Lesson video

Hello there.

My name is Mr. Croughan and I am thrilled that we get to work through a unit on Hindustani classical music.

Now this first lesson is called, "Playing taals and Speaking bols.

' It's from our Compose and Create unit, how we improvise in Hindustani classical music.

Throughout this lesson, we'll be learning what taals and bols are, how we can clap them, how we can speak them, and we'll do all of that together.

By the end of this lesson, you will know what a rhythm cycle is and you'll be able to speak one and clap one in time.

Let's have a look at our keywords that we'll use throughout the lesson today.

Our first one is taal.

Now this is a rhythm cycle.

It measures time in Indian classical music.

Then we have bol.

Bol is a spoken syllable and it's used to recite the rhythm.

It comes from the Hindi word bolna, meaning to speak.

And thirdly, tabla.

Tabla are the set of two drums on which the taal, the rhythm cycle is played and it's played by hand.

Now let's look at our learning cycles for today.

The first one is when we warm-up so that we're ready to sing together and to make music.

Secondly, we look at identifying what is a taal, a raag, and a drone.

And thirdly, we will speak and clap rhythm cycles together.

But let's first start with our warm-up.

Here it comes.

We know that it's really important that we warm-up our voices, as well as our minds, so that we're ready to sing and we're ready to focus when we play music and sing together.

If we focus on rhythm and pulse in a warm-up, then this really helps us develop our sense of timing, and that's crucial when we are playing music together.

And if we warm-up using pitch, that's gonna help us sing in tune together.

So we'll start with a game called 'Clap Stomp Shh' and this is level one.

You'll pause the video in a short while after I've explained, and you might choose to stand in your classroom or stand in a circle, whatever works in your setting, and you're gonna begin by chanting to eight to a steady pulse, simply one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, one, two, and so on.

Then when you can do that and no one's getting faster, we swap out the one for a clap.

So we'll hear, (clap) two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

(clap) Two, and so forth.

When you're good at that, and it won't take long 'cause you're brilliant, we'll add in point three, and that's where we swap out five for a stomp.

So we'll hear, (clap) two, three, four, (stomp) six, seven, eight.

(clap) Two, three, four, (stomp) six, and so on.

Then when you've got that, which you will, you'll add in point four, and this is where we swap number six for a rest, for silence.

So when you put the whole thing together, all together in your class, you'll have, (clap) two, three, four, (stomp) seven, eight.

(clap) Two, three, four.

(stomp) Seven, eight.

And you'll be able to do that four times at least.

So pause the video here, and practise this where you are, building up point by point.

Off you go.

Our second warm-up is a pitch warm-up and it's called one, one, two, one.

Jacob is singing the lyrics and the lyrics are these numbers.

If you look down each line, he adds a number each time.

So we are adding a new pitch each time.

It sounds like this.

♪ One ♪ ♪ One two one ♪ ♪ One two three two one ♪ ♪ One two three four three two one ♪ ♪ One two three four five four three two one ♪ ♪ One two three four five six ♪ ♪ Five four three two one ♪ ♪ One two three four five six seven ♪ ♪ Six five four three two one ♪ ♪ One two three four five six seven eight ♪ ♪ Seven six five four three two one ♪ Pause the video, there is an audio button you can click on if you need to hear it again and sing that all together where you are.

Off you go.

When we've warmed up for music, we feel ready to perform or ready to rehearse, or ready to play together or think.

So we're calm, we're focused, we're ready.

If we're listening to music, we can hear that tempo getting faster or slower, or we can hear that steady pulse, so maybe we can join in.

And we can follow a set of musical instructions.

So if we're asked to do something, we're ready in the moment to be able to do it.

And we can also hear if we're in tune with those around us, because we've been warming up our listening muscles as well.

Now, Aisha and Sofia were chatting and they've got different views on why warming ups important.

Aisha says, "It's about having fun, seeing who can get it all right in the games, doesn't really help me in the lesson though." And then Sofia says, "Warming up reminds us to prepare for the lesson, doing things like keeping in time and keeping in tune." I wonder who you agree with.

Have a little think.

Decide if it's Aisha or Sofia.

Yeah, I'd say Sofia too.

Well done.

Our last part of our warm-up is 'Hi Lo Chickalo.

' Now there's a video which will come on in a moment to explain how this goes.

Essentially, you pop your hands together and work with a partner, and when you sing the word Hi, you clap high.

And when you sing the word Lo, you clap low, and both your hands will join.

So you'll hear ♪ Hi Lo Chickalo ♪ ♪ Chickalo ♪ See the clap is low for lo.

♪ Chickalo ♪ ♪ Hi Lo Chickalo ♪ ♪ Chickalo Hi ♪ Here comes a video of two people playing this.

