The Tihai That Misses Sam
At the final rehearsal for the school concert, the closing item is a drut composition in Raga Khamaj set to Teental. The metronome is set at 60, so one matra lasts one second and one avartan lasts sixteen seconds. The student has composed a tihai: a four-matra phrase played three times, separated by two-matra gaps, which he has always begun on sam. In the new arrangement the antara now ends on matra 9, and he wants the tihai to follow immediately. During the run-through, the Class IX tabla player drifted from about 60 to about 68 during the tihai, and the last phrase no longer fell on sam. The teacher's rule is that the item must end on sam, the whole item must fit a six-minute slot, and there is exactly one rehearsal left before the concert tomorrow evening. The student has no spare composition prepared and is panicking about the ending.
1. Using the numbers given, work out where the existing tihai lands if it starts on matra 9, and show the arithmetic.
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Length of the tihai
For a tihai of three phrases of p matras separated by two gaps of g matras:
L = 3p + 2g = 3(4) + 2(2) = 12 + 4 = 16 matras
At 60 BPM that is 16 seconds - exactly one avartan. That is why it has always worked: begun on sam, it ends on sam.
Starting on matra 9
If the first phrase begins on matra m, the last matra of the tihai is
m + L - 1 = 9 + 16 - 1 = 24
Matra 24 of the running count is matra 8 of the next avartan (24 - 16 = 8). So the tihai finishes on matra 8, one matra before the khali of the third vibhag of the next cycle - nowhere near sam, and harmonically and rhythmically the worst possible place to stop. The student's instinct that 'it will be fine, it always was' is exactly the error the arithmetic catches.
The general rule to give him: a tihai begun on matra m lands on sam only if m + L = 17, 33, 49 and so on. With L = 16 the only start that works is m = 1.
2. Propose the practical options and choose one, giving musical reasons rather than only arithmetic.
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Option A - fill the cycle, then start the existing tihai on sam
After the antara ends on matra 9, return to the second line of the sthayi for matras 9–16 (eight seconds), then begin the tihai on the next sam. The tihai is unchanged, already secure, and lands correctly. Cost: one extra avartan, about 16 seconds against a six-minute slot - affordable. Musically this is standard practice: a tihai is a cadence, and cadences are prepared, not dropped in wherever the previous line happens to stop.
Option B - recompose so that m + L = 17 with m = 9, i.e. L = 9
A nine-matra tihai fits: three phrases of three matras with no gaps, or other combinations summing to 9. It begins immediately on matra 9 and ends on sam. Cost: at 60 BPM a three-matra phrase is slow and, without gaps, the three repetitions can sound like a statement rather than a cadence. It also has to be taught in one rehearsal.
The choice
Take Option A for tomorrow. The student already owns the filler (his own sthayi line), the four-matra tihai is rehearsed and secure, and the only new instruction is 'come back to the sthayi, then start the tihai on sam'. Option B is the fallback: if in tomorrow's rehearsal the filler goes wrong or the tempo drift reappears, switch to the nine-matra version, which is shorter, needs less filling and leaves less time for the tempo to wander. Decide after the rehearsal, not during the concert.
3. The tabla player rushes when nervous. What will you change in the one remaining rehearsal, and why does each change address the drift rather than the symptom?
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Diagnose first. A beginner tabla player in a tihai is following the singer's bols and counting under pressure; the tempo creeps because he is listening to himself rather than to a fixed pulse. Drift is a counting failure, not a technique failure, and the remedy is structural.
- Set the starting tempo lower. Begin at about 56 rather than 60. A player who accelerates by roughly 10 per cent will then pass through 60 near the middle and arrive near 62 at the tihai, which is far less damaging than arriving at 68.
- Rehearse the tihai alone, ten times, with the teacher keeping tal by hand. Not the whole item - just the last thirty seconds, repeated, so that the ending is the most practised part rather than the least.
- Fix the anchor to the singer, not the tabla. Tell the tabla player explicitly: in the tihai, follow the student's hand and bols; do not push. Tell the student: your phrase length is fixed by the bols, not by the tempo you hear. If the tabla speeds up, keep your own phrase length and let him catch you at sam.
- Shorten the exposure. If drift persists, use the nine-matra tihai, which gives roughly eight seconds in which to drift instead of sixteen.
- Do not add decoration. No dugun, no extra palta in the last avartan. Every added matra is another chance to miss sam.
Why this works. Each measure reduces either the amount of time available for the error or the amount of counting the player must do under pressure. Telling him 'don't rush' addresses the symptom; changing the starting tempo, the anchor and the length of the tihai addresses the cause.