Notes on Hindustani Classical Music
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Raga and Vocal Music
Basic Features
The Raga in Indian classical music is a musical atmosphere – defined by a set of properties – that imparts a distinctive melodious sound to all the diverse compositions that are based on it. The set of properties that characterize a raga include the allowable notes and order of their application (ascend and descend; aroha and avroha), the key groupings of notes (pakad), the most prominent note (vadi), the second most significant note (samvadi), the parent scale (thaat), the time (hours and/or season), and the nature or mood (prakriti). Please click here for the basic features of selected Ragas.
Sargam
A student of Indian
classical music always begins with sargams,
which are ascending and descending sequences
of notes in an easily repeatable pattern. These are an
essential part of one's voice training and a
prerequisite to improvising a
Raga in both vocal and instrumental music. Some preliminary sargams
(alankars) are given here.Presentation of a Raga in a Vocal Concert
What styles of vocal music are presented in a typical Hindustani music concert? When a singer takes an hour to perform a Raga, what is the schedule like? Read this page to find out.Percussion
Popular Rhythmic Cycles in Tabla
This section presents introductory material (theka, kaida/ palta, variations, and tihai) for solo or accompaniment in selected rhythmic cycles (taal).Please click on the name of a taal.
Tabla: Classical Music
Teentaal: 16 Beats
Ektaal: 12 Beats
Tabla: Light Music