- Year 10
- OCR
Voice and rhythm in North Indian classical music
I can identify some vocal features of North Indian classical music, explain how tala work and can play teental.
Copyrighted materials: to view and download resources from this lesson, you’ll need to be in the UK and
- Year 10
- OCR
Voice and rhythm in North Indian classical music
I can identify some vocal features of North Indian classical music, explain how tala work and can play teental.
Copyrighted materials: to view and download resources from this lesson, you’ll need to be in the UK and
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Lesson details
Key learning points
- Singing in North Indian classical music can be in many languages, most commonly Hindi and Urdu.
- Singers use the raga, and the style is melismatic and microtonal.
- Tala are repeating rhythmic patterns. They are taught by ear, using the sounds da, dhin, tin, ti, na and ta.
- Teental is a popular tala in North Indian classical music. It is sixteen beats long.
Keywords
Melismatic - A melismatic melody is one in which multiple notes are sung for one syllable of a word.
Microtonal - Microtonal music includes notes between the 12 Western semitones. These small intervals are called microtones.
Tabla - A tabla is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent consisting of a small drum (dayan) and a larger drum (bayan).
Tala - A tala is a repeating rhythmic pattern in North Indian classical music. They are taught by ear, using the sounds 'da', 'din' and 'ta'.
Teental - Teental is a 16-beat tala often used in North Indian classical music.
Common misconception
Teental is in 4/4.
Teental sounds to us like it could be in 4/4, but this is just a coincidence. North Indian classical musicians don't think of time signature in the same way that we do - the tala is what structures the time and they can be many different lengths.
To help you plan your year 10 music lesson on: Voice and rhythm in North Indian classical music, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 10 music lesson on: Voice and rhythm in North Indian classical music, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
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Explore more key stage 4 music lessons from the North Indian Classical music and West African drumming unit, dive into the full secondary music curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
DAW and/or hand drums/percussion
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