Lesson video

Hi there, everybody, and welcome to lesson number five in our Compose and Create series: Improvising within Hindustani classical music.

Today's lesson is all about bringing together the taal and the raag.

So we're bringing together the rhythm cycle and that melodic framework.

By the end of today's lesson, you will have played and sung a melody in time to a rhythm cycle.

Let's look at today's keywords.

We begin with taal, and we know that taal is the rhythm cycle that measures musical time in Indian music.

And the raag: the musical notes we use to make a composition or improvisation.

And raag is from that Sanskrit language, meaning "to colour." Bol: those spoken syllables, used to recite the rhythm.

Bol are the sound from the tabla drums. Bolna is the Hindi word for "speak." And texture: that's that musical word we use when we're combining different layers of sound together.

Now we know that before we begin our music lessons, we warm up our minds and our voices so that we're ready to play music and sing together.

Now, when we focus on rhythm and pulse, this really is helping us as a collective, as a whole class, to develop our sense of timing, so that when we play and sing together, it sounds really good.

And we warm up using pitch because this is helping refine our ear to help us sing in tune together.

Now there are three rhythm and pitch exercises to help you to warm up.

So in a moment you can pause the video, explore "Hi Lo Chickalo," "1, 1, 2, 1," and speaking and clapping "Teentaal." Pause the video, warm up using those three, and I'll see you in a moment.

Well done.

So if you've warmed up, you are now confident that you can feel a steady pulse, you are singing in tune together and you're feeling alert and that you are ready to focus.

Let's look at our learning cycle for today.

We'll begin by practising Teentaal.

Then we'll clap the taal and sing the raag.

So starting to bring those two together.

And then in our third and final learning cycle, we'll add in our own improvisations.

Beginning then, Practising Teentaal.

We remember there are three components of Hindustani classical music.

They are the drone, that's that constant sound that we hear from the beginning through to the end of an Indian classical performance.

This is commonly played on the tanpura.

Than the raag, which we often hear on the sitar, is the melodic framework, the tune that we hear.

And the taal, the rhythm cycle, played on the tabla drums. Today we'll begin by focusing on the taal.

TeenTaal is a rhythm cycle with 16 beats in its cycle.

Here's Samir to remind us what that sounds like.

<v ->(claps) Dha, dhin, dhin, dha</v> (claps) Dha, dhin, dhin, dha Dha, dhin, dhin, dha (claps) Dha, dhin, dhin, dha (claps) Da.

<v ->Thanks, Samir.

</v> Now here comes Samir again and I'd like you to join in with the counting this time.

Here he comes.

<v ->(claps) One, two, three, four,</v> (claps) five six, seven, eight, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, (claps) One.

Okay, be ready to count.

Here we go.

Ready, and.

(claps) One, two, three, four, (claps) five six, seven, eight, 9, 10, 11, 12, (claps) 13, 14, 15, 16, (claps) one.

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

Ready, and.

(claps) Dha, dhin, dhin, dha.

Dha, dhin, dhin, dha.

Dha, tin, tin, ta.

(claps) Dha, dhin, dhin, dha.

(claps) Dha.

<v ->Great, well done.

</v> And lastly, you're going to add in the claps and the waves alongside speaking the bols.

There's a video coming up to support you, join in with it.

And then if you need to pause the video to practise this where you are, you can pause after that video.

Here it comes.

<v ->Ready and.

</v> (claps) Dha, dhin, dhin, dha.

(claps) Dha, dhin, dhin, dha.

Dha, tin, tin, ta.

(claps) Dha, dhin, dhin, dha.

(claps) Dha.

<v ->Great stuff.

Really well done.

</v> Now let's remind ourselves about taals.

We know that Teentaal is an example of a rhythm cycle.

It's one of many taals that we can use.

Which two of the following, A, B, or C, can we do with a taal? Can we A: speak the rhythm cycle using bols? Can we B: play the rhythm cycle on a pitched instrument, such as a sitar? Or can we C: play the rhythm cycle on the tabla? So there are two correct statements there.

