PSEB SS Music Instrumental cheat sheet

Yaman (Kalyan thaat): aroha S R G M(t) P D N S', avaroha S' N D P M(t) G R S; tivra Ma is the only altered note; vadi Ga, samvadi Ni; first prahar of night; pakad N R G, M(t) P, M(t) G R S.

Bhairav (Bhairav thaat): komal Re and komal Dha in both directions; aroha S r G M P d N S', avaroha S' N d P M G r S; vadi Ma, samvadi Sa; first prahar of day; pakad G M P d P, M G r S.

Bhairavi (Bhairavi thaat): komal ga, dha and ni with shuddha Re and Ma in both aroha and avaroha; vadi Ma, samvadi Sa; a morning raga that is also used to close a concert at any hour; pakad M g r S, d n S.

Malkauns (Bhairavi thaat): S g M d n S' / S' n d M g S; Re and Pa are varjya (omitted) in ascent and descent; vadi Ma, samvadi Sa; third prahar of night; pakad g M d n d M g S.

Bageshri (Kafi thaat): komal ga and komal ni with shuddha Dha; aroha S g M D n S', avaroha S' n D M P D M g R S; vadi Ma, samvadi Sa; second prahar of night; pakad D n S, M g R S.

Kafi (Kafi thaat): komal ga and komal ni; aroha S R g M P D n S', avaroha S' n D P M g R S; vadi Pa, samvadi Sa; second prahar of night; pakad P M g R S, n S R g M P.

Asavari (Asavari thaat): komal ga, komal dha and komal ni; aroha S R M P d S' omits Ga and Ni, avaroha S' n d P M g R S; vadi komal Dha, samvadi Ga; second prahar of day; pakad R M P d S, n d P, M g R S.

Todi (Todi thaat): komal re, komal ga and komal dha with tivra Ma; vadi Dha, samvadi Ga; second prahar of day; pakad r g r S, M(t) d N S.

Time rule: purvanga ragas (Sa–Ma strong) such as Bhairav, Todi and Asavari belong to the morning prahars, while uttaranga ragas (Pa–Sa strong) such as Yaman, Bageshri and Malkauns belong to the evening and night prahars.

Teentaal: 16 matras in 4 vibhags of 4; tali on 1, 5, 13 and khali on 9 (marked X 2 0 3); theka Dha Dhin Dhin Dha / Dha Dhin Dhin Dha / Dha Tin Tin Ta / Ta Dhin Dhin Dha.

Ektaal: 12 matras in 6 vibhags of 2; tali on 1, 5, 9 and 11; khali on 3 and 7; the standard cycle for vilambit khayal and vilambit gat.

Jhaptaal: 10 matras with vibhags 2+3+2+3; tali on 1, 3 and 8; khali on 6; common for madhya-laya gat and for khayal.

Rupak: 7 matras with vibhags 3+2+2; the sam itself is khali (marked 0) and tali falls on matras 4 and 6, making it the usual cycle whose first matra is a wave.

Keherwa: 8 matras in 2 vibhags of 4; tali on 1 and khali on 5; used for drut gat, thumri and light-classical items.

Dhamar: 14 matras with vibhags 5+2+3+4; tali on 1, 6 and 11; khali on 8; a pakhawaj cycle played for Dhamar and Hori.

Chautaal: 12 matras in 6 vibhags of 2, played on pakhawaj; tali on 1, 5, 9 and 11; khali on 3 and 7; the standard dhrupad cycle.

Definitions: matra = one beat, vibhag = a bar or group of matras, sam = first matra of the cycle, tali = clap, khali = wave of the hand, avartan = one complete cycle.

Tilwada: 16 matras with the same tali–khali positions as Teentaal but different bols; often chosen for vilambit gat because of its grave theka.

Bhatkhande notation: shuddha swaras are written plain, a komal swara carries a horizontal line below the letter, tivra Ma a vertical line above; mandra saptak is marked by a dot below, tar saptak by a dot above.

Paluskar notation: swaras are written in Devanagari with komal and tivra marked by signs above or below the letter, matras separated by vertical strokes, and octaves distinguished by dots above and below.

