Music: Definitions and Basic Concepts

About this unit

This unit builds the vocabulary of Indian classical music. It begins with sound itself: what makes a sound musical (naad), how finely the octave can be divided (shruti) and which notes are actually used (swara, in shuddha, komal and teevra forms). It then moves to the older theoretical ideas of gram, murchana, varna and alankar, and finally to the raga: its elements (alap, taan, gamak, meend, kan), the roles of its notes (vadi, samvadi, anuvadi, vivadi) and its framework (aroh, avroh, pakad, thaat and jaati). Each idea depends on the one before it, so a raga cannot be described properly until the basic terms are clear.

How to prepare

Memorise the 12 swaras of the octave and which notes can be komal or teevra. Learn the 22 shrutis and their distribution, the four varnas, and the rules for forming a raga and a thaat. Make a chart of the ten thaats with their altered notes. Practise identifying a term from its description, and counting notes to name a raga's jaati.