Hindustani Classical Music - My little understanding - Part 3 (Taal)

The previous article talked about the intonation in the Hindustani classical music. In this article I talk about the concept of "Taal" or rhythm in our music.

The concept of "Taal" is relatively easy to experience. There are a set of beats which get repeated in time. Like the sound of ticking of a clock. We hear a "tick (or beat)" every second. Similarly our heart "beats" at a specific rate. Also, note that when we get excited the same heart starts to beat faster, but still there is a rhythm. Once our excitement or anxiety subsides, the heart gradually stabilizes to a moderate rate. So heart can be considered as a natural bio-percussion instrument.

The main percussion instrument in Hindustani classical is the "tabla".  It consists of two drums, the "dayan (or tabla)" (played with the dominant hand) and the "bayan" (the larger of the two, played with the other hand). It is the "dayan" that is generally tuned to the main melodic player (say vocal, sitar or bansuri). The "bayan" on the other hand is used to produce the bass sounds in the rhythm. There are other percussion instruments in Hindustani classical namely the "dholak" and the "pakhawaj". Dholak is used in light classical music forms such as the "qawwali" or "ghazals" while pakhawaj is used in the "dhrupad" style of hindustani classical.

Apart from the concept of "taal" there is a concept of "lay" or speed of the "taal". I can play the stokes of a "taal" slowly (meaning the time duration between each beat is lengthened) or very fast (meaning the time duration between each beat is shortened). One can measure this using in an unit called "beats per minute" (BPM) but that would be too mathematical for our sort of music. We instead use the terms "vilambit lay" (slow), "madhya lay" (medium) and "drut lay" (fast). We can append the adjective "ati" (very) to the terms above to increase or decrease the intensity of the speed further.

Like vocal, tabla has a set of "notes (strokes)" or "bols" that help in understanding and practice of the tabla players. These notes also help listeners in identifying a "taal" easily. Some of the strokes are "dha", "tin", "na", "ta", "tin" etc. These are generated by striking different areas of the "dayan" or "bayan". A "taal" will be a combination of these notes.
The sequence of the strokes in a "taal" are referred to as the "theka" of the "taal".

Here is a "theka" for a very popular "taal" known as "Ektaal":

Dhin Dhin | DhaGe TiRaKiTa | Tun Na | Kat Ta | DhaGe TiRaKiTa | Dhin Na|

Few points to note above,

• There are 12 "beats" in the "theka" above.
• There is a "|" symbol separating the notes. These are sections or "vibhag" of the "taal" in which the strokes are divided.
• The "Ektaal" is divided into six "vibhag".

Below is a sample of "Ektaal" in which the "lay" of the "taal" is gradually increased from "vilambit" to "drut".

(Play Full Screen by clicking on the icon at bottom right) Also, note from the above video, that some strokes are combination of notes. For example "DhaGe" is a combination of two notes "Dha and Ge", whereas "TiRaKiTa" is a combination of 4 notes.

There is also a concept of denoting the "taals" using the "Clap" and "Wave" combination. You can read about it here.  The article also has links to most commonly used "taals" and it is good to go through them. In the article referred you will come across a term "Sam" and this a very important concept and the last in this article.

"Sam" is the first beat of the cycle (or the next cycle). And this beat is usually the "stressed" beat. By "stressed beat" we mean that the "tabla" player will make a special effort to play this beat. This is so because Hindustani classical music resolves to the "Sam". The main melodic line will always come and meet at this beat, and both the melody and the rhythm will stress at this point. In fact, one of the main aspect of our music is the ability of the performer to "wander hither and thither" but ultimately come back in time for the "Sam". It is difficult to explain in words, so I will provide a very short example below.

In the video below, I use the great Ustad Amir Khan's rendition of the Raag Hansadhwani (Lyric: "Jai Maat Vilaamb, Taj de; Maangun guna De"), that he performed in Ektaal. In this rendition he specifically makes it a point to stress on the first beat (the "Dhin") of "Ektaal". In order to help us understand better, I have an "EkTaal" loop playing for a few cycles all alone on the right channel. Then we have Ustad Amir Khan joining us on the left channel. He joins us exactly at the "Sam" of the "EkTaal". He then repeatedly "meets us" at the "Sam". In fact the "Sam" is at "Vi--" of the word "Vilaamb" and he demonstrates that repeatedly. Notice, it is not necessary to stress the "Sam" at the beginning of every cycle. For example, he does not stress the "Sam" that appears between "Maangun" and "guna De".

I have used the two channels, and deliberately kept the volume of the tabla loop a lot higher than that of the vocal so that we can understand and detect the "Sam" and its stress clearly. Since both channels are unbalanced in the audio, use of headphones is strongly recommended for greater clarity and understanding. (Play Full Screen by clicking on the icon at bottom right)

You will also notice that in the video, I have "fitted" the vocal exactly at the start of the loop cycle. This is for our learning only. Generally in real performances, the main melodic line will start first and then the tabla will join to match it. That is why, you will invariably hear the vocal (or any main instrument) starting first and then the tabla joining in at the "right time", rather than the other way round as in our video above.

That's all for this article. In the next article I will discuss about few "ornamentations" and "specialities" of Hindustani Classical music.