Indian Music

Instruments, ragas and

history

Starter
Place

the following
instruments under the
headings string, wind
or percussion.

String, Wind or Percussion?

Tabla
Sitar

Flute

Harmonium

String, Wind or Percussion?

Sarangi
Tambura

Santur

Shenai

Answers
String

Wind

SITAR

FLUTE

SARANGI

HARMONIU
M

SANTUR

SHENAI

TAMBURA

Percussion
TABLA

SANTUR

Aim of Lesson
To

learn to identify Indian traditional

instruments by sight and sound.
To understand the musical structures
and terms used in Indian Music:
ragas, talas, drone, sympathetic
strings, rasas, alap, jhor, jhala, gat,
bandish, matras, bols and sam.
To understand the keywords;
syncopated, ostinato and improvised.

Indian music: A history

Indian

musical traditions go back to

the vedic period (2000 B.C- 700 B.C)
and have since evolved through the
influence of many cultures over the
centuries. This musical tradition has
been preserved and is passed orally
from one generation to another
through masters (Ustad- Muslim and
Pandit- Hindu).

Ragas
Ragas

are a cross between melodies

and scales. They tell the main melody
instrument what notes they can use
when improvising. Different ragas
have different moods (rasas) and are
used for different times of the day (or
night), year or special occasions.
Listen to the opening of this evening
raga Manjh Khamaj.

Raga

The word raga is also used to describe the

whole piece of music. A raga is made up of
4 sections:
Alap- main artist backed by a drone slowly
explores the notes of the raga.
Jhor- slightly faster, more of a pulse.
Jhala- tabla joins in, musicians improvise
passing rhythmic ideas between them.
Gat- final section featuring a fixed
composition with some improvisations.
This is called a BANDISH in vocal ragas.

Ragas
Raga Purvi

Ragas
Raga Bhairav

Eb F#

A Bb C# D

C# Bb A

F# Eb D

Raga Vibhas

Db E

F#

F# E

Db C

Talas
Talas

are the rhythm cycles (ostinati)

that the tabla player uses. An
ostinato is a repeated pattern. There
are over 300 different tala and a
good tabla player can improvise over
the top of the set rhythm. They learn
these by memorising the sounds of
the tabla patterns as in this clip.

Tala

The most common tala is called tintal,

which is a sixteen beat pattern: 4+4+4+4
The individual beats in a rhythmic cycle are
called MATRAS.
Complex and syncopated rhythms are
formed when improvised rhythms called
BOLS are played between the tabla player
and instrumentalist. Syncopation is where
beats other than the strong beats are
stressed.
All parts must synchronise on the first beat
of the cycle- SAM

Talas

TINTAL

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
X

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

EK-TAL
1
X

3
O

5
X

7
O

10 11 12

JHAP-TAL
1
X

More Talas
4

6
O

10

DHAMAR
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
X

Sitar

The

sitar is a long necked lute that is

used to play the melody lines. It has 7
strings- 5 melody and 2 drone (it also
has 12 sympathetic strings). It has 16
to 24 movable frets and resonating
gourds.

Tabla

The tabla are a pair of drums played

by one person using their hands and
fingers. The smaller drum (tabla) is
usually made of wood and the larger
(baya) is made of clay or copper. They
can produce a variety of pitches and
sounds.

Bansuri flute

The

Bansuri flute is made of wood

and has a haunting sound.

Harmonium

The

harmonium is a keyboard with

bellows so that the air is pumped into
the instrument by the person playing
it. It sounds like an accordian and is
used to accompany singers.

Sarangi

The

Sarangi is a 3 or 4 stringed (with

sympathetic strings) instrument. It is like
a violin but is played in an upright
position.

Santur

The

santur is a string instrument played

like a percussion instrument. The metal
strings are struck by metal rods.

Shenai

The shenai is a wind instrument. It has a

double reed and sounds
like an
oboe.
There are many other versions of this
instrument: shawm, nagasvaram and pingi.

Tambura

The tambura is a long necked lute. It has 4

strings which are always played open as
it provides the drone for the other
instruments to improvise over.

Vocal

Indian vocal music covers a wide

range of styles from love songs to
religious chants.
Here is a quawali singer.

Listening test
Name

the main instrument playing in

these clips.
1)
6)
2)
7)
3)
4)
5)

Answers
1)
Santur
2)
Tabla
3) Bansuri
Flute
4) Shenai

5) Sarangi
6) Sitar
7) Vocal

Extension
From

the raga
worksheet work out
the tones and
semitones present in
each raga.

Quiz

What is a raga?
What is a tala?
What does ostinato mean?
What is a rasa?
What is the order of the sections of a raga?
What are matras?
What are bols?
What is sam?
Name 4 Indian instruments and state whether
they are percussion, wind or string?
What are sympathetic strings?

Answers
Find

them out!
They are all in this PowerPoint!

Plenary
Write

3 facts about
Indian music.
Name two instruments
and which family they
belong to.