Which two do you think we can do with a taal? A, B, C? Very well done.

We can speak the rhythm cycle using bols, which we have done today already, and play the rhythm cycle on the tabla.

We remember that the bols that we speak represent the sound that the tabla drums make.

So what I'd like you to do now is to clap or chant TeenTaal in time to a tabla track.

So in a moment you're going to pause the video to play that tabla track and you'll hear the count to 16.

Once we get to 16, you begin with "Dha, dhin, dhin, dha, dha, dhin, dhin," and so on.

You're gonna repeat that three times and finish on the first "dha." Secondly, you can choose to clap the rhythm cycle.

So you will be, (claps) two, three, four, (claps) five six, seven, eight, 9, 10, 11, 12, (claps) 13, 14, 15, 16, (claps) one.

And so on.

Now if you're feeling quite confident, and you think, "Yes, I can speak those bols, I can probably manage the claps and waves," then you'll do both.

So pause the video in a second, play the tabla track and try your "dha, dhin, dhin, dha" three times, finishing on the last "dha." Off you go.

Really well done.

So, building up gradually, the next stage we're going to add in is those taps with our fingers in between.

So this time with the rhythm cycle, you can see it written on the screen one through 16.

The Cs indicate a clap.

(claps) The W indicates the wave.

And each time you see those little asterisks, those little stars, we are tapping with our fingers.

So you will see it look like: (claps) One, two, three, four, (claps) five six, seven, eight, 9, 10, 11, 12, (claps) 13, 14, 15, 16, (claps) one, and so on.

Take it steadily and practise that way, use what's on the board to help you and keep a steady tempo.

Pause the video and try that where you are.

Off you go.

Wonderful, really great efforts happening here.

This is good.

Now, to make this complete, we are going to speak the bol and keep time with our hands.

So we will be clapping the rhythm cycle and speaking the bols together.

So we will have, dha, dhin, dhin, dha, (claps) dha, dhin, dhin, dha, dha, tin, tin, ta, (claps) ta, dhin, dhin, dha, (claps) dha.

Pause the video, take your time, keep a steady pulse.

Don't go any quicker than I did and I'll see you in a moment.

Really, really great job.

This isn't easy because you're speaking and keeping in time with your hands at the same time.

And you'd have been successful if you were able to mark each bol, each spoken syllable with the correct clap, tap or wave.

Now then, on this screen there is a tabla track and that's gonna help to see did you all keep a steady pulse? Was anyone getting slightly quicker or slower? Was that metre even? So use the tabla track just to check.

Did you all keep to a steady pulse? Pause the video, reflect on what work you've done so far, use that tabla track to help you, and then we'll move on to the cycle number two.

What brilliant work.

That pulse work we did in the warmup is really helping people to stay in time.

This is gonna be super helpful now that we are clapping the taal and singing the raag.

Now to remind ourselves those three components of Hindustani classical music are: the drone, the constant sound, the raag, that melodic structure, and the taal.

And this time we're focusing on the raag, the melodic structure.

Now we can develop the texture of any piece of music by adding more layers.

So this time we're combining the taal and the raag, the rhythm cycle and the melody.

So the way we're going to do this is we'll play the taal by claps, finger taps and waves, and we'll speak the bols.

That's gonna represent the taal for us.

Then the raag will be singing the melody that Jasteep wrote for us.

Now we remember that Sanskrit is a classical language in India and the word sapta means seven.

And those seven notes that we use in the sargam are, ♪ Sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni ♪ And then we have at the top: ♪ Sa ♪ And in Raag Bhupali we only use ♪ Sa re ga, pa, dha ♪ And then the top ♪ Sa ♪ So we're just using five notes, ♪ Sa re ga, pa, dha ♪ And then the top ♪ Sa ♪ We're gonna sing our melody through in Raag Bhupali.

