PSEB SS Music Instrumental flashcards

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

Yaman vadi and samvadi

Vadi is Ga and samvadi is Ni. Yaman uses tivra Ma and is performed in the first prahar of the night; its thaat is Kalyan.

Bhairav komal swaras

Bhairav takes komal Re and komal Dha in both aroha and avaroha. Vadi is Ma, samvadi Sa, and it belongs to the first prahar of the day.

Malkauns time of rendition

Malkauns belongs to the third prahar of the night. It omits Re and Pa, uses komal Ga, Dha and Ni, and has Ma as vadi and Sa as samvadi.

Pakad of Bageshri

The pakad is Dha Ni komal, Sa, Ma Ga komal, Re Sa. Bageshri uses komal Ga and Ni, has Ma as vadi, and is sung in the second prahar of night.

Teentaal tali and khali

Teentaal has 16 matras in four vibhags of four. Tali falls on matras 1, 5 and 13, while khali falls on matra 9.

Jhaptaal vibhag division

Jhaptaal has 10 matras divided as 2+3+2+3. Tali is on matras 1, 3 and 8, and khali is on matra 6.

Rupak khali on sam

Rupak has 7 matras in vibhags of 3+2+2. Its sam is khali, the only common cycle opening with a wave, and tali falls on matras 4 and 6.

Matra vibhag and avartan

Matra is a single beat, vibhag is a bar or group of matras, and avartan is one complete cycle of the taala. Sam is the first matra of that cycle.

Bhatkhande komal notation

In Bhatkhande swarlipi a komal swara carries a horizontal line below the letter, a tivra swara a vertical line above, and octaves are shown by dots.

Avagraha in swarlipi

A dash called avagraha written after a swara lengthens it by one matra. Plain swaras take one matra each, and a blank space marks a rest.

Sam and khali symbols

In swarlipi the sam is marked X, khali 0, and each tali by its vibhag number. Vertical bar lines separate vibhags, with matra numbers above the swaras.

Tihai in notation

A tihai is written as the same phrase three times, each repetition separated by a bar, with the last swara of the third repetition placed exactly on sam.

Sitar tarab strings

Tarab are the sympathetic strings of the sitar, usually eleven to thirteen, tuned to the notes of the raga and ringing beneath the main strings to enrich the tone.

Tanpura tuning

The tanpura normally tunes its four strings Pa–Sa–Sa–Sa, or Ma–Sa–Sa–Sa for ragas that omit Pa, giving a continuous drone with no fixed rhythm.

Sarod plectrum

The sarod is plucked with a plectrum called jawa, made from coconut shell. Its fretless, metal-covered fingerboard allows deep meend and continuous slides.

Bansuri Sa fingering

On a six-hole bansuri, Sa is produced by closing the three lowest finger holes. The cork near the blowing hole is moved to correct the tuning.

Natyashastra author

The Natyashastra, attributed to Bharata and dated roughly second century BCE to second century CE, is the earliest systematic Indian text on swara, grama, murchhana and tala.

Sangeet Ratnakara author

Sangeet Ratnakara was written by Sarangadeva in the thirteenth century. It codifies ragas, talas and instruments and links ancient theory with medieval practice.

Bhatkhande's ten thaats

Bilawal, Khamaj, Kafi, Asavari, Bhairavi, Bhairav, Kalyan, Marwa, Poorvi and Todi. Bhatkhande used these ten thaats to classify Hindustani ragas.

Vadi and samvadi

Vadi is the main or king note of a raga and samvadi the second or queen note, usually a fourth or fifth away; anuvadi assists and vivadi is avoided.

Allauddin Khan's gharana

Allauddin Khan founded the Maihar gharana. He played sarod, sitar and violin and taught Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan and Annapurna Devi.

Pannalal Ghosh contribution

Pannalal Ghosh established the bansuri as a Hindustani concert instrument, adding a seventh hole and extending its range into the lower octave.

Paluskar's music school

Vishnu Digambar Paluskar founded the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya at Lahore in 1901, opening formal music education to the public and devising his own notation system.

Amir Khusrau attribution

Amir Khusrau, a thirteenth-century poet of the Delhi Sultanate, is credited in tradition with the sitar and tabla, though these attributions are legendary rather than documented.

Imdadkhani gharana

The Imdadkhani or Etawah gharana is a sitar lineage running from Imdad Khan through Enayat Khan to Vilayat Khan, known for gayaki ang and elaborate meend.

Gayaki ang

Gayaki ang means playing an instrument in the manner of vocal music, imitating khayal phrasing through meend, kan, murki and bol-banav rather than pure plucked patterns.

Senia gharana origin

The Senia gharana traces itself to Tansen and his descendants, with branches at Rampur, Maihar and Vishnupur, preserving dhrupad-based rabab, sitar and sarod playing.

Dhrupad's four vanis

The four vanis of dhrupad are Gauri, Khandar, Nauhar and Daguri. Each names a traditional style of rendering dhrupad, differing in ornament and vocal character.

Alap jod jhala order

A performance usually moves from unmetred alap to jod with a steady pulse, then jhala, the fast strummed climax; the gat with tabla follows or overlaps these sections.

Vilambit and drut laya

Vilambit laya is slow tempo, used for expansive badhat, while drut laya is fast tempo, used for toda, tihai and jhala. Madhya laya lies between the two.

Meend ornament

Meend is a continuous glide from one swara to another, produced by stopping or pulling the string; it is the chief device of gayaki ang in sitar and sarod.

Tuning tabla dayan

The dayan is tuned to Sa or Pa by moving the gatta, tapping the rim and pressing the syahi, while the bayan is tuned by hand pressure for bass and glide.