In both systems the vibhag is closed by a vertical bar, sam is marked X (or +), khali 0 and each tali by its vibhag number, with matra numbers written above the swaras.

Duration signs: a plain swara lasts one matra, a dash (avagraha) after a swara lengthens it by one matra, a blank or rest sign marks silence, and two swaras under one matra are written close together.

Ornament signs: meend by a curved line joining two swaras, kan by a small grace swara before the main note, gamak and murki by wavy or clustered marks, khatka and zamzama as groups of small notes.

The header of a gat in swarlipi must state raga, taala, laya (vilambit/madhya/drut), total matras, and whether sthayi and antara are both notated; the first phrase of a gat is aligned so its resolution falls on sam.

Sargam notation of a gat: swaras on the main line, matra numbers above, and the tabla theka bols written below at the correct vibhags, with X, 0 and the tali numerals in place.

Tihai notation: the same phrase is written three times, separated by bar lines, and the final swara of the third repetition is placed exactly on sam.

Sitar: gourd tumba (resonator), wooden dandi with tied frets (parde), jawari bridge, 6–7 main playing strings, 2 chikari strings and 11–13 sympathetic tarab strings; plucked with a mizrab worn on the right index finger.

Sitar tuning is raga-dependent: a common layout is Ma–Sa–Pa–Sa (mandra) for the main strings with chikari on Sa and Pa, the tarab tuned to the notes of the raga, and the instrument's Sa matched to the tanpura.

Sarod: fretless, steel-covered wooden fingerboard over a goatskin-covered resonator, 6–7 main and 11–15 sympathetic strings, plucked with a coconut-shell plectrum called jawa; the fretless board makes continuous meend easy.

Sarangi: hollowed wooden body with goatskin, 3 gut main strings and roughly 35–40 sympathetic metal strings, no frets; played with a rosin-treated horsehair bow and the fingernails of the left hand; tuning commonly Sa–Pa–Sa.

Bansuri: single bamboo tube with a blowing hole and 6–7 finger holes; on a six-hole flute Sa is produced by closing the lowest three holes; the cork near the blowing hole is adjusted for pitch and the tube is kept dry to prevent cracks.

Tanpura: four strings normally tuned Pa–Sa–Sa–Sa, or Ma–Sa–Sa–Sa for ragas that omit Pa; the jawari thread under the bridge shapes the overtones; strings are plucked in sequence to give a continuous drone.

Tabla: dayan (right drum) tuned to Sa or Pa by moving the gatta, tapping the rim and pressing the syahi; bayan (left drum) is tuned by hand pressure and produces the bass glide (giss).

Maintenance: wipe strings after playing, loosen them for storage, keep the instrument away from damp and direct sun, check the bridge groove and peg fit, replace worn tarab strings, and store in a padded case.

Vedic samagana and the Natyashastra of Bharata (roughly 2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE) provide the earliest systematic account of swara, grama, murchhana and tala.

Sarangadeva's Sangeet Ratnakara (13th century) codifies raga, tala and instruments and is the key bridge text between ancient theory and medieval practice.

After the 13th–14th centuries the tradition divides into Hindustani (north, Persian-influenced) and Carnatic (south); Amir Khusrau is credited in legend with the sitar and the tabla.

Dhrupad flourished under Raja Man Singh Tomar of Gwalior (r. 1486–1516) and at Akbar's court through Tansen, with Dhamar as its rhythmic companion form.

Bhatkhande (1860–1936) classified ragas under ten thaats - Bilawal, Khamaj, Kafi, Asavari, Bhairavi, Bhairav, Kalyan, Marwa, Poorvi, Todi - and standardised Hindustani notation.

Paluskar (1872–1931) opened music education to all through the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya (Lahore, 1901); All India Radio, set up in 1936, became the main broadcaster-patron of the tradition.

Raga-defining terms: vadi (king note), samvadi (queen note), anuvadi (assisting note), vivadi (dissonant note), varjya (omitted note), vakra (zig-zag motion), nyasa (resting note), pakad (identifying phrase).