Now they're very good at it, so I recommend we start off slower.

We'll enjoy watching this now and then we'll pause the video to have a practise where you are in partners.

♪ Hi Lo Chickalo ♪ ♪ Chickalo ♪ ♪ Chickalo ♪ ♪ Hi Lo Chickalo ♪ ♪ Chickalo Hi ♪ ♪ Lo Hi Chicka Hi ♪ ♪ Chicka Hi ♪ ♪ Chicka Hi ♪ ♪ Lo Hi Chicka Hi ♪ ♪ Chicka Hi Lo ♪ <v ->Well done if you managed to get Hi Lo Chickalo right</v> the first time in this first lesson, really well done.

Maybe in future warm-ups you'll try it a little bit quicker.

Now then, we know we're warmed up and ready for music when we feel focused and ready, and we can sing out, we can notice a tempo change.

We're singing more in tune with those people around us.

Our voice feels warm, and our sense of timing is sharper.

We know we're keeping in time with the rest of our class, and that you are ready to follow music instructions.

So here we go.

Let's begin.

We're gonna start now with identifying taals, raags, and drones, three maybe new words.

Let's find out what they mean.

When we think of Hindustani classical music, we think about northern India.

There's lots of music that comes out of India including Bollywood music and films. There's classical music.

In the south of India there is music called Carnatic music, and we're focusing on Hindustani classical, which is from the north of India.

The main components are the taal, the raag, and the drone, and we're going to watch Samir now.

Samir's gonna talk to us about what each of those are, and how we hear them in music.

Here we go.

<v ->Hello, my name is Samir Savant</v> and I'm in charge of this building called St.

George's in Bristol.

I grew up learning Hindustani classical singing.

My family are originally from Maharastra in Western India.

When I listen to Indian classical music, I hear the taal, the raag and the drone.

I'm going to help you identify each of these three parts of the music too.

Let's listen to this short piece of music.

Just listen for now and see what you notice.

(Hindustani classical music) You might be able to hear the constant sound, this is called a drone.

Everything is based on and connected to this sound.

It is played on the tanpura.

You can probably hear a tune being played on a string instrument.

This instrument is called a sitar.

The music is called the raag.

It's a melodic framework.

And there are drums playing a rhythm.

The rhythm on the drums is called the taal, which is the rhythm cycled played on these drums called tabla.

<v ->Okay, Samir asked us to listen out for the drone,</v> that constant sound, and you can see a picture of the instrument it's played on, the tanpura.

Then the raag, which in what we listened to is played on the sitar, and that's the melodic structure, that's the tune that we can hear.

And then the taal, the rhythm cycle, and that's played on those tabla drums. So let's take each one in turn.

The tanpura, that string instrument playing the drone.

We can hear now that constant sound on which everything else is based, and connected to.

(droning) The instrument you can hear is the tanpura.

(droning) Okay, quick check.

The tanpura plays the raag, the melodic structure.

The drone, the constant sound.

Or the taal, the rhythm cycle.

Can you remember, is it A, B or C? Absolutely right, it is B.

The tanpura plays the drone.

Next up is the sitar.

The sitar is the string instrument playing the raag, and that's the melodic framework, the tune that we can hear.

The raag can set the mood, it can give us an emotion in the music or a colour.

We're going to watch an example now of a raag called 'Raag Bhimpalasi' being played by a sitarist from Leeds called Jasdeep Singh Degun.

Here it comes.

("Raag Bhimpalasi") And thirdly, that third component which we have played on the tabla, the two drums that we can see in the picture, playing the taal.

So the taal is the rhythm cycle, the beats, what we can hear on those drums. So here's a short clip of a taal called 'Ektaal'.

It has 12 beats in its cycle and it's played here by Jeevan.

Here it comes.

<v ->I will now be playing a 12 beat rhythm cycle</v> called 'Ektaal.

' ("Ektaal") <v ->Okay, very good.

</v> Quick check-in.

The taal is the rhythm cycle and which of the following plays the taal? Is it the tanpura? Is it the tabla, or is it the sitar? You're right, we've just heard Jeevan play them, it is the tabla.

Great stuff.

Now then let's quickly see if we can identify which of the following is a taal, which is a raag, and which is a drone.

I'm gonna play each of these and you can listen and decide.

You can also pause the video and play each of these audio clips in your own time and then draw lines to connect your answers.

Here's the first one.

A.

(droning) And the second one, B.

(instrumental music) and the third one, C.

(instrumental music) I'll give you a moment to consider which is the taal, which is the raag, and which is the drone, and then we'll check our answers.

So checking our answers.

When we listened to A, we were listening to the instrument, the tanpura, and that plays the drone.

