Glossary
58 terms used across this site, each a compressed version of what its linked lesson covers at more length — look something up here, or read the full piece for the real explanation.
- Alankar
- A systematic melodic pattern (e.g. step-and-return, paired ascent) run across a full scale as a technical drill, not performed as music. Read more →
- Alap
- The slow, unmetered opening of a performance — no taal, no fixed tempo — where a performer traces a raga's shape one phrase at a time. Read more →
- Andolan
- A gentler, more delicate wavering ornament, often contrasted with the more forceful gamak. Read more →
- Antara
- A gat's second section, moving into a higher register before returning to the mukhda. Read more →
- Aroha
- A raga's ascending melodic line — often, but not always, a mirror image of its avaroha. Read more →
- Audava
- A five-note raga form — two swaras dropped from the full seven, in either the aroha, the avaroha, or both. Read more →
- Avaroha
- A raga's descending melodic line. Read more →
- Bol
- A spoken syllable representing a specific tabla drum stroke, recited before it's ever played. Read more →
- Chikari
- A small set of sitar strings tuned to fixed drone intervals and strummed rhythmically, giving a performance its persistent pulse. Read more →
- Da and ra
- The two basic mizrab stroke directions — da (outward) and ra (inward) — that combine into every right-hand pattern. Read more →
- Dandi
- The sitar's long, hollowed neck, carrying the frets up toward the tuning pegs. Read more →
- Ektaal
- A 12-beat taal in six two-beat vibhags, with a scattered khali placement that gives it a push-pull feel despite its even grouping. Read more →
- Gamak
- A family of oscillating, forceful ornaments applied to a note or short phrase, with more weight and attack than andolan. Read more →
- Gat
- The fixed, memorized composition set to a specific taal that a performance settles into once the tabla enters — the structure the rest of the performance is built around. Read more →
- Gharana
- A hereditary lineage of musicians sharing a distinct stylistic approach, passed down teacher to student over generations. Read more →
- Guru-shishya parampara
- The guru-to-disciple teaching lineage Hindustani classical music has historically been transmitted through. Read more →
- Jawari
- The sitar's flat, gently curved main bridge — the source of its signature buzzing sustain, tuned by hand. Read more →
- Jhala
- A fast, driving, chikari-driven texture built from rapid alternating strokes — the climactic close of alap-jod-jhala, and a texture that can recur inside a gat too. Read more →
- Jhaptaal
- A 10-beat taal grouped asymmetrically (2-3-2-3), with its khali landing inside a vibhag rather than on a boundary. Read more →
- Jod
- A pulsed but still taal-free section between alap and jhala — rhythm without a cycle. Read more →
- Khali
- The beat (or section) in a taal cycle marked by a wave of the hand instead of a clap, signaling rhythmic "emptiness." Read more →
- Komal
- A flatted (lowered) swara variant — five of the seven base swaras have one. Read more →
- Laykari
- Playing at a different rhythmic density (ekgun, dugun, tigun, chaugun) against a taal whose actual tempo never changes. Read more →
- Madhya saptak
- The middle octave — where a performance is usually centered. Read more →
- Mandra saptak
- The octave below madhya saptak. Read more →
- Masitkhani gat
- A slow (vilambit) gat tradition, historically attributed to the musician Masit Khan. Read more →
- Matra
- One beat within a taal cycle. Read more →
- Meend
- A continuous glide in pitch from one note to another on the same string, achieved by pulling the string across a curved, movable fret. Read more →
- Mizrab
- The small wire plectrum, worn on the right index finger, that drives every plucked note on the sitar. Read more →
- Mukhda
- A gat's short, fixed opening phrase, precisely placed against the taal, that a performer returns to again and again. Read more →
- Pakad
- A short phrase that captures a raga's characteristic melodic identity — its "fingerprint," more concise than a full aroha or avaroha. Read more →
- Parda
- The sitar's curved metal frets, tied onto the neck with string rather than fixed in place, so they can shift for intonation and let a player bend pitch. Read more →
- Raga
- A melodic framework — a specific set of notes, phrasing conventions, and emphasis points — that defines a distinct musical identity, not just a scale. Read more →
- Razakhani gat
- A fast (drut) gat tradition, attributed to Ghulam Raza Khan, built for speed and rhythmic precision. Read more →
- Riyaz
- Structured, disciplined practice — organized in stages that build on each other, rather than unstructured playing. Read more →
- Rupak
- A 7-beat taal, split 3-2-2, whose very first vibhag — including sam itself — is khali, with no clap until beat four. Read more →
- Sam
- The first, most important beat of a taal cycle, where melodic and rhythmic phrases resolve. Read more →
- Samay
- The time of day (occasionally season) a raga is traditionally meant to be performed in. Read more →
- Sampurna
- A seven-note raga form — using every note of its parent thaat, in the aroha, the avaroha, or both. Read more →
- Samvadi
- A raga's second most emphasized note, classically a fourth or fifth from the vadi, providing melodic tension against it. Read more →
- Sargam
- The Hindustani solfège system, built from the syllables Sa-Re-Ga-Ma-Pa-Dha-Ni. Read more →
- Sawal-jawab
- "Question-answer" — the call-and-response exchange between a soloist and an accompanist, especially sitar and tabla trading phrases. Read more →
- Shadava
- A six-note raga form — one swara dropped from the full seven. Read more →
- Shuddha
- A natural, unaltered swara variant. Read more →
- Swara
- One of the twelve pitch positions Hindustani music divides the octave into — the basic vocabulary every raga is built from. Read more →
- Taal
- A fixed, cyclically repeating rhythmic framework with a specific number of beats grouped into sections. Read more →
- Taali
- A clap marking a taal cycle's emphasized beats. Read more →
- Taan
- A fast, cascading improvised melodic run through a raga's notes — built and drilled in advance, then deployed live. Read more →
- Taar saptak
- The octave above madhya saptak. Read more →
- Taraf
- The sitar's sympathetic strings, running beneath the frets, never plucked directly, tuned to a raga's own notes and resonating in response to the melody. Read more →
- Teentaal
- The most common Hindustani taal: 16 beats in four four-beat vibhags, with sam on beat one. Read more →
- Thaat
- One of ten parent seven-note scale patterns that group ragas by which swara positions they draw from. Read more →
- Theka
- The spoken bol pattern that represents a taal's basic rhythmic cycle. Read more →
- Tihai
- A rhythmic phrase repeated exactly three times, calculated so its final note lands precisely on a target beat, almost always the sam. Read more →
- Tivra
- The single raised (sharp) swara variant — tivra Ma. Read more →
- Tumba
- The sitar's main gourd, forming its primary resonating chamber. Read more →
- Vadi
- A raga's single most emphasized note — its tonal center of gravity, though not necessarily its tonic (Sa). Read more →
- Vakra
- A "crooked" or zigzagging melodic line — a raga's aroha or avaroha that doubles back on a note rather than running straight through the scale. Read more →