ABHOG – Summing up of the entire development of a raga.

ADITAAL – Played at a ½ speed measure, with 8 matras on a 4-2-2 ratio.

ALAP – Introductory movement, unaccompanied and in free tempo

ANUPALLAVI – In Carnatic music,  the second section of the raga.

ANTARA – Second section of a raga. Register above and including upper tonic.

AROHA – The ascending scale of a raga.

ATIDRUT – Very fast tempo.

AVAROHA – The descending scale of a raga, slightly changed from the ascending scale.

BAAZ – Style of playing an instrument.

BARHAT – Gradual progression in a musical exposition.

BHATIALI – Folk song of the boatmen of Bengal.

BOL-TAANS – Musical phrases interlinked with bols ( words).

CHAKRADAR TIHAI – A tihai in three sections, each section consisting of a smaller tihai.

CHEEZ – The song, a raga-based composition in words.

CHIKARI – Drone strings of a sitar.

DHAMAR – A style of Classical vocal music, using more grace notes than dhrupad. It is set to a taal of 14 beats.

DHRUPAD – The most ‘massive and sublime’ musical form in the Indian Classical vocal tradition. Its form strictly follows a fixed pattern of four stanzas - the sthayi, antara, sanchari and abhoga - with rigid notes, words and majestic taals, usually in chautaal (12 beats).

DHUN – A light tune, a mixture of sweet melodies, free from the disciplines of a raga. Usually played in a fast tempo; associated with a mood of ecstasy.

DRUT – Fast tempo.

DUET – Also known as Jugalbandi. Partnership in vocal or instrumental music has been in vogue since the heyday of the dhrupad. Presentation of instrumental duets by Pt. Ravi Shankar and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan started a new era in the history of Classical music. Indian concert stages, so far dominated by only soloists, assumed a new colour and dimension when the great musical pairs started playing ‘Jugalbandi’.

GAMAK – Grace note, a form of embellishment on musical notes.

GAT – All sections in a taal and accompanied by tabla.

GAYAKI – A certain style of singing following a gharana to which the musician belongs.

GHARANA – A school of music, representing a specific musical tradition. Each gharana is famous for certain individualistic styles of rendition. Some famous gharanas are Gwalior, Rampur, Lucknow, Baroda, Patiala, Kirana, Maihar.

GHAZAL – A love-lyric in Urdu, thought to be of Persian Muslim origin.

GURU SHISHYA PARAMPARA – Guru, a teacher, shishya, a pupil. A teacher-pupil relationship, creating a person to person tradition.

JATI – Combination of matras to form unit of any taal.

JHALA – Melody interpolated with strokes on the chikari strings. Final section and the climax of the alap.

JOR (JOD) – Movement with rhythmic accompaniment on chikari strings (without tabla).

JUGALBANDI – See ‘Duet’.

KHARAJ – Octave below and including middle tonic.

KHAYAL – In Urdu ‘khayal’ means ‘creative thought’ hence, less rigid than dhrupad singing. It is the most popular type of Classical Hindustani vocal music. Sometimes instrumentalists play in khayal styles. There is no time measure.

KIRTAN – A devotional song, theme associated with Lord Krishna, does not strictly adhere to the raga scale, musical value dominated by sentimental emotion.

KRITHI – A devotional type of set composition in Carnatic music. As rigid as dhrupad. A fixed pattern is as follows: Pallavi, Anupallavi and Carana.  

LARAJ – Lowest octave.

LAYA – Rhythm, the overall tempo of the raga.

LAYAKARI – Rhythmic virtuosity.

MADHYA – Medium tempo.

MATRA – A specific musical beat within the cycle of the taal.

MATTATAL – A 9 beat cycle divided 2 + 2 + 2 + 3.

MEEND – Sliding over notes.

MISHRA – Lit. mixed. The introduction of a melodic movement foreign to the established raga.

PALLAVI – The first section (asthayi) of a composition in Carnatic music which follows ragam and tanam.

PANDIT – Learned one, a master-musician.

RAGA – The raga is an Indian scale which utilizes varying ascending and descending patterns – certain notes on the way up and certain notes on the way down – but always in the set sequence. The raga never has less than five notes – the minimum required for a tune.

RAGAM – Alap in Carnatic music.

RAGAMALIKA – A composition in Carnatic music. In this composition one raga leads to another forming a ‘malika’ (garland) of ragas.

SAMVADI – The next important, concordant note after the vadi.

SANCHARI – The third movement in the development of a melodic line.

SARGAM – 7 note scale – Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni - corresponding to Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti

SHADJA – The beginning note.

SHLOKA – A Sanskrit verse, devotional or philosophical.

SHRUTI – ‘To hear’ (Sanskrit). A microtonal interval less than a semitone.

SHUDDHA – A pure note.

STHAYI – Register above middle tonic.

TAAL – Rhythmic cycle.

TALA - Same as taal

TAN – A rapid succession of notes.

TANAM – Carnatic alap in medium tempo.

TAPPA - Muslim love songs, reconstructed and refined by Shouri Mian who introduced them to Lucknow in the 19th century. Before this they were simply folk songs of the Punjabi camel drivers.

TARANA – A fast moving popular melody using nonsense syllables like ‘ta’ and ‘nu’.

TEENTAAL – A 16 beat cycle divided by 4 + 4 + 4 + 4.

THILLANA – A lively musical form, usually set to and rendered at a brisk pace, the Carnatic counterpart of the North Indian ‘tarana’.

THUMRI – Described as the expression of the singer’s soul and temperament, thumri is purely romantic or devotional in its content. It came into vogue in the eastern region (Purab) of Uttar Pradesh towards the close of the 18th century as an accompaniment to dance. Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Avadh was probably the greatest known patron of thumri. Lucknow and Varanasi (Benares) are the two centres from where thumri evolved into several varieties.

TIHAI – Short phrases played three times, ending on the first beat of the rhythm cycle.

TORA – Fast runs and repeated note passages.

USTAD – Learned one, master-musician.

VADI – The predominant note of the scale.

VILAMBIT – Slow tempo.

VISTARA – Improvisation or elaboration upon the note.