IME Glossary

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Glossary of Terms

Aakar – singing the open vowel “aa” instead of sargam or bol
Aroha – ascending scale or series of swaras
Avroha – descending scale or series of swaras
Bol – literally “word”: the sounds produced on the drum such as tabla; also the vocables that represent the sounds, recited by the player; lyrics
Khali – Most commonly signifies the midpoint or "empty" half of the rhythmic cycle. See also.
Komal – lowered swara (represented by lower case letters: r g d n)
Laya – tempo
Matra - beat
Palta-alankar – permutations & combinations of swaras
Raga – melodic structure, characterized by a collections of 5, 6, or 7 (rarely 4) swaras moving in a particular aroha and avroha, having a particular order of importance and one or more characteristic phrases
Saptak, sapta - octave
Sargam – singing of pitch names, i.e., Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa; also a type of study composition that uses pitch names instead of lyrics
Sur – tune (besur – out of tune)
Swara – pitch, note
Thata – the basic scales from which various ragas can be built Tala – rhythm, rhythmic cycle/s
Theka – the arrangement of bols in a particular tala
Tivra – raised swara (represented by upper case letter or mark above the letter: M, M’)