Background

Glossary
alap antara bol alap bol bant bol taan chalan ciz diri ekhara taan gharana jhala jor larant laykari manjha masitkhani gat meend rezakhani gat sargam senia-shahjanpore sthai taan toda uthan vistar
alap	systematic exposition of the melodic characteristics of the raga. There is tremendous diversity in the presentation of alap but generally the exposition is gradual and slowly builds in density. In dhrupad and dhrupad dervived alap styles such as instrumental alap, the alap is performed unaccompanied by percussion. In khyal vocal music most of the alap is performed to the acompaniment of the tabla. [index]
antara	section of the composition (i.e. of the gat or bandish) the antara follows the sthai and emphasizes the upper middle octave and the upper octave [index]
bol alap	section of alap in which the vocalist uses text, as opposed to a vowel sound such as "ah", to present the alap [index]
bol bant	use of the text, usually of the ciz, for the purposes of rhythmic play [index]
bol taan	taans sung to the text, usually of the ciz [index]
chalan	a set of phrases which present a concise melodic outline of raga and which define the essential grammar of a raga [index]
ciz	refers to the composition in khyal [index]
diri	a compound stroke used by sarodist and sitarists consisting of a down stoke and up stroke in succession [index]
ekhara taan	a taan in which each note is struck alternatively by a down stroke and then an upstoke (da ra da ra etc). Allows instrumentalist to play rapid sequences of notes, often imitative of vocal taans [index]
gharana	[index]
jhala	a fast section coming at the end of alap or after the gat in which rhytmic patterns created using the chikari strings are emphasized. the stereotypical jhala pattern is da ra ra ra where da represents a downstroke on a note and each ra is played on the chikari string. the da ra ra ra pattern also notates note note chikari chikari where the first note is a downstroke and the second note is an upstroke. this can be executed at very fast spend and generally comes v near the climax of the jhala. Endless permuations of these bol patterns appear all emphasizing play on the chikari strings [index]
jor	section in alap when a regular pulse is first introduced, chikari strings used by instrumentalists to mark the pulse [index]
larant	a sarod technique similar to jhala in which a note is alternated with diri strokes on the open sa string. Clarity of diri, speed and rhythmic variety are prized qualities. [index]
laykari	rhythmically complex act [index]
masitkhani gat	the dominant form of slow composition used by instrumentalists. The key defining characteristic is the archetypal bol pattern (12 beat) dara da dara da da (sum) da da da dara da dara da da da da da and the starting point of the the 12th beat of the cycle in tintal. [index]
meend	a slide between notes [index]
rezakhani gat	a type of fast composition used by instrumentalists. Defined by its bol pattern (sum) da - da da da da da da (khali) da diri diri diri da -ra da- rada [index]
sargam	singing style in which the notes are sung to the names of the notes (sa, re, ga etc) [index]
senia-shahjanpore	an instrumental gharana [index]
sthai	first section of the composition generally ranging in the middle and lower octave Vamanrao Deshpande comments that,"the sthai ought to concisely represent the raga. The sthai serves to establish the general framework of the melody within which its detailed structure will subsequently be built up" [index]
taan	fast melodic figure. a taxidermy of taans exist based on characteristics of the taan e.g. sapat taan, vakra taan, alankarik tan, etc [index]
toda	type of taan excuted by plucked string players, notably sitarists and sarodiyas, in which each note corresponds to a type of plucking. Todas are distinguished from other taans in that a mix of plucking types are used in the same taan creating a rhythmic punctuation. Common bol patterns used in todas are: da diri da da down downup down down da da da da down down down down da diri diri diri etc [index]
uthan	type of tabla composition often played as an entering flourish [index]
vistar	expansion, elaboration of the raga. type of development [index]