We'll use the video that's about to come up to help us.

So sing along to it.

When you are using this screen, you can see the blank boxes and they are indicating where we hold a note.

So we're not singing it in that way, we're holding the notes of the, ♪ Sa ♪ ♪ Dha, pa, ga, re ♪ ♪ Sa, re, ga ♪ ♪ Ga, re, pa, re, ga ♪ Okay? Here comes the video for you to sing along to.

Off we go.

(sitar drones melodically) <v ->So the whole thing,</v> ♪ Sa, dha, pa, ga, re, sa, re ♪ ♪ Ga ♪ ♪ Ga, re, pa, re, ga ♪ ♪ Sa, dha, pa, ga, re, sa re, ga ♪ ♪ Ga, re, pa, re, ga ♪ ♪ Sa, dha, pa, ga, re, sa, re, ga ♪ ♪ Ga, re, pa, re, ga ♪ <v ->Super.

</v> Do we remember which of the five notes we do use in Raag Bhupali? Sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni? Which of those seven notes in the sargam do we use? Remember sapta is seven, they're the seven notes.

But in Raag Bhupali we just use five.

Which five notes do we use? Think of the song we've sung.

Think of that melody.

Which of those notes were not used? So we used ♪ Sa, re, ga, pa, dha ♪ But we don't use ma or ni.

Now we remember Jasteep explaining to us that our melody in Raag Bhupali starts on the ninth beat of the rhythm cycle, of Teentaal.

So not on the first beat, but on the ninth.

If you'd like to have this explained a bit further, you can pause the video here and then use the clip on this page where Jasteep goes into more detail about starting on the ninth beat.

If you're confident where to start, let's press on.

Here's a true or false for you.

We start our rhythm cycle, Teentaal, and our melody in Raag Bhupali at the same time.

Is that true or is that false? It is false.

Our Raag Bhupali melody begins on the ninth beat of the rhythm cycle.

So what we're going to do now is bring together the rhythm cycle, the taal, and the melody, the raag, together, in two groups in our classroom, one group, will tap, wave, clap and speak the bols of the taal.

And then the second group, the other half of the classroom will sing the melody we have in the Raag Bhupali.

Now to be successful, this is what you need to do.

There's a track to play and sing along to.

So listen to that count-in to 16 in silence.

Listen to it, that will give you the steady pulse.

Each tap, clap and wave is clearly marking a beat.

So we should really hear that: (claps) One, two, three, four, (claps) five.

Great.

In the singing group, know which pitch is your starting note, know where "sa" is.

So on an instrument in your classroom, on a piano, a keyboard, a glockenspiel, just find the high C.

That is our sa, that is your starting note.

Lock that in, and that's where your melody, the first note of your melody is.

And we remember the rhythm starts on the first beat.

So as you hear that count-in to 16, one, two, three, all the way up to 13, 14, 15, 16.

(claps) Then the group clapping, tapping and speaking the bols begins with the "dha, dhin, dhin, dha," okay? Once they've clapped and tapped and spoken the first eight, that's when our melody group comes in with a ♪ Sa, dha, pa, ga ♪ on the ninth beat.

Remembering those first eight beats are empty.

This next screen is going to help you.

I would like you to take your time.

I'd like to use the tabla track to keep you in a steady pulse.

And you might take a couple of goes at it, see how you can be better the next time.

And you might also swap groups.

So if you were clap, tapping and waving the bol and speaking them, you might switch and then sing the melody.

So spend some good time now and I'll see you in a bit.

Super, super work.

Some really good focus.

Now the question is, did the taal and the raag stay together? Did it sound like it fitted? So first of all, Alex says, "I was in group one and I could clap, tap, and wave to a steady pulse." And what helped Alex was to look around and listen to the rest of the group.

So rather than just thinking by himself, he's being part of that ensemble, part of that group.

And Lucas said in his group, they sang the melody and they knew what their starting note was.

