Tali and Khali

In Indian classical music, hand movements are very important. This is a way to keep the taal on time or in other words, tabla player and the vocalists/instrumentalist can sync on the basis of these movements without having to see each other while playing. Is it not quite interesting?

What is a taal?

Taal is the Indian concept of keeping rhythm. Taal literally means clap, in playing tabla the same is replaced by bols but the player keeps track of the same in mind. The word taal itself is very generic in the tabla world. I always say - taal itself is a metric by which the characteristics of a composition is defined. For example, we might have heard of 4x4, 4x2, 2x2 beats etc. in case anyone listens to drum players. What are these actually? 4x4 means - there are 4 parts, each having 4 beats. That means - 1234 | 1234 | 1234 | 1234. 1, 2, 3, 4 are the first, second, third and the fourth beat respectively and the bar is the division. In classical music, these divisions are called vibhag and 1, 2, 3, 4 are called matras. Therefore, we can say that 4x4 is nothing but a taal having 4 vibhags having 4 matras each. Consider each matra as a tick of your clock. Note that, in one matra there can be multiple bols or strokes. As an analogy for example, in one click you can say "hello" or "hello tabla". That means you have to keep more pace while saying the latter.

The basic concepts of taal are as below.

Tali 

Tali is the place where a clap comes. In every vibhag(division), the first matra is where either a clap or khali is performed.

Khali

Khali is the place where the hand is waved. It comes at the beginning of the vibhag.

Vibhag

Vibhag is the division.

Matra

Matra is the beat.

Bol

Bol is the note(s) or stroke(s) which is played at matra.

Theka

This is the combination of bol, matra, vibhag, taali, khalis which define the taal.

Lay

Lay is the speed or tempo. There are different levels of lay in tabla viz. drut lay, vilambit lay, madhyam lay, ati drut, ati vilambit etc. Drut means speedy, ati means more - ati drut means more speedy. Similarly, vilambit lay is slow speed. Madhyam is medium.

Sam

Sam is the beginning matra of the taal cycle. It is the starting point of taal. It literally means "come together". Typically, in sam, all the instruments come together after playing all kinds of variations.

Avartan 

Avartan is the basic taal cycle. One cycle means one avartan.


Let's go a bit practical. I will consider a basic taal called teen taal. This taal has 16 matras. If you play left to right, in the first line, you will find "X". It is the sam(taali). Second line first matra has a taali(second). Third has a khali (0) and last line has a taali again.

Dha	Dhin	Dhin	Dha |
X
Dha	Dhin	Dhin	Dha |
2
Dha	Tin	Tin	Ta |
0
Ta	Dhin	Dhin	Dha |
3

Say each bol in clock tick with taali and khali. This can be treated as ek-gun(single tempo) as each matra will be having single bol. One avartan will be completed in 16 seconds here. At 17th second, sam will be hit. When you say note other than sam or taali or khali, for example in the first line - Dhin, Dhin, Dha, place the tip of your right index, middle and ring finger on the left palm respectively till the . Repeat the process until you are comfortable.