When we listened to piece B, that's Jasdeep playing his sitar, and he's playing the raag, that melodic framework, the tune that we can hear.

And with C, we were listening to Jeevan playing the tabla, and he's playing the taal, the taal is the rhythm cycle.

If you've got all those correct, well done.

We're going to cement our knowledge in now by completing three short sentences using the words from the word bank.

So there's a picture of the sitar, and the sentence says, "The, blank, is played on the sitar.

This is the, blank, line of the piece." And you'll use two of those words from your word bank to help you.

In the second sentence.

"The tanpura plays the, something.

This provides a." Let's decide what is going to fit there.

And lastly, "The taal is played on the," and there's a picture there to help you.

"This is the, blank." So there are one, two, three, four, five, six blanks.

And one, two, three, four, five, six words or pairs of words together that you'll choose from.

Constant sound, rhythm cycle, melody, raag, drone, and tabla.

Pop those into the correct boxes and then we will check your answers in a moment.

Pause the video and then we'll see how you did.

Right then.

In our first sentence, and by the picture of the sitar, it's the raag played on the sitar, and that is the melody line of the piece.

Secondly, the tanpura plays the drone and this is the constant sound.

Lastly, the taal is played on the tabla and this is the rhythm cycle.

So if you were able to put those words in the right places, give yourself a pat on the back.

And we are going to move on to speaking and clapping rhythm cycles.

The bols represent the sounds that the drums make, and there's a short video we're going to watch now explaining that a little bit further.

Here it comes.

<v ->Hi, my name is Jeevan,</v> I've been learning tabla on and off for 10 years now, and I'll be explaining how spoken words can be played on the tabla.

So on the tabla, we have many different notes that can be spoken.

So for example, this will be ta.

This will be tin.

This will be dha, when we combine the two drums. And this will be dhin.

So every single thing that you play on here can be related to a spoken word, or a spoken bol.

I'll now be showing you my daily practise.

This is called a Trias.

I'll be demonstrating this through using taal, tintaal, which is a 16 beats cycle.

So this can be spoken, and it can easily be played.

So it'll be like this.

(rhythmic chanting) And this can easily be sped up into (indistinct).

(rhythmic music) <v ->This is a rhythm cycle</v> in Indian music called Rupak Taal, and it has seven beats in its cycle.

And it says if we count the numbers clockwise from one through seven, it says tin, tin, na, dhin, na, dhin, na.

Tin, tin, na, dhin, and so on.

We're gonna have a little learn of this.

We can say the beats or the bols, and we'll watch the video, and we then we'll practise it together.

So Samir will introduce this rhythm cycle to us in the first video, and then we'll practise them all together.

Here comes the first clip now.

<v ->We are going to use some of the bol</v> to speak a rhythm cycle.

We call rhythm cycles, taal.

This one is called Rupak Taal.

It has seven beats in its cycle.

Have a listen.

♪ Tin tin na ♪ ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Tin tin na ♪ ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Tin tin na ♪ ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Tin ♪ <v ->Okay, thanks Samir, I've got that.

</v> Now we're going to watch you and we're gonna practise those bols together.

Here we go.

<v ->Now it's your turn to join in.

</v> We'll first say the bol together, slowly.

We're going to say.

♪ Tin tin na ♪ ♪ Dhin na dhin na ♪ Nice and steadily.

Let's say them three times.

Ready and.

♪ Tin tin na ♪ ♪ Dhin na dhin na ♪ ♪ Tin tin na ♪ ♪ Dhin na dhin na ♪ ♪ Tin tin na ♪ ♪ Dhin na dhin na ♪ ♪ Tin ♪ <v ->Very well done.

</v> Now I imagine you noticed that Samir also used his hands, and that's because every Indian rhythm cycle, or taal, has a system of claps and waves.

So this time we're going to watch the video, and I'd like you to say the rhythms out loud as you clap and wave.

Here comes the video, and then there'll be time for you to practise it in your setting, in your classroom where you are.

Here's the clip.

<v ->Now every Indian rhythm cycle</v> has a system of clapping or waving your hands.

We are going to repeat Rupak Taal and this time we'll try adding the wave and the claps.

Watch me first.

♪ Tin tin na ♪ ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Tin tin na ♪ ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Tin tin na ♪ ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Tin ♪ Now let's do all that together.

We'll do it three times, and we'll finish with tin.

Ready and.

♪ Tin tin na ♪ ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Tin tin na ♪ ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Tin tin na ♪ ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Tin ♪ <v ->And now we feel a little bit more confident with that,</v> you're going to practise again and I'd like you to see how precise you can be with your.