They knew the pitch of that first high "sa." So they all started on the same note, and I'm hoping they all started on their ninth beat.

If you want to pause and have another practise, you can, otherwise, let's move on to the last part of today's lesson, the third learning cycle, which is adding in our improvisations.

So we've been developing the texture of our piece by layering up sounds.

So we've brought together the taal and the raag.

That's the rhythm cycle and the melody.

Now we're still going to keep the taal by clapping, tapping and waving and speaking the bol.

We're going to play the raag ever so slightly differently to allow us to add in our improvisations.

So instead of us singing the full melody, we'll sing the first phrase, which is the ♪ Sa, dha, pa, ga, re, sa, re, ga ♪ And then where we would've sang: ♪ Ga, re, pa, re, ga ♪ Instead of that, we will improvise in that phrase too.

So the first phrase is like the call: ♪ Sa, dha, pa, ga, re, sa, ga ♪ And then we can improvise on our pitched percussion instruments.

To begin with, we need to remind ourselves where the notes are that we're going to use.

So I'm gonna ask you to play the avro, the notes descending in Raag Bhupali.

They are, if you remember the first six notes of the melody that we sang, they're there on the screen, on that keyboard to show you and the direction going from the higher "sa" downwards.

And we remember the avro is descending of the raag from high to low.

So take a pause of the video and just find those notes, remind yourself where those notes are on your instrument.

Off you go.

Great, super, well done.

And we also remember that when we do improvise, just using the notes from the raag, sometimes just using two or three notes can be really effective.

So here's a little clip to remind you that we don't have to use all the notes.

Here it comes.

(droning tabla and sitar music) ♪ Sa dha, pa, ga, re, sa, re, ga ♪ Your turn.

(xylophone note pinging) ♪ Sa, dha, pa, ga, re, sa, re, ga ♪ (xylophone tinging) ♪ Sa, dha, pa, ga, re, sa, re, ga ♪ (xylophone tinging) ♪ Sa, dha, pa, ga, re, sa, re, ga ♪ (xylophone tinging) ♪ Sa, dha, pa, ga, re, sa, re, ga ♪ (xylophone tinging) <v ->Wonderful.

</v> So now we've reminded ourselves what that framework sounds like.

What we're going to do now is put those together.

So the rhythm cycle starts at the beginning, with our (claps) one, two, three, four, (claps) five, six.

Then on the ninth, ♪ Sa, dha, pa, ga, re, sa, re ♪ And so on.

We are going to only sing the first phrase and improvise in the second.

And our rhythm cycle loops, it continues.

So you put that together and we get: (claps) One, two, three, four, (claps) five, six, seven, eight.

♪ Sa, dha, pa, ga, re, sa, re, ga ♪ Then we improvise, then we sing again.

♪ Sa, dha, pa, ga, re ♪ ♪ Sa, re, ga ♪ (claps on "ga") Then we've got those beats to improvise and then we sing for the third time and so on.

So you've just got that short gap in which to put your improvisations.

We start improvising at beat three.

So if you are counting, it's the: ♪ Sa, re, one, two ♪ (claps on "one") ♪ Improvise in that bit ♪ And that's the short window that you're going to improvise in.

There's a tabla track that we can keep that to use to keep a steady pulse.

And when we sing the first phrase, we think of it like a call.

And that: ♪ Sa, dha, pa, ga, re, sa, re, ga ♪ And that improvising we are doing is a bit like a response.

It's filling in that gap.

It's responding to the first part that we've heard.

Now remember the first eight beats are silent unless you are clapping and speaking the bols.

Quick check-in.

Which of these is the structure of our playing? If we get this right, we'll know that we're ready to play and sing and put the taal and raag together.

So do we sing and improvise at the same time? Do we improvise on beat nine, sing in phrase two? Do we sing on beat nine and improvise in phrase two? Here comes the answer.

It is.

C.

Well done.

So we've got the first eight empty beats, we sing on the ninth, that first phrase, and then we improvise in that gap in that second phrase.

