Reading the notes
Behind “Show the notes”, each phrase is written in sargam, beat by beat, with the marks below. Ornaments are written once, on the note they decorate, rather than spelling out every note in them: listen to the phrase to hear how it goes.
The seven notes
Indian music names its notes Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni, short for their full names. Sa is wherever the instrument or the voice puts it, like a movable do: on a flute it is set by the flute's size, and a singer chooses one that suits their voice. Every other note is heard in relation to Sa.
| Sargam | Full name | Devanagari | Western |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sa | Shadja | सा | C |
| Re | Rishabh | रे | D |
| Ga | Gandhar | ग | E |
| Ma | Madhyam | म | F |
| Pa | Pancham | प | G |
| Dha | Dhaivat | ध | A |
| Ni | Nishad | नि | B |
Sa and Pa never change. Re, Ga, Dha and Ni can each be lowered a semitone (komal), and Ma raised a semitone (tivra), which makes twelve notes in all. A raga chooses among them.
Bhatkhande notation
Most teachers in North India write music the way Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande set out early in the twentieth century. Each note is written by its first syllable, in Devanagari or in Latin letters, with small marks for everything else: a dot under a note for the lower octave and over it for the upper, a line under a komal note, a short upright line over tivra Ma, a dash for a note held another beat, and a curve under notes that share a beat.
The notes on this site are drawn the same way. Teachers type them in plain letters, one group per beat, and the marks below show how each is typed and how it looks.
The marks
Beats
Written: Sa Re Ga Ma
Each box is one beat. Play the notes in time, a box at a time.
Held notes
Written: Sa - - Re
A dash holds the note before it for another beat.
Rests
Written: Sa _ Re
A dot in a box is a rest: a beat of silence.
Lower octave
Written: Pa, Ni, Sa
A dot under a note: the lower octave (mandra saptak).
Written with a comma after the note: Ni,
Upper octave
Written: Ni Sa' Re'
A dot over a note: the upper octave (taar saptak).
Written with an apostrophe after the note: Sa'
Komal notes
Written: re ga
A line under a note: komal, the flat form of Re, Ga, Dha or Ni.
Written in lower case. Sa and Pa never change, and Ma has its own mark.
Tivra Ma
Written: Ga Ma# Pa
A tick over Ma: tivra Ma, a semitone above shuddha Ma, as in Raga Yaman.
Written Ma#.
Meend (slide)
Written: Pa ~Ga
Meend: “~” before a note means slide into it from the note before, smoothly, without a break.
On a bansuri, slide a finger slowly off or onto the hole rather than lifting it. Sing it as one unbroken glide.
Kan swar (grace note)
Written: {Re}Ga
Kan swar: the small note is touched very lightly just before the main note. The main note carries the beat.
Barely heard: a flick of a finger on the bansuri, a light touch in the voice. Written in curly brackets before the main note: {Re}Ga.
Murki
Written: {NiSaNi,}Sa
Murki: a quick, light flourish of the small notes, played just before the main note.
Like a kan swar, but several notes. Written in curly brackets before the main note: {NiSaNi,}Sa.
Khatka
Written: Ga (Pa) Ma#
Khatka: a quick turn round the note in brackets: the note above, the note, the note below, then the note again. (Sa) is Re Sa Ni Sa.
Sharper and more forceful than a murki, and it takes the bracketed note's time.
Andolan (sway)
Written: Re ga^ Re
Andolan: a slow, gentle sway on the note under the wavy line, leaning towards a neighbouring note and back without quite reaching it.
Written with ^ after the note: ga^. Komal Ga in Raga Darbari Kanada and komal Re in Bhairav are swayed like this.
Words such as riyaz, aroha or vadi are explained in the glossary.
