audav is five, shadav is six, sampurna is seven. A raga may be audav ascending and sampurna descending, written as audav-sampurna.

Ten Thaat System

Bhatkhande's classification of ragas into ten parent scales: Bilaval, Khamaj, Kafi, Asavari, Bhairavi, Bhairav, Kalyan, Marwa, Purvi and Todi. Each thaat is a scale, not a raga.

Pakad

A short characteristic swar phrase that identifies a raga unambiguously. The pakad shows how komal or tivra notes are approached and is the fastest way to recognise a raga by ear.

Sam

The first matra of a tala cycle, where the avartan restarts. Sam is marked by a clap (tali 1) and is the point of resolution for soloist, percussionist and dancer alike.

Tali and Khali

Tali are the clapped beats marking vibhag divisions of a tala. Khali is the empty beat marked by a wave of the hand; it signals the lighter half of the cycle. Rupak has khali on sam.

Teental Structure

A sixteen-matra cycle divided 4+4+4+4. Sam is matra 1, tali fall on 1, 5 and 13, and khali on matra 9. Its theka is Dha Dhin Dhin Dha / Dha Dhin Dhin Dha / Dha Tin Tin Ta / Ta Dhin Dhin Dha.

Laya and Layakari

Laya is tempo: vilambit is slow, madhya medium and drut fast. Layakari is the proportional division of the beat, such as dugun (2x), tigun (3x) and chaugun (4x), returning to sam.

Jhaptal and Rupak

Jhaptal is a ten-matra cycle divided 2+3+2+3. Rupak is a seven-matra cycle divided 3+2+2 whose sam is khali, so the wave falls on the first matra.

Bhatkhande Notation Marks

In Bhatkhande swaralipi, a line under a swar makes it komal, a vertical line above makes Ma tivra, a dot above means tar saptak and a dot below means mandra saptak.

Tala Marks in Notation

Vertical bars separate vibhag. The symbol X marks sam, 0 marks khali, and numerals 2, 3, 4 mark the remaining tali. Matra numbers are written above the swar line.

Staff Notation Mapping

Western staff notation maps to swar through the chosen Sa. If Sa is C, then Re is D, Ga is E, Ma is F, Pa is G, Dha is A and Ni is B; komal Re is D-flat and tivra Ma is F-sharp.

Meend and Kan

Meend is a glide from one swar to another, shown by a curved line in notation. Kan is a grace note touched lightly before the main note, shown as a small superscript swar.

Khayal Form

The main Hindustani vocal form, built on a bandish in a raga and tala. It is expanded through alap, vistaar, bol-alap, taan and bol-taan, usually in a vilambit and then a drut tempo.

Dhrupad Form

An older, austere vocal form with unmetered alap in four parts, a pada set in Chautal or Dhamar, and pakhawaj accompaniment. The Dagar and Mallik families are its main lineages.

Alap Jod Jhala

The unmetered opening of a dhrupad-style instrumental performance. Alap is free rhythm, jod introduces a pulse, and jhala is the fast closing section with drone strings struck.

Sawal Jawab

A question-and-answer passage between soloist and tabla player in which each repeats and answers the other's rhythmic phrase within the tala, ending together on sam.

Natyashastra

Bharata's treatise, roughly 200 BCE to 200 CE, the earliest surviving Indian text on music and dance. It describes seven notes and jati-based melodic structures.

Sangita Ratnakara

Sharngadeva's thirteenth-century treatise codifying raga, tala and prabandha forms. It is the principal bridge between ancient and medieval Indian music theory.

Bhatkhande and Paluskar

Two early twentieth-century reformers. Bhatkhande wrote Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati and devised the ten-thaat system; Paluskar founded Gandharva Mahavidyalaya and promoted a national notation.

Gwalior and Kirana

Gwalior is the oldest khayal gharana, known for clear swar and bandish. Kirana is known for slow alap, heavy meend and a sustained, meditative style.

Fourfold Instrument Classification

Bharata's classification: tata for string instruments, sushira for wind, avanaddha for membrane percussion, and ghana for solid or idiophonic instruments such as jaltarang and manjira.

Tanpura Function

A drone instrument tuned to Sa and Pa, or Sa and Ma, and plucked in a repeating pattern. It sustains the tonic so the soloist's intonation stays stable throughout a performance.

Sitar and Sarod

The sitar has movable frets and sympathetic strings and is played with a mezrab. The sarod has a fretless steel fingerboard, a chikari drone string, and is played with a coconut-shell plectrum.

Tansen

Court musician of Akbar, c. 1500 to 1586, traditionally associated with Miyan ki Malhar, Miyan ki Todi and Darbari Kanada. His descendants founded the Senia gharana.

Kumar Gandharva

A twentieth-century khayal singer, 1924 to 1992, who revolutionised the form with bold use of rare ragas, dramatic phrasing and a highly individual voice.

Inclusive Raga Teaching

For Divyang students the acoustic core of swar, tala and sam stays intact while only the delivery channel changes: tactile markers, audio notation, electronic drone and oral answers replace visual or written methods.