Okay, it's time to combine taal and raag.

Split into two groups.

You're group one, you will clap, tap, wave, and speak the bols of the taal, okay? And group two, you are singing the first phrase and improvising in the second phrase.

Here comes an example so you know what you are aiming for.

One, two, three, four, five six, seven, eight, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, (claps) Dha, dhin, dhin, dha (claps) Dha, dhin, dhin, dha Ta, tin, tin, ta.

♪ Sa, dha, pa, ga, re ♪ Ta, dhin, dhin dha.

♪ Sa, re, ga ♪ Dha, dhin, dhin, dha (xylophone tinging) (xylophone tinging) Dha, dhin, dhin, dha.

Ta, tin, tin, ta.

♪ Sa, dha, pa, ga, re ♪ Ta, tin, tin, dha.

♪ Sa, re, ga ♪ Dha, dhin, dhin, dha.

(xylophone tinging) Dha, dhin, dhin, dha.

Ta, tin, tin, ta.

♪ Sa, dha, pa, ga, re ♪ Ta, tin, tin, dha.

♪ Sa, re, ga ♪ Dha, dhin, dhin, dha.

(xylophone tinging) Dha, dhin, dhin, dha.

Ta, tin, tin, ta, ta.

Ta, dhin, dhin, dha.

(claps) Dha.

When you've done it, swap groups so that the people who've been clapping and tapping get to sing and play and vice versa.

To be successful, this is what you would do.

You will feel that steady pulse.

You can count along to 16 with the track that'll help you keep all in time in your classroom.

Begin singing on the ninth beat, so with those first empty beats, and sing the first phrase only.

So if you are singing and improvising, wait for eight beats and sing on the ninth.

You start your improvisation when that first phrase has been sung.

So once you've heard: ♪ Sa, dha, pa, ga, re, sa, re, ga ♪ Once you've sung that, then you can improvise.

Remember, you can just use a few notes.

Two or three is fine.

Playing gently, not rushing.

That will help.

And remember, there's just a small window.

Now this slide is really useful because you can see the numbers one to 16 showing the rhythm cycle.

You can see the C for a clap, the asterisk for a tap and the W for the wave.

You can see underneath that, the spoken bol, the "dha, dhin, dhin, dha." And the bottom, the fourth row down, you have the melody of the sa, da, pa, ga, et cetera.

So use the tabla track to keep you in time if that's useful.

And then practise that a couple of times, swapping over.

Off you go.

Really great work.

That's a lot, that's a lot of listening to keep in time, to think about what you are singing and then playing freely, just using the notes in the raag.

And then you are clapping (claps) and speaking at the same time, keeping a steady pulse.

If you were successful, I'm really impressed.

So Aisha says, well, she knew what group she was in.

She knew if she was in the taal group or the raag group.

And she said they waited until they were confident and then swapped over.

Alex said, as a class, they all counted to 16.

That kind of helped them feel the tempo of the rhythm cycle.

And the bols, the speaking and clapping, started.

And then in Lucas' group, 'cause Lucas was in the raag group, they counted eight empty beats before they started singing the melody.

And in Laura's group, she said when she was improvising.

So she was singing followed by improvising.

She just used three or four notes and that helped her to make a good sound.

So think about what it was that made you successful in your group.

You can pause the video and practise again if you have time, and see what you might do better next time.

And that's almost done for today.

So before we go, let's have a quick recap on what we've learned today.

We know we can develop the texture of our piece by layering the taal, the rhythm cycle, and the raag, that melodic framework.

And the bols and the claps of the taal, they're that steady pulse, which we've used to layer our raag over.

We can add the raag by singing a melody and by playing improvisations that use just the notes from that raag.

And the taal and the raag don't always have to start at the same time.

A raag like in our case, can start halfway through the rhythm cycle.

Really well done for today.

Some great focus on layering up the taal and the raag in time together.

I look forward to seeing you next time.

Bye for now.