Tag Archives: hindustani music

4. Writing Melody

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There are seven notes in Northern Indian music, their pronunciation is:
Sa, Ray, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Nee,
Luckily none of these share the first letter, so we will be writing them as:
S, R, G, M, P, D, N

Never pronounce them as Ess, Are, Gee. Em etc. It will make matters much more complicated later on.
If you assume that ‘S’ (Sa) is on ‘C’ then ‘S R G M P D N’ make a natural ‘C’ major scale. Just like ‘C D E F G A B’ would. ‘Sa’ does not have any special frequency assigned to it; it is always the keynote.

Suptak

If a note is underlined that means it’s in its flat position, if a line is standing on a note that means it is in its sharp position. All notes are accepted in their natural position in a major scale. So they are not marked.

In Western music, all notes have three positions, flat, natural and sharp, but in Indian music they have only two states. These are called Tivar (sharp) and Komal (Flat). A note (other than the first and the fifth) is always either in a Komal state or in a Tivar State. The notes as they appear in the natural scale, are not marked. Otherwise Komal notes are underlined and Tivar is shown with a standing line on top of it. ‘Sa’ and ‘Pa’ (first and fifth) have only one state.

Just imagine, if the following was the only way to write a twelve-note octave, you would be writing it just like in Indian music:

004-a-scale1.jpg

Now see the Indian twelve notes:
Indian Scale
As you can see, Sa and Pa do not change. Other five notes have two positiona. the lower is the komal position the higher is the Tivar position. Only the forth (Ma) appears as komal in the natural scale. So, Re, Ga, Dha, and Ni (second, third, sixth and seventh) are marked flat (Komal) from their natural (sharp) position and ‘Ma’ (fourth) is marked sharp from its natural (flat) position. When a note moves from its natural position, it is called a ‘Vikrat Svara’ (moved note). So, we can say that when R, G, D and N are Vikrat (moved), they are Komal or flat, and when M is Vikrat, it is Tivar or sharp. ‘Sa’ and ‘Pa’ are never Vikrat as they do not move.

Other Signs:

Slur: Slur is drawn as an arch on top of the notes:

Slur

Long Notes: If a note is held for more than one beat, then it is followed by a dash ‘-‘sign.
Example:
hold
‘S’ is held for four beats. Same sign is used in rhythm as well.
Octaves: Notes are written normal (with no extra markings) in the middle octave. Lower octave notes have a dot under them and upper octave notes have a dot above them. Two octaves higher or lower notes are shown by two dots. The following example shows three octaves of a major scale:

three octaves

Few other signs do appear time to time and I will explain them if needed.

Now let’s see how to really write Indian music:

Suppose you want to sing a major scale in 8/4 (why not 4/4? Explanation is coming), it will be written like this:

Surgum Taal Kehrva

X 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
S R G M P M G R
ND PM G R S – – –

Explanation:
Header: ‘Surgum’ means names of notes (S, R, G, M etc.). We didn’t write any lyrics under the notes so it is just a Surgum. Next phrase ‘Taal Kehrva’ refers to what kind of rhythm will be played with it. ‘Kehrva’ is an 8 beat rhythm divided into two sections. The first beat in Kehrva is the Sum and the 5th beat is the Khali. So we mark those on the top of the page and start to write. ( Revise how to write rhythm here.) If you have a wider page, you can write it in four columns or more. The Main thing is to pay attention to the ‘x’ and ‘0’ signs. Once you learn all the popular Taals, then just looking at the top of a page will tell you what Taal that particular piece was written in.

Notation: The top line shows the Khali – Taali signs (rhythm signs, Xs and Os). Next line has 8 beats of Kehrva. Then appropriate notes are written under the beats. First two beats in the second line have doubles and ‘S’ is held for the last 4 beats of the second bar. To read the notes properly tap your pencil on the beats and count 1 to 8. Then keep taping the pencil on the beats while saying one or two notes’ names on those beats as they occur.

Triplets: In Indian notation everything is WYSWYG. Triplets and doted notes are shown with appropriate dashes (-). Here is an example:

X
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
S
-R
GMP
-DP
MG
R
SRGP
MGRS

In this example: first and 6th beats have one note, second and fifth have two, 3rd and 4th have three, and 7th and 8th have four. More complex times can be achieved similarly.

