A 30-minute daily riyaz

The half hour

Every step below has something to play. Set your Sa once and each player on this page uses it.

Settle on Sa

Start the tanpura at your Sa and just listen for a minute. Then sing Sa, long and soft, until the note and the drone stop beating against each other. If you cannot hear the beating yet, you will in a few weeks — that is the ear you are training.BeatingTwo notes that are nearly, but not quite, the same make the sound waver. As they meet, the wavering slows and stops.

Kharaj

Hold notes in the lower octave — mandra Pa, Ma, Ga — for as long as the breath allows, at a gentle volume. Kharaj is slow work and the most often skipped. Sangat’s harmonium can hold the kharaj note for you to sing with.Kharaj खरजThe low Sa, and by extension the practice of singing in the lower octave. Keep it soft: it is for control, not volume.

Alankars

Patterns such as Sa Re Ga, Re Ga Ma, Ga Ma Pa… up to taar Sa and back. Begin slow enough to be exact; speed is the last thing to add. Hear each line first, then sing it back: the player below plays a line in your Sa and leaves a gap for you. Ten alankars for beginners has each one written out.Alankar अलंकारA pattern of notes moved up the scale a step at a time, then down again. Also called a palta.

Play Sa Re Ga Ma

SaYaman · 80 BPM

Call and answerSing along

The harmonium plays a line, then waits: sing it back in the gap.

Raga

YamanBhairavBhupali

Alankar

Sa Re Ga MaSa Sa Re ReSa Re · Re GaSa Re Sa · Re Ga ReSa Ga · Re Ma

One raga’s outline

Sing the aroha (ascent), avaroha (descent) and pakad (the catch-phrase) of the raga you are learning. Yaman, Bhupali and Bhairav are common first ragas, and each has a page with its lines to sing back. Five minutes a day on one raga beats an hour once a week on five.

A bandish in taal

Finish with a composition over the tabla — Teentaal for most bandishes, Keherwa or Dadra for bhajans and light songs. Keep the tempo slow enough that you land on sam every time. A first bandish is often a sargam geet: a composition sung on the swara names alone, like this one in Yaman from Bhatkhande’s first book.Bandish बंदिशA fixed composition in a raga and a taal: the words and melody a singer returns to between improvised passages.

Play the sargam geet

Sargam geet सरगम गीतYaman · Teentaal · madhya laya · 90 BPM

Sthayi

0NNi10DDha11–ऽ12PPa3MMa14PPa15GGa16MMa×PPa2–ऽ3–ऽ4–ऽ2PPa6MMa7GGa8RRe

0SSa10RRe11GGa12RRe3GGa14MMa15PPa16DDha×PPa2MMa3GGa4RRe2GGa6RRe7SSa8–ऽ

0ṆNi10RRe11GGa12MMa3PPa14DDha15NNi16ṠSa×ṘRe2ṠSa3NNi4DDha2PPa6MMa7GGa8MMa

Antara

0GGa10GGa11PPa12DDha3PPa14ṠSa15–ऽ16ṠSa×NNi2ṘRe3ĠGa4ṘRe2ṠSa6NNi7DDha8PPa

0ĠGa10ṘRe11ṠSa12NNi3DDha14PPa15NNi16DDha×PPa2MMa3GGa4RRe2GGa6RRe7SSa8–ऽ

0ṆNi10RRe11GGa12MMa3PPa14DDha15NNi16ṠSa×ṘRe2ṠSa3NNi4DDha2PPa6MMa7GGa8MMa

From V. N. Bhatkhande, Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati Kramik Pustak Malika, Book 1, page 25. The scan.

Keeping it going

1. Same time, same place.Dawn riyaz is traditional, but the time you can keep is the right one.
2. Listen back to yourself.Hear a recording of your riyaz the next day, with fresh ears. With Listen on, Sangat keeps each riyaz on your device with its recording, so you can play today’s beside last week’s.
3. On a short day, do ten minutes.Settle on Sa and sing one palta. Sangat’s Today’s riyaz is about ten minutes: half a minute of Sa, the day’s palta, then the note you missed most last time.
4. New to riyaz?First steps in sur, in Sangat, is a course of 25 short steps, from finding your Sa to singing Bhupali on your own. Each step opens when you pass the one before.

Questions