RBSE SS Sitar common mistakes
RBSE SS Sitar · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
When asked to notate a prescribed raga, the candidate writes only the aroha and avaroha and stops, omitting the pakad, the vadi and samvadi, the jati, and the time of performance.
Many candidates memorise the ascending and descending scales as if that were the whole raga, because scales are the easiest thing to revise and the easiest to test oneself on. They never practise producing a complete raga profile from memory, so under exam pressure the scale floods out and the rest is forgotten.
What to do instead
Build a fixed seven-line template for every prescribed raga: thaat, jati (both aroha and avaroha), vadi, samvadi, aroha, avaroha, pakad, and samay. Rehearse writing all seven lines for each raga in a timed drill until the template, not the scale, is the automatic response. Check the template against your own teacher's version before the exam, since some ragas carry variant readings.
The candidate describes masitkhani and razakhani gat as if they differed only in speed, and cannot state which tala each is set in or how the stroke pattern differs.
Both are played on the same instrument and often on the same composition, so speed feels like the obvious distinguishing feature. Candidates learn the labels from listening rather than from analysis, and never map the forms onto their talas and bol patterns.
What to do instead
Learn the pair as a table: masitkhani gat in vilambit tintal or adachautal with a mizrab pattern built on dir-dir-da-ra style strokes and a broad, sustained approach to the raga's phrases; razakhani gat in madhya or drut tintal with a denser, faster stroke pattern and more rhythmic play. Play one composition in both forms and note exactly what changes in the right hand and in the phrase density.
Asked to identify or explain a tala, the candidate gives only the total matra count and cannot show the vibhag division, the tali and khali positions, or the theka in bols.
Matra counts are the most quotable fact about a tala and the easiest to remember, so candidates stop there. Vibhag and khali require actually clapping the tala, which many candidates never do away from the instrument.
What to do instead
For every prescribed tala, write the full structure: matra total, vibhag pattern with tali marked by clap and khali by wave, and the theka in bols with sam and tali numbered. Then clap and count it aloud at three speeds. In the exam, always present the tala as a structure rather than a number.
When describing alap, jod, and jhala, the candidate defines them only as slow, medium, and fast, without saying what changes in pulse, stroke, and rhythmic freedom at each stage.
The three-part sequence is taught early as a simple progression, and the tempo labels are memorable. Candidates rarely analyse what the left and right hands actually do differently, so the answer stays at the level of a beginner's summary.
What to do instead
Describe each stage on three axes: presence or absence of a regular pulse, the mizrab stroke pattern (single strokes and sustained meend in alap, regular alternating strokes in jod, the chikari-driven fast pattern in jhala), and the role of the tabla. Practise playing a short alap-jod-jhala and write down what you did at each transition.
The candidate attributes every major development in sitar history and construction to one or two famous names, and cannot distinguish the instrument's older forms from the modern concert sitar.
A handful of names dominate popular accounts, and candidates generalise from them. The historical record for the sitar's origins is genuinely contested, which makes confident single-cause answers tempting.
What to do instead
Learn the history as a set of debated claims rather than a single lineage: the possible connections to the long-necked lutes of the subcontinent and to Central Asian instruments, the development of the instrument in the Mughal and post-Mughal period, and the later changes in stringing and tuning associated with named players. State uncertainty where it exists rather than inventing a founder.
Asked about a prominent sitar player or composer, the candidate names the person but cannot say which gharana or stylistic lineage they belong to, what they are known for, or what they contributed to the instrument's repertoire or technique.
Names are learned from listening credits and casual reading, without being attached to any stylistic or historical information. The candidate recognises the name and assumes recognition is the answer.
What to do instead
For each prominent figure, prepare a three-part card: lineage or gharana, one specific technical or repertoire contribution, and one representative recording or composition type. Keep the cards factual and short, and revise them together with the gharana map so the name is always attached to a style.
The candidate explains the tuning of the sitar as a single fixed scheme and cannot account for the sympathetic strings, the chikari strings, or why tuning varies with the raga and the player.
Beginners learn one tuning from their own teacher and treat it as universal. The sympathetic strings are hard to hear in isolation, so their tuning logic is often skipped entirely.
What to do instead
Learn the tuning in layers: the main playing strings and their relative pitches, the chikari strings and their rhythmic function, and the sympathetic strings tuned to the notes of the raga being played. Explain how a change of raga changes the sympathetic tuning. Also learn the basic maintenance routine for the instrument, since tuning stability depends on it.
When writing notation, the candidate mixes the Bhatkhande and Vishnu Digambar systems within one answer, using one system's symbols for komal and tivra notes and the other's for the octave or the tal signs.
Candidates learn both systems at different times and from different sources, and never drill them separately. Under exam pressure the symbols blend, and the candidate does not notice the inconsistency.
What to do instead
Keep two separate notation sheets and practise converting a short composition from one system to the other. In the exam, state at the top of the answer which system you are using and stay in it. Check every komal, tivra, and octave marking against that system before finishing.
The candidate answers a question on a raga's characteristic phrases by writing a general phrase that would fit almost any raga, instead of the pakad that identifies this raga specifically.
The pakad is often taught as one of several catchphrases and is not practised as an identifying test. Candidates therefore produce a plausible ascending figure rather than the phrase that actually distinguishes the raga.
What to do instead
For each prescribed raga, learn the pakad and one or two characteristic phrases, and test yourself by asking what would be lost if the phrase were moved to a neighbouring raga. If the phrase survives the move, it is not the pakad. Also learn the chalan as a full movement, not just the scale, so the answer shows how the raga behaves.
Asked about a compositional form such as tarana, the candidate describes it only as a fast piece with meaningless syllables and cannot explain how it relates to the tala or how it differs from a gat.
Tarana is usually encountered as an exciting closing item, so it is remembered by its effect rather than its structure. The bols sound like nonsense syllables, and candidates never analyse their rhythmic function.
What to do instead
Learn tarana as a form built from rhythmic syllables, often drawn from percussion or mnemonic bols, set to a tala and used to display rhythmic command. Compare it directly with a gat in the same raga and tala: what the text is, what the tala relationship is, and where the improvisation sits. Practise identifying tarana bols by ear from recordings you already know.