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3. Hindustani Notation System

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Since the time the art of music was found, musicians have been making compositions and songs. But much of the ancient stuff is out of our reach as there was no standard notation system to save it. The inventions of different notation systems have made it possible to put a tune on a piece of paper or now even on the screen of a computer monitor. The music notation systems have been the greatest tool to capture the music in its somewhat originality. Even today, when audio recorders surround us, notation still remains the only way to figure out every note played in its original place.

The western world invented (or agreed on) staff notation a while ago and it has become a widely understood music notation system all over the world. However, Hindustani or Northern Indian music has its own notation system. Indian melody can easily be written in the staff notation system but as you are going to see that Indian rhythm cannot be written properly. This was one of the reasons I have included this post on this site. The other reason is that if you eventually like to get some music composition books on Indian music, they will be written in this system.

Indian notation system is really easy system once you get the hang of it, which can take up to five minutes. But if you still feel comfortable with staff notation that is not a problem, I will suggest some minor additions. You can add those to your Indian compositions or the compositions you make in Indian rhythm structure.

Pundit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande There are a few notation systems in India but the most famous one in northern music is the one invented by music Pundit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande. This is simply called the ‘Bhatkhande notation system’. I will refer to it as the Indian notation system, as this is the only one you will ever have to learn. This is the only system used by Northern Indian classical and pop musician all around India and the world.

Basics of Any Music Notation:
Every music notation system has two things in common, time and pitch. Staff notation shows them horizontally and vertically. In staff notation, the notes are placed on five lines and their time values are shown in different kind of tails. When writing drums all the lines are assigned to different sounds and their time value is still shown by similar tails as notes. I assume that you already know a little bit of staff notation. If you don’t, you don’t have to learn it for this now, just learn the Indian system.

Basics of Indian Music Notation:
Indian music is based on Raag and Taal (Rāga and Tala) system. Raags are melodic phrases and Taals are rhythmic patterns. Raags pose no problem when written in standard staff notation as Northern Indian music notes are the same as western music, but Taals do. Every piece of Indian music is written in a Taal, unless it is a rhythm free piece. So the basics of Taals, are the basics of Indian notation system.

Taal structure will be explained in detail in the rhythm section. Here all we have to know is that Indian Taals (rhythmic Patterns) are divided into sections. Every Taal is a group of 2 or more sections. First beat of every section is defined as hard or soft, so it determines the accents. This gives every Taal a certain flow. Two Taals may have same number of beats, but if their divisions are different then they will sound different from one another. To understand it better let’s first see how to write Indian Rhythm in Indian Music Notation system.

Writing Rhythm:
Indian notation can be written on any piece of paper. The beats are written on the top of the page and they all have equal time value. Then they are divided into columns where the sub-bars (sections) start. Any note or boles (sounds of Tabla) are written under that. If there is one sound under one beat then its value is equal to one beat. If two are written under one beat then their value is half-beat and so on.

Let’s see an example:
Suppose you are playing in 8/4. To write this we will write 8 beats in a line and then divide them into two columns. Have a look:
Taal Kehrva
(8 beats 2 sections)

Beats

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8
Taal sign

x

0
Theka

dha

ge

na

ke

na

te

dhin

na
Double

dha,ge

na,ke

na,te

dhi,na

dha,ge

na,ke

na,te

dhi,na

Above is an example of a Taal (rhythmic Pattern) called Kehrva. It has eight beats that are divided into two equal sections of four beats each. Taal signs show the status of the first beat of that section.

  1. ‘x’ is used to show the very first beat of the Taal,  it is called Sum (or The Sum).
  2. ‘0’ is used to show the Khali (empty point) in the Taal. Generally this point is in the middle of a Taal and a lighter part (light sounds) of the Taal begins here.
  3. The numeric numbers (2, 3 etc.) are used to show other sub-bars’ start points and are called Taalis (clap points). Sum (the first Beat) is always the first Taali. So in the above example Taal Kehrva has only one Taali and one Khali.

Here is another example of Aik Taal (name of a rhythmic pattern of 12 beats). It is a little more complex than the Kehrva Taal.

