ਸੁਰ ਤੇ ਅਲੰਕਾਰLearn the swaras
by ear.
Gurmat Sangeet is learned by listening, then by repeating, long before it is learned from a page. This is a place to do the first two — every note sounds when you touch it, and every pattern can be slowed down until your ear catches it.
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Twelve notes, seven names.
A saptak holds seven named swaras. Five of them bend — Re, Ga, Dha and Ni can fall to komal, and Ma can rise to teevra — which gives the twelve tones the whole tradition is built from. Sa and Pa never move; they are the ground everything else is measured against.
recorded — sounds not yet recorded — shown, but silent
Press and hold a swara to sustain it, as when the harmonium spring is lifted — by mouse, by touch, or with the computer keys A S D F G H J K for Sa to Sa, and W E T Y U for the notes between. Shuddh notes are set in blue, komal in coral, teevra in violet.
The patterns you practise first.
An alankar is a pattern run through the scale — the exercise every student works through until the intervals live in the hand and the voice without thinking. They are not music to perform. They are how the ear is built.
Each one below is written in notation and can be played at any speed. Slow it right down when you are learning it; the point is accuracy, not pace.
Reading the notation. A line beneath a swara marks it komal, lowered. A line above marks teevra, raised. A dot above the letter puts it in the upper saptak, a dot below in the lower. This is the Bhatkhande convention, the one most commonly printed.
On what this page claims. Everything above is the shared grammar of the tradition — the names of the swaras, which of them bend, and the practice patterns built on them. Where the page goes further, into individual raags, their forms, their prescribed times and how the Gurmat Sangeet parampara differs from other traditions, it will name its sources and its ustaads rather than assert. Those pages are being prepared with that care, and are not published yet.
A short glossary.
The vocabulary used on this page, in case any of it is new.
- Swara ਸੁਰ
- A note. Seven are named — Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni — and five of them bend, which gives the twelve tones of the saptak.
- Saptak ਸਪਤਕ
- An octave: the seven named swaras and their variants. The middle one is madhya, the one below mandra, the one above taar.
- Shuddh, komal, teevra
- Shuddh is the natural form of a swara. Komal is lowered — Re, Ga, Dha and Ni can fall. Teevra is raised, and only Ma rises. Sa and Pa are achal: they never move.
- Sargam ਸਰਗਮ
- The names of the swaras sung as solfège, and by extension the written notation that uses them. The word is built from the first four: Sa–Re–Ga–Ma.
- Alankar ਅਲੰਕਾਰ
- A pattern run through the scale — the exercise a student repeats until the intervals are known without thinking. Literally an ornament.
- Aroh and avroh
- Ascending and descending. Every raag has its own aroh and avroh, and they are not always the same set of notes in each direction.
- Riyaz ਰਿਆਜ਼
- Practice. Daily, unhurried, and usually with a tanpura sounding so the ear stays anchored to Sa.
- Gurmat Sangeet ਗੁਰਮਤਿ ਸੰਗੀਤ
- The musical tradition of Sikh kirtan, in which Gurbani is sung in the raags prescribed in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.
Where the thekas come from.
A theka is the pattern of bols that marks a taal, so a player always knows where they are in the cycle. The six on the Play side are written as they are most commonly printed.
Sources. Teental, Jhaptaal, Ektaal, Rupak, Dadra and Keherwa are taken from the published thekas on Wikipedia and cross-checked against tabla teaching sites. Where sources differ they say so on the page rather than choosing silently — teental's third and fourth vibhags are written both dha tin tin ta | ta dhin dhin dha and na tin tin na | na dhin dhin na, and both are taught.
These are the basic forms. Every gharana and every teacher has variations, and a student should follow their own ustaad over anything written here.
Why some bols are silent. The tabla here is a real recording, but the freely licensed set covers only na, te, ke, tun, ta, ge, re and dha. There is no recording of dhin, tin, dhi, ti, ka, kat or tirakita under any free licence anywhere.
Rather than substitute a wrong stroke or leave the thekas out, the notation is shown complete and the bols we cannot play are marked with a dot and stay quiet. The written cycle is correct; the sound is honestly incomplete until a full tabla is recorded.
Made slowly, given freely.
Riyaz Studio is a place to practise. The swaras, the alankars, the taals — played on real instrument sound, at whatever pace the practice needs, with the notation readable as it sounds.
It begins with the saptak and the alankars, because that is where every student begins. Raags, taals and the tanti saaz follow as each is ready, and each is held to the same standard: sourced, quiet, free, and made with care. There is no advertising here and there never will be.