Understanding Formation/Structure of half beat Taal - Vishwamohini Editor

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Understanding Formation/Structure of half beat Taal

By Shivraj Sawant 4,743 views

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Recently I attended Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Music Festival - 2016. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan was one of the performing artist. He played couple of semi classical compositions and also played a composition which was in nine and half beat taal.

Many music students think that you need lot of expertise to play such half beat Taal. They think it is job of Ustad & Pandit.
In reality, to play in such Taal you need simple mathematics ability.  I strongly feel that our current music teaching system needs to be improved a lot. Understanding mathematics of every composition should be part of teaching & learning system.

Coming to the point, lets understand structure of half beat Taal.

Lets consider beats of [ half beat ] Taal = Y
Typical broad divisions of half beat taal are

Y = X + 1.5

For example, beats of Taal are 9.5 means Y = 9.5

9.5 = X + 1.5

X = 9.5 - 1.5 = 8

So broad divisions of 9.5 beat Taal are 8 and 1.5

While playing 9.5 beat Taal, first 8 beats will be played with base tempo and 3 beats will be played in double tempo to fill 1.5 beats.

For example, here are 8 beats. Recommended tempo 100
[melody start]
[Dha|Ge|Na|Ti|Na|Ka|Dhi|Na][lyrics]
[1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8][lyrics]
[D2|T4R1K2T8|D2|N1|T2|N1|K4|T1][tabla]
[melody end]

Here are phrases of 3 beats which will be played in double tempo after 8 beats, Recommended tempo 100
[melody start]
[1|2|3][lyrics]
[D2|D2|N1][tabla]
[D1|T4R1|K2T8][tabla]
[D1|G1|N1][tabla]
[melody end]
Lets put above 8 + 1.5 beats together
For demonstration purpose, I have put it in 10 [ 10 - 9.5 = 0.5 ]  beats by keeping first half beat empty because there is no way in Vishwamohini Melody Player to show half beat
Recommended tempo 100
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10][lyrics]
[-D2|-(T4R1)|(K2T8)D2|-N1|-T2|-N1|-K4|-T1|-D1|T4R1K2T8][tabla]
[melody end]
Below I have put 9.5 theka two times in 19 beats [ 9.5 x 2 = 19 ]
Recommended tempo 100
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18|19][lyrics]
[D2|T4R1K2T8|D2|N1|T2|N1|K4|T1|D1(T4R1)|(K2T8)D2|-(T4R1)|(K2T8)D2|-N1|-T2|-N1|-K4|-T1|-D1|T4R1K2T8][tabla]
[melody end]
So conclusion is to understand last 1.5 beats of half beat Taal where we play 3 beats in double tempo with respect to base tempo.

Below are some more examples of Half beat Taal.

Beautiful 6.5 beat Taal composed by Pandit Shekhar Borkar
Recommended tempo 100
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13][lyrics]
[D2|N1|T4R1K2T8|T2|N1|D1G1|N1D2|-N1|-(T4R1)|(K2T8)T2|-N1|-D1|G1N1][tabla]
[melody end]

Here is video where young Sarod maestro<a href="http://abhishekborkar.com" target="_blank"> Abhishek Borkar</a> played composition in 6.5 beats Taal.  Abhishek is son and disciple of Pandit Shekhar Borkar.

Tabla is accompanied by Ajinkya Joshi.

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XdM-JDvFt-o?start=2084" allowfullscreen="" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe>

8.5 beat Taal composed by Ustad Ali Akbar khan
Recommended tempo 100
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17][lyrics]
[D2|N1|D2|D2|N1|T2|N1|D2D2|N1D2|-N1|-D2|-D2|-N1|-T2|-N1|-D2|D2N1][tabla]
[melody end]

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