PSEB Matric Music Vocal flashcards

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

Alankar (palte)

Patterned swar exercises that train finger and voice placement through regular sequences such as Sa Re Ga Ma or zig-zag forms; they build accuracy for tans and vistaar.

Vistaar in khayal

The gradual, phrase-by-phrase unfolding of a raga in unmetered or slow-metered singing, exploring aroha and avaroha regions while keeping the raga's pakad intact and avoiding premature exposure of key phrases.

Sthayi and antara

The two sections of a bandish: sthayi sits in the lower and middle register and anchors on sam, while antara moves into the upper register and touches tar saptak notes.

Tihai

A phrase repeated three times so that the final note lands exactly on sam; the silence between repetitions is equal to the length of the phrase.

Meend and kan swar

Meend is a continuous glide between two swaras; kan swar is a grace note touched briefly in passing. Both are ornaments, not separate ragas or scales.

Swar malika

A composition whose lyric strings together the sargam of a raga, used to teach aroha-avaroha and pakad while keeping the student inside the tala cycle.

Lakshan geet

A didactic song whose text literally states the raga's lakshan: aroha, avaroha, jati, vadi, samvadi and time of day, so the theory is learned through singing.

Vikrit swar

Altered notes: komal Re, Ga, Dha and Ni are lowered, tivra Ma is raised. Sa and Pa are achala and never altered in the standard seven-note set.

Laya and dugun

Laya is the speed of the tala cycle. Dugun places two matras per beat, tigun three and chaugun four, always keeping sam fixed so the cycle does not drift.

Jati of a raga

The count of swaras in aroha versus avaroha: odava five, shadava six, sampurna seven. A raga may be odava in ascent and sampurna in descent.

Vadi and samvadi

Vadi is the raga's most important swar and samvadi the second most important, usually a fourth or fifth away; anuvadi supports and vivadi is dissonant or avoided.

Pakad

The short identifying phrase of a raga. Two ragas sharing a scale, such as Bhoopali and Deshkar, are distinguished by pakad and vadi rather than by note set.

Time theory (prahar)

Each raga is assigned to a three-hour period of the day. Bhairav belongs to early morning, Bhoopali and Deshkar to evening, Malkauns to late night.

Yaman lakshan

Yaman is sampurna-sampurna with tivra Ma, vadi Ga and samvadi Ni, sung in the first prahar of night; its characteristic phrase touches tivra Ma and Ga.

Sam

Matra one of the avartan, the point of resolution marked by a clap and written with the symbol ×; both theka and composition return to it each cycle.

Tali and khali

Tali is a clapped vibhag and carries accent; khali is a waved, empty vibhag marked 0 and sounds lighter. Their positions define the tala's shape.

Teental structure

Sixteen matras in four vibhags of four, with tali on 1, 5 and 13 and khali on 9; theka bols run Dha Dhin Dhin Dha, Dha Dhin Dhin Dha, Dha Tin Tin Ta, Ta Dhin Dhin Dha.

Jhaptal

Ten matras in four vibhags of 2+3+2+3, with tali on 1, 3 and 8 and khali on 6; common in khayal and in lighter compositions.

Ektaal

Twelve matras in six vibhags of two, with tali on 1, 5, 9 and 11 and khali on 3 and 7; often used for vilambit khayal.

Keherwa and Dadra

Keherwa has eight matras in two vibhags of four, tali on 1 and khali on 5. Dadra has six matras in two vibhags of three, tali on 1 and khali on 4.

Theka

The fixed tabla bol pattern that identifies a tala and repeats every avartan, letting the vocalist locate sam, tali and khali by ear without counting.

Bhatkhande swar symbols

Shuddha swar are S R G M P D N; komal swar are marked by underlining or lowercase, tivra Ma by a bar, mandra by a dot below and tar by a dot above.

Bhatkhande bar and tali marks

A vertical line marks each vibhag and a double bar ends the avartan; sam is written ×, khali 0, and tali positions are numbered above the line.

Paluskar notation

Uses Devanagari sargam letters with separate komal and tivra symbols, dots or dashes for register, and vertical strokes to separate matras; developed for Gandharva Mahavidyalaya teaching.

Movable Sa

Both Bhatkhande and Paluskar notation are relative: written swar names are scale degrees, and the performer fixes Sa to a chosen pitch before singing.

V. N. Bhatkhande

Lived 1860 to 1936; systematised Hindustani ragas into ten thaats, wrote Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati, and organised the early All India Music Conferences.

V. D. Paluskar

Lived 1872 to 1931; founded the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in Lahore in 1901 and later in Bombay, and created the Devanagari notation system used widely in school syllabi.

Ten thaats

Bhatkhande's ten parent scales: Bilawal, Khamaj, Kafi, Asavari, Bhairavi, Kalyan, Marwa, Poorvi, Todi and Bhairav. A thaat is a scale; a raga is a melodic entity.

Allauddin Khan

Sarode player and founder of the Maihar gharana, teacher of Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan; a central figure in bringing Hindustani music to international audiences.

Gharana

A performance school tracing lineage through a guru-shishya parampara, with a recognisable style of voice production, ornament and repertoire, such as Gwalior, Kirana or Agra.

Punjabi folk forms

Tappa, Mahiya, Boliyan, Jhummar, Giddha and Bhangra are Punjabi song and dance traditions; the dhol drives Bhangra rhythm and the tumbi carries the melodic hook.

Instrument classification

The four traditional classes are tata for strings, sushira for wind, avanaddha for skin-headed drums and ghana for solid percussion such as metal or wood.