Aik Taal
(12 beats, 6 sections)

Maatras/beats

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12
Taal signs

x

0

2

0

3

4
Theka

dhin

dhin

dha,ge

tirkat

tu

na

ku

ta

dha,ge

tirkat

dhin

na

So Aik Taal has 4 Taalis and 2 Khalis.

The words written in the Theka (pattern) line are the sounds of Tabla. We will discuss those later. A comma separates two sounds.

That is all you have to know to write rhythm in Indian notation system.
Next, we will bring melody into the mix.

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2. The Basics of Indian Music

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Here are the basics of Indian Music:

Sangeet: (music)
Generally speaking, music is an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner.
According to ancient Indian scriptures, music is a combination of the three art forms:
1. singing (gyan)
2. playing (music) (vadan)
3. dancing (nrit)

Raag:
Indian music is based on ‘Raag and Taal’ system. ‘Raag’ is a combination of notes that form melodic patterns and phrases. Every ‘Raag’ has its own ascending, descending, dominant and subdominant notes and key phrases. Every ‘Raag’ has a three hours’ time slot in a 24 hour day, which it shares with other ‘Raags’ that are similar in mood and nature. There are about 200 popular ‘Raags’ today. ‘Raags’ are derived from ‘Thaats’.

Thaat:
‘Thaats’ are parent scales. Northern Indian music has total of 10 ‘Thaats’ and every ‘Raag’ created under Northern Indian music system does or will belong to one of them. The core of Northern Indian music’s melody structure lies in the ‘Thaat System‘.

Taal:
‘Taal’ is a rhythmic pattern. Every ‘Taal’ is sub-divided into sections. ‘Tabla’ or ‘Pukhavaj’ (Indian drums) ‘boles’ (sounds) are assigned to each ‘Taal’ to give it a certain flow. Most of the northern Indian ‘Taals’ are played on ‘Tabla’ as it is the main drum for ‘Hindustani music’.

Svaras, Surgam and Suptak:
The scale layout of northern Indian music is similar to the Western music. Notes are called ‘Svaras’ (or Sawars). The main difference between northern and southern Indian music is the names of 12 notes. Southern standard (natural) scale doesn’t resemble the northern Natural scale. Both of these styles have lost their original (vedic) octave structure. The ancient Indian Music defined notes under the ‘Shruti System.’ In the Sharuti system the seven notes are established on 22 ‘Shruties’ and the minimum interval is a ‘Shruti’ (a sharuti is not a 1/4 note).
Suptak
Some musicologists still believe that Indian music should only be played with a naturally balanced scale (just intonation), but these days most musician use a chromatic scale when using keyboards or DAWs. Even hardcore classical players have started to play classical music on guitars, pianos, harmoniums and saxophones etc. We will discuss these concepts in the Advanced Theory.

In Indian music, the word used for an octave (Suptak) means a Septave, ‘group of seven notes’ rather than eight. The eighth note is considered the start point for the next ‘Suptak’.

Just like Western music, Indian music has seven names for the notes in an octave. Just like ‘Do, Re, Mi…Indian notes are also based on the ‘keynote is always the first note’ system. Knowing the names of these notes is very important. You will read more about them later, here we will just go over their pronunciation and symbols used on this site:

Note No. Pronounced Written on this site as
1 Sah S or Sa
2 Ray R or Re
3 Gah G or Ga
4 Mah M or Ma
5 Pah P or Pa
6 Dhah D or Dha
7 Nee N or Ni

The ‘Svaras’ as a group are called ‘Surgam’ (or Sargam). Combining the first four notes makes the Word ‘Surgam’. In Hindi, Punjabi or Urdu it’s also spelled as ‘SRGM’. A lot of singers say ‘Taans’ in ‘Surgam’. When a piece is sung in Surgam, a musical phrase is spelled out with the names of the notes.

