Hindi or Sanskrit words are used all through this blog. This is necessary to preserve the authenticity of Indian music. To make things easier for you, here is a whole post describing meaning and definitions of some commonly used rhythmic words. Don’t waste too much time memorizing these words. It is not easy to learn so many new words out of context. Bookmark this post to refer to it whenever needed.

Taal: (Rhythm or rhythmic pattern)
Taal can be translated as ‘rhythm’. It originated from Sanskrit word ‘Tul’, which means bottom or base. So rhythm is thought to be the base of music.

Maatra: (Beat)
One unit of a Taal is called Maatra. That means if you are playing at 60 bpm, every second is equal to one Maatra (beat).

Laye: (Tempo)
Speed of a Taal is Laye or tempo. There are three basic Layes:
Vilumbat: (slow) if you refer to 60 bpm as normal tempo, then 30 bpm is the Vilumbat Laye.
Madhya: (medium) when Vilumbat is doubled it is then a Madhya Laye. So in this example 60 bpm is the Madhya Laye.
Drut: (fast): Vilumbat x4 or Madhya x2 is a Drut Laye. So in this example 120 bpm is the Drut Laye.

Bole: (sound/s):
Ancient music Gurus have defined some sounds for Tabla and southern rhythmic instrument Murdungum. These sounds are referred to as ‘Boles’ (sounds) of that instrument. In general language, Bole means a ‘word’. This means that when played properly, an instrument speaks, but we will refer to a ‘Bole’ as a ‘sound’.
Tabla has ten Boles (sounds):
Ta, Tin, din, Te, Re, Tu, Ke, Ge, Dha, Dhin,
Combining these boles (sounds) creates some other boles. We will discuss these in detail later.

Theka: (pattern) (pronounced with hard ‘t’ as in ‘too’):
When some boles (sounds) are put together to make a pleasant pattern, that is called a Theka. Tabla and Murdung and many other Indian rhythmic instruments have their own sounds. Normally a Tabla’s Theka cannot be played on another rhythmic instrument without alternating some boles (sounds).

Bhag: (Sub bar or section of a Taal)
Every Taal is divided into sections. These sections are called Bhags.

Sum: (First beat or down beat)
This is the place where a Theka (pattern) of a Taal (rhythm) starts. It is the most accented beat in a pattern. Mostly the music is ended on the first beat (Sum) too.

Taali (clap) or Bhuree (filled):
These are the other start points of ‘heavier sections’ in a Taal. When a Taal is shown on the palm (more on this a little later), claps are played on these points. A numeric number on the notation bar shows these places. Sum (the first beat) is always the first clap point so the next clap point is shown as No. 2. Rupak Taal  is an exception, the first beat of Rupak Taal is a Khali (empty) rather than a Bhuree (filled) beat. Here we will see another very famous Taal called ‘Teen Taal’ as an example:

Teen Taal

Khali (empty or lighter point):
This is mostly in the middle of a Taal. Although it is not empty but when a Taal is shown on the palm, a clap is not played on this point. It is shown with a ‘0’ in the above graph. Mostly the lighter Boles (sounds) are played on Tabla or Murdung on this point. In Rupak Taal, the first beat is a Khali (lighter) beat. That is an exception. Rupak Taal is written like this:

Pattern of Teen (three) rhythm:

(d=dha, dh=dhin, tn=tin, t=ta)

In the above example Theka Teen Taal (name) has three (thus the name) Taalis  (clap points) and one Khali (empty point).

Rupak Taal

Every Taal must have a Sum (First Beat), so in Rupak, Sum sign (X) overrides the Khali sign (0). But a very light Bole (sound) ‘Tin’ makes it obvious that the first beat is a Khali beat here. Some people do write Rupak starting with Khali sign (0) and no Sum sign at all, but that is not the proper way.

Kaayda: (no English equivalent)
When Tabla or Murdung’s ‘sound phrases’ arranged in a taal come into practice, and they are played the classical way with clear and proper hand techniques, that is a Kaayda. Kaaydas are always followed by its Paltas. A Plata is composed or improvised by rearranging the main phrases used in the original kaayda.

Tukda: (a piece)
This is a group of Tabla or Murdung’s sounds (boles). When a piece is played in 2, 4, 8 etc. times, and it ends on the Sum (first beat), that is refer to as a Tukda (piece).

Tihaee or Tippali: (a three timer):
When a group of boles (sounds) is played three times without altering it, and it ends on the first beat; that is called a Tippali or Tihaee. The basic Tihaees are Sum to Sum Tihaees (first to first beat). The following is an example of a Tihaee in  Kehrva.

The above is an example of a simple Sum to Sum Tihaee. One group of boles (Gadi Gan Dha) is played three times starting from the first beat and the last bole (sound) Dha, comes on the first beat.

Nuvhukka (tripple Tihaee):
When a Tihaee is played three times and it ends on the first beat, That is a Nuvhukka. In other words in a Nuvhukka,the group of boles (1/3) of the main Tihaee is a Tihaee in itself. If the last bole (sound) of Tihaee  is a Dha (a common Tabla sound), then it is also called a ‘9 dha’s Tihaee’. Mostly this is used in the very end of the performance.

Mukhda (pick up):
A Mukhda is a piece (tukda) played form sum to khali or vice versa.

Purn: (no English equivalent)
When piece ends on the first beat no matter where it started from, that is a Purn.

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