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