Raga for All Instruments- Learn Raga Music Foundations

What is a Raga? This simple question is actually quite vast and far-reaching. In this lecture, I break down the fundamental elements of a Raga in two categories- abstract/creative and technical.

This video will give you an expansive understanding to the broad question of defining a raga.

Raga music has a unique way of using intonation and drone which you'll get a basic understand of in this lecture.

You'll become familiar with a fundamental instrument in raga music called the Tanpura which functions as a drone.

What is Sargam? Sargam is the Hindustani form of note notation. It is equivalent to the Western solfeggio notation wherein each note is ascribed a syllable as in Do re mi fa sol la ti do.

Here's the Indian Sargam with Western note names in the key of C.

Sa (C) Re (D) Ga (E) ma (F) Pa (G) Dha (A) Ni (B)

Note that we're not limited to just the major scale and can express all 12 notes as in the white and black keys of a piano. To show that in Sargam notation, we simply change from an upper case to lower case.

Here's all twelve notes in Sargam- Sa (C) re (c#) Re (D) ga (d#) Ga (E) ma (F) Ma ( f#) Pa (G) dha (g#) Dha (A) ni (a#) Ni (B)

See that the difference between a flat note (komal) or a natural note (shuddha) is by a lower case or upper case name. I.e. C# or Db will be re and D natural will be Re.

First you'll learn the thaat from which Rag Yaman comes. This thaat is called Kalyan. A thaat is like a mode or scale. It is not as specific as a raga and many ragas can come from one thaat.

You'll also learn the basic ascending patter (arohi) and descending pattern (avarohi) for Rag Yaman which is the first concept to learn in understanding a specific raga.

Now that we are uncovering Rag Yaman, you'll learn some of the main facets of raga structure. These pieces are composed sections of raga Yaman that help you understand how the raga moves. The pakar is the shortest piece and translates to a "catch phrase." Meaning that if you heard this pakar phrase, you would know that it is raga yaman. The Chalan is a composed piece that functions like a map or guide to the raga. The chalan has two sections called the ashtai and antara. The ashtai stays in the lower and middle register or the voice or instrument and the antara moves into the higher octave.

I strongly encourage you to practice and memorize these pieces thoroughly. They'll really help you feel the flow of raga yaman. You may even find yourself coming up with little variations or other movements. That's the whole idea! Happy practicing.

In this lecture, you'll learn the Antara section of our rag yaman chalan. Remember that an antara is the second half of a composition that moves into the higher octave.

In Hindustani music, melody and rhythm go hand in hand. All vocalists and instrumentalists are also very aware of the parts that the tabla (the main percussion instrument in Hindustani music) play. There are many different rhythmic cycles ranging from 5 beats to 25 beats. Here you'll learn the most important cycle called Teental. Teental is 16 beats divided 4+4+4+4. There's a special language for the tabla that expresses this rhythm cycle called the theka. Learn to recite the theka for teental in this video.

Teental Theka -

Dha Dhin Dhin Dha - Dha Dhin Dhin Dha- Na Tin Tin Na- tete Dhin Dhin Dha.

See if you can memorize this and do it with the clapping pattern shown in the lecture.

What is a palta? A palta is a pattern for practicing on the voice or instrument. Paltas are practiced repetitively by musicians to gain clarity and control of the notes. A palta can also fit into any specific raga, thus making it a raga palta. This means that the pattern of notes also follows the exact rules of the raga. Hence you know have a Rag Palta to practice for Rag Yaman.

Now that you understand Teental, we'll go ahead and learn a composition in rag yaman that is set to teental. Remember the terms Ashtai and Antara? You'll also see that we use these two sections in this composition.

Here's the second section of our composition in teental called the antara.

Taans are a fun improvisatory part of raga music where the instrumentalist improvises in the raga then returns to the main theme of the composition. As students, we learn composed taans first to help us understand how to improvise within the raga and the composition.

Here we'll continue learning more taans and an exciting phrase called a tihi.

Now that you've learned a full composition in teental and some taans, we'll see how it all fits together.

The general form is - Composition Ashtai, composition antara, composition ashtai- taan 1 - gat (the main line of composition) taan 2 gat- taan 3 gat. Return to compostion ashtai - composition antara - finish with ending tihi.

The alap is the most improvisatory and meditative portion of a raga's development. It has no fixed meter and is in free time. This section is also the most difficult because it requires perfect intonation and a thorough understanding of the raga.

Take you time digesting each portion of the alap and play it slowly, intentionally and peacefully.

Thank you joining me on this raga journey! I hope you've been able to uncover the mood and structure or Raga Yaman. In this video, I'll give you some tips on how to do a short performance of raga yaman based on what we've learned here.