Form terms: alap (unmetred expansion), jod (pulsed, without tabla), jhala (fast strummed climax), gat (instrumental composition), toda and tukda (short rhythmic pieces), tihai (phrase repeated three times ending on sam).

Tansen (c. 1500–1586), musician at Akbar's court, is the fountainhead of the Senia tradition and is credited with ragas such as Miyan ki Malhar and Darbari Kanada and with the rabab's entry into art music.

V. N. Bhatkhande (1860–1936) wrote Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati, devised the ten-thaat system and the Bhatkhande notation, and organised the All India Music Conferences from 1916.

V. D. Paluskar (1872–1931) created the Paluskar notation system and founded the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya at Lahore in 1901, taking formal music teaching to the general public.

Allauddin Khan (c. 1862–1972) founded the Maihar gharana, played sarod, sitar and violin, and taught Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan and Annapurna Devi.

Ravi Shankar (1920–2012) carried the sitar to a world audience, composed film scores, received the Bharat Ratna in 1999, and was central to the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh.

Ali Akbar Khan (1922–2009), sarod master of the Maihar gharana, founded the Ali Akbar College of Music in California in 1967 and composed a number of new ragas.

Pannalal Ghosh (1911–1960) established the bansuri as a concert instrument by adding a seventh hole and extending its range into the lower octave.

Bismillah Khan (1916–2006) made the shehnai a solo classical instrument and received the Bharat Ratna in 2001; Shivkumar Sharma (1938–2022) established the santoor in Hindustani music.

Senia gharana: descendants of Tansen, with three main branches - Senia of Rampur, Maihar and Vishnupur - preserving dhrupad-based rabab, sitar and sarod playing.

Maihar gharana: founded by Allauddin Khan; slow dhrupad-style alap, strong stroke and a powerful jhala, with sitar and sarod as its principal instruments.

Imdadkhani (Etawah) gharana: Imdad Khan to Enayat Khan to Vilayat Khan and Imrat Khan; a sitar lineage marked by gayaki ang and elaborate meend.

Baaj means a playing style or school, as in Maihar baaj, Imdadkhani baaj or Senia baaj; it fixes the idiom of alap, stroke, gat and jhala for that lineage.

Tantrakari ang is the plucked-string idiom of fast toda, chikari and jhala, while gayaki ang imitates khayal singing through meend, kan, murki and bol-banav.

Dhrupad tradition: four vanis - Gauri, Khandar, Nauhar and Daguri; alap in nom-tom syllables, then jod and jhala, with Dhamar as the rhythmic form.

Tabla gharanas - Delhi (Chanan Khan), Punjab (Qadir Bakhsh), Farukhabad, Benares and Ajrada - differ in bols, bhari and the shape of the theka.

Punjab's main contributions are the Patiala vocal gharana, the Punjab tabla gharana and the sarangi tradition that accompanies khayal and thumri.

Tuning routine before playing: set the tanpura drone, tune the instrument's Sa to it, then Pa, then the tarab strings, and re-check after ten to fifteen minutes because the strings settle.

Gat presentation order: alap (unmetred) → jod (steady pulse, no tabla) → vilambit gat with tabla → madhya laya → drut gat with toda, tihai and jhala.

The first phrase of a gat is aligned so that its resolution falls on sam; a tihai is played three times so that the final note lands exactly on sam.

Laya control: vilambit gat in Teentaal is counted in 16 matras at a slow tempo, while drut gat uses the same cycle at roughly double the speed or more.

Ornaments to demonstrate: meend (slide), kan (grace note), gamak (heavy oscillation), murki and khatka (fast clusters), zamzama (long chain), andolan (slow swing).

Viva: for each prescribed raga be able to state thaat, aroha, avaroha, pakad, vadi, samvadi, varjya notes and time of rendition without hesitation.

Viva: identify a taala from its theka bols, state which matras carry tali and khali, and count one avartan aloud with claps and wave.

Viva: name the parts of your own instrument (tumba, dandi, jawari, parde, mizrab for sitar; jawa and tagar for sarod) and explain how Sa and Pa are tuned.