A few tabla terminologies

In one of my lessons, Tali & Khali, you have come across basic definitions of taal, taali, khali etc. Here in this lesson, a few more are covered.

Prakar or Kism

Without changing the matras and vibhag of a taal, if some of the bols are changed, that is called a kism or prakar. The tabla players do such changes so that the theka becomes more interesting and attractive.

Tintaal theka:
dha dhin dhin dha | dha dhin dhin dha | dha tin tin ta | Ta dhin dhin dha

A kism can be:
dha dhete dhin dha | dha dhete dhin dha | dha tin tin ta | Taka dhin dhin dha

Der gun or Adi lay

The name itself says it is a 1.5 times the ek gun. If 3 bols are played in 2 matra, that is der gun. That means in one matra, 1 and 1/2 bols are played.

There is a simple taal called Dadra, here is the theka.

Dha dhin dha | Dha tu na
x                    | 0

In adi lay, it will be like:

Dha$dhin $dha$ Dha$tu | $na$ dha$dhin $dha$
x                                      | 0
dha$tu $na$ dha$dhin | $dha$ dha$tu $na$
x                                   | 0

The $ used here indicates silent note.
In 2 avartans, taal is played 3 times - that's adi lay.

Mukhra/Mohra 

This is series of bol, shorter than the length of theka, that means shorter than one avartan. The significance of this composition is - it starts somewhere after the previous som(first note of a taal) and ends exactly at the current som.

The tabla player usually plays it to highlight the som or its progression towards the som. Many compares mukhra with tukda because the bols played in it are stronger though the length is shorter. On the other hand, many a people say that mohra consists of tehai which is of shorter than mukhra, and it consists of bols which are not so strong.

Example:
Terekete taktere ketedha terekete
3

This is a tintaal mukhra which starts at the 4th vibhaag and ends at the next som.

Paran

The compositions of length two avartans or more consisting of open and stronger bols are usually called parans. This composition inherits its qualities from pakhwaj, thats the reason the bols are very strong. Usually, parans contain tehai.

Leaving a few taals such as dadra, kaharba etc. almost all other taals use parans. It is said that these were composed following the rhythm of slokas.

One example of paran is shown below.

dindin tete kredhatete dhadha | kredhatete dhadha kredhatete dha$kredha
X                                               2
tetedha kredhatete dha$ dindin | tete kredhatete dhadha kredhatete
0                                                   3
dhadha kredhatete dha$kredha tetedha | kredhatete dha$ dindin tete
X                                                              2
kredhatete dhadha kredhatete dhadha | kredhatete dha$kredha tetedha kredhatete
0                                                            3

Tukda

Tukda is a composition of rhythmic bols, some have tehai, some don't. There is no hard and fast rules but yes, it is of one avartan and usually consisting of stronger notes. Sometime, it is compared to tan or toda of vocal music. A tintaal tukda is given below.

thunthun nananana dhatereketetaka tatereketetako |
X
dha$kat dha$kat dha$ dhatereketetaka |
2
tatereketetako dha$kat dha$kat dha$ |
0
dhatereketetaka tatereketetako dha$kat dha$kat
3

Kaida

Keeping the syntactical essence in tact or in other sense keeping all the properties of taal such as taali, khaali, vibhaag intelligible, when a composition is created, that is kaida. The bols of kaida are such that they can be shuffled in order to create palta(vistaar). Kaida may be of one or more avartans.

In tabla vaadaan, kaida is usually played after peshkar(uthaan). Kaida is a parsee word which means rules. It is practically proven that if one wants to master a taal, he/she always practises kaida.


Example of tintaal kaida.
Dhatere ketedhi tete dhena | dhati ghena tuna katta
X                                           2
tatere ketedhi tete dhena | dhati ghena dhina gina
0                                      3

Types of compositions

Before reading this post, I hope you have gone through Tali and Khali post. Here we will discuss different types of compositions which are played.

Tihai : When a series of bols or notes are played thrice from a certain positions of taal and the last "Dha" falls at sam, then all the notes together are called tihai. In hindi, tehai means one third. For example, below is a tintaal's tehai from khali position.

DhaDha terekete Dha DhaDha | Terekete Dha DhaDha Terekete
0                                                   3

Consider the notes "DhaDha Terekete Dha". These are played thrice. The Dha of the last(third) iteration falls on the sam.

Damdar tihai : The tihais wherein after the Dha we can pause for a half, one or two matras, that tihai is called damdar tihai. This pause is denoted by "S" sign or "-". Dam means pause in hindi. For example, here is a tintal's damdar tihai from sam position.

DhaTere KeteTako Ti Kran | Dha S DhaTere KeteTako |
X                                            2
Ti Kran Dha S | DhaTere KeteTako Ti Kran |
0                        3

Bedam tihai : The tihai wherein after Dha there is no pause, that tihai is called bedam tihai. For example, a tihai from the last taali position.

TereketeDhaTeet DhaTerekete DhateetDha TereketeDhateet |
3

Teentaal

Tintaal or Tritaal or Teentaal is one of the most common taal in north indian classical music system. It has 4 vibhags, 3 taalis(claps), 1 khali(wave). The sam is at the first taali. It has 16 matras(beats).

Teentaal theka: Ek-gun

Bol	Dha	Dhin	Dhin	Dha
Hand movement	X
	Dha	Dhin	Dhin	Dha
	2
	Dha	Tin	Tin	Ta
	0
	Ta	Dhin	Dhin	Dha
	3

Teentaal: Do-gun

Bol	DhaDhin	DhinDha	DhaDhin	DhinDha
Hand movement	X
	DhaTin	TinTa	TaDhin	DhinDha
	2
	DhaDhin	DhinDha	DhaDhin	DhinDha
	0
	DhaTin	TinTa	TaDhin	DhinDha
	3

Teentaal: Char-gun

Bol	DhaDhinDhinDha	DhaDhinDhinDha	DhaTinTinTa	TaDhinDhinDha
Hand movement	X
	DhaDhinDhinDha	DhaDhinDhinDha	DhaTinTinTa	TaDhinDhinDha
	2
	DhaDhinDhinDha	DhaDhinDhinDha	DhaTinTinTa	TaDhinDhinDha
	0
	DhaDhinDhinDha	DhaDhinDhinDha	DhaTinTinTa	TaDhinDhinDha
	3

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.