Alaap and Taan
Any rhythm-free singing or playing is an ‘Alaap’. Singers mostly sing ‘Alaap’ in ‘Aaa…Ooo…’ sounds or they say names of the notes as ‘Sa…re…ga…etc. There are many different kinds of ‘Alaaps’. Most classical performances start with an ‘Alaap’. The main purpose of an ‘Alaap’ is to slowly introduce the notes of a particular ‘Raag’ which the singer or the player is going to perform.
A ‘Taan’ is an ‘Alaap’ in rhythm. A ‘Taan’ is a musical phrase or group of notes, which is sung or played to bring out the details of a ‘Raag’. ‘Taans’ also can be sung as ‘Aaas..and Oos… When a singer says a Taan with the names of the notes used, it is called a ‘Surgam ki Taan’. ‘Taans’ can be divided into two main categories:
1. Spaat Taan: When ascending or descending notes are used in their natural order, that is a Spaat Taan. ‘Spaat’ means straight. This kind of ‘Taan’ is also known as the ‘pure Taan’. As an example: ‘Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Ma, Ga, Re, Sa’  (C,D,E,F,G,F,E,D,C) is a ‘Spaat Taan’ as notes are played in their natural order.
2. Koot Taan: When the notes are not in any particular order, that is known as a ‘Koot Taan’. As an example: Sa, Ga, Ma, Re, Dha, Pa, Ga, Re, Ga, Sa’ (C,E,F,D,A,G,E,D,E,C) is a ‘Koot Taan’.

All of the above may seem a little complicated, but it really isn’t. We are going to use these words and concepts again and again. If you ever forget what they are, just come back here and read this section. Good luck.

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1. The Origin

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India has two types of music, Southern and Northern Indian Music. Southern Music is also known as ‘Carnatic Music’, named after a southern state (region) of India. This blog is about Northern Indian music, however. It is also known as ‘Hindustani Music’ or sometimes just ‘Indian music’. Northern Indian music is played almost all over India and it has earned a lot of popularity all over the world. The main reason for its international popularity over southern music is its compatibility with other types of music (especially Western). These days most of the Indian music you hear is the Northern Indian music. Pt. Ravi Shankar (sitar), Zakir Hussain (Tabla) and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (singer) all belong to Northern Indian music school or Hindustani Music. Pakistan’s music is also the Hindustani music. Some of the greatest players and vocalists of  ‘Northern Indian music’ come from Pakistan.
Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
It is said that the Southern and the Northern Indian music use to be same at one time. Both styles changed by the mixture of cultures from Middle East, Mediterranean, Middle Asia and Europe. The ‘Mughals’ influenced the Northern Music the most. During the golden Mughal era (15-16 centuries) it came out as its own. It still kept the complexity of its ancient version, but the outlook changed enough so it got recognized as a different type of music. Most of its changes were due to the new comers’ interpretation of ancient rules. They adapted it such a way so it became very versatile. It was named ‘Hindustani music’ by Muslim musicologist who called India, Hindustan.

The basics of Northern Indian music are very ancient. The ‘Raag’ and ‘Taal’ theory predates to Vedic Era (5000-2000 BC). Also, ironically in theory, the Northern Indian music closely resembles the ancient Indian Music than the Carnatic music. Since the modern Carnitic music adopted 72 Thaat system, some of the scales are not compatible with ancient diatonic scales. Having said that, the Northern music also has some very famous Rāgas imported from Persia and South that do not adhere to the ancient rules.

In ancient India, music was considered a medium of connecting with gods and, singers, musicians and dancers were revered as sages. Even today most ancient musicologists’ names are written with a ‘Sage’ salutation. Parts of old scriptures are still available and over time the musicologists have tried to put Indian music’s authenticity back into it.

Over the centuries, the Indian music had no ‘standard’ notation system. In fact most of the Indian music was not written at all. It was taught from ‘guru to shish’ (teacher to student) and all the compositions of ‘Raags’ and ‘Taals’ were remembered by heart.

In modern times, Pt. Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande (1860-1936) dedicated his life to arrange and re-arrange northern Indian music theory and compositions. He invented the most popular Indian music notation system (one also used on this site) to date. He tirelessly met with musicians and musicologists to archive the old compositions in his newly invented notation system to keep them safe for future generations. He put most of his collective work into a six book series (Karmic Pustak Malika) which up to today, remains the biggest source of classical Raag (Rāga) compositions and structures ever collected by anybody in Northern Indian music.

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