♪ Tin tin na ♪ ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Dhin na ♪ (clap) ♪ Tin tin na ♪ ♪ Dhin ♪ (clap) And you might want to do that three or four times as a class, keeping a steady pulse.

Pause the video and have a try where you are.

Excellent.

I can see how that first learning cycle, in our warm-ups where we were playing "Clap Stomp Shh" has helped with this one, which is excellent.

Well done.

We're now going to look at a rhythm cycle that has 16 beats, and it's called teentaal.

Teentaal is a very popular rhythm cycle in Hindustani classical music.

Here's the video introducing it.

Here comes the clip.

<v ->This next rhythm cycle is called, Teentaal.

</v> It has 16 beats in its cycle, and it sounds like this.

(clap) ♪ Dha dhin dhin dha ♪ (clap) ♪ Dha dhin dhin dha ♪ (clap) ♪ Dha tin tin ta ♪ (clap) ♪ Ta dhin dhin dha ♪ ♪ Dha ♪ (clap) <v ->And now we are gonna join in.

</v> So in the same way as before, Samir will help us to count and speak the bols together.

And we are going to use the words that are there below that.

♪ Dha dhin dhin dha ♪ ♪ Dha dhin dhin dha ♪ ♪ Dha tin tin ta ♪ ♪ Ta dhin dhin dha ♪ Join him with the video, and here it comes.

<v ->I'll do that again.

</v> This time can you join me and count to 16 as you hear each beat like this.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 1.

Okay, be ready to count.

Here we go.

Ready and.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 1.

And now we'll do it with the Indian syllables.

Ready and.

(clap) ♪ Dha dhin dhin dha ♪ (clap) ♪ Dha dhin dhin dha ♪ ♪ Dha tin tin ta ♪ (clap) ♪ Ta dhin dhin dha ♪ (clap) ♪ Dha ♪ <v ->Very impressed so far.

</v> So I think you're ready to add in the claps and the waves.

We're starting to feel a bit more confident with those bols, speaking those out loud, keeping that steady pulse in the rhythm cycle, and now we're going to add in the claps and the waves.

Watch the video and then join in.

Here it comes.

<v ->We'll do this again,</v> and this time we'll try adding the claps and the wave.

Watch me first.

(clap) ♪ Dha dhin dhin dha ♪ (clap) ♪ Dha dhin dhin dha ♪ ♪ Dha tin tin ta ♪ (clap) ♪ Ta dhin dhin dha ♪ (clap) ♪ Dha ♪ Now let's do that all together.

Ready and.

(clap) ♪ Dha dhin dhin dha ♪ (clap) ♪ Dha dhin dhin dha ♪ ♪ Dha tin tin ta ♪ (clap) ♪ Ta dhin dhin dha ♪ (clap) ♪ Dha ♪ <v ->Right then there is an audio track coming up</v> that you are going to clap or chant Teentaal to.

So the rhythm cycle runs three times.

What you'll hear first is a count from one to 16.

And once you hear that, that's where you begin.

And I'd like you to work in two groups.

Group one are going to say, (clap) Two, three, four.

(clap) Two, three, four.

Two, three, four.

(clap) Two, three, four.

Group two will speak the bol, and your challenge is to stay in time.

Each group should stay in time with each other and with that audio track.

Pause the video and have a go where you are.

Really well done.

That's not easy because you have to think about the sounds that you're making, you are having to listen to keep in time with everybody else, and that tabla track.

And you are having to have two groups doing different things and making sure that you both stay in time.

So if you achieved that, really well done.

Let's have a think on how we played and sang.

First of all, were both groups in time together? Did they go out of time or did everyone stick to the steady pulse of that rhythm cycle? And then secondly ask, were you able to do the claps and the counting at the same time and speaking the bol at the same time? So in some feedback, we've practised many times, we've listened to the other group, and as we've chanted, the listening to the other group has really helped us stay in time.

Or perhaps listening to the claps helps me chant the bols in time.

So it's really interesting to notice what worked for you.

What was the top tip that you would give to somebody else.

For example, clapping and speaking was quite a challenge, but maybe it was easier to do it all together.

If you did it all together, you can all see what each other's doing.

So have a think in your class of a top tip you would give to the next class who might try this lesson.

And just before we finish for today, we're gonna think about our key learning.

Now, the three components of Hindustani classical music are the taal, the raag, and the drone.

And the instruments that we use are the tabla for the taal, the sitar for the raag, and the tanpura for the drone.

Now we can speak those rhythm cycles of the taals by using the bols, and the vocal sounds that we make are there to sound like the drum sounds, and we can clap and wave rhythm cycles, which can help keep us all in time, especially if we're playing together.

Really well done for today.

You've worked hard, you've had to use your brains, and I'm really looking forward to the next lesson.