How to find your Sa

The short answer

1. Find your floorThe lowest note you can sing clearly and comfortably. That note is roughly your mandra Pa.
2. Count five upFive semitones above the floor, black keys included, is a good first guess for Sa.
3. Check the topYou should reach taar Sa, an octave above, without forcing. If you can, keep it.

Try it here

Warm up for a couple of minutes first. Then play a key below, sing the note back, and move down one key at a time until your voice turns breathy or croaks. Tap the last note that was still full: the keyboard counts the five semitones for you, and can play the tanpura at the Sa it finds.Mandra, madhya, taarThe lower, middle and upper octaves. In notation a dot under a swara puts it in mandra, a dot over it in taar.

1Tap the lowest note you can sing clearly. Each key plays its note; sing it back.

Step by step

1. Warm up first.Hum gently for two or three minutes. A cold voice gives you a Sa that is too low.
2. Find your lowest clear note.Slide down on “aa” until the tone turns breathy or croaky, then come back up to the last note that was still full. That is your floor.SemitoneThe smallest step on a harmonium: from any key to the very next one, black or white.
3. Count up five semitones.From the floor, go up five keys on a harmonium or keyboard, black keys included. The floor is now mandra Pa and the new note is your candidate Sa.
4. Test the top.Sing Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa up to taar Sa. It should feel bright but easy. Taans in many ragas climb to taar Pa, so being able to touch that note matters too.
5. Live with it for a week.Practise at the candidate Sa for several days. If your voice tires at the top, drop a semitone; if the lower octave has no body, go up one.

Typical keys

Most men who sing khyal sit near C♯ and most women near G♯, a fifth apart. Tap a key to hear the tanpura with Sa there, and sing a few long notes over it.Kali ek, safed paanchHarmonium names: kali for a black key, safed for a white one, counted from C. Teachers often give a Sa this way.

Most male voicesthe classic male SaBetweenMost female voicesthe classic female SaHighest

Csafed ekC♯kali ekDsafed doD♯kali doEsafed teenFsafed chaarF♯kali teenGsafed paanchG♯kali chaarAsafed chheA♯kali paanchBsafed saat

Tap a key to hear the tanpura with Sa there.

The same, as a table

Voice	Common Sa	Harmonium name
Most male khyal singers	C♯	kali ek (black 1)
Deeper male voices, dhrupad	C or lower	safed ek (white 1)
Brighter male voices	D, D♯	safed do, kali do
Between the usual ranges	E, F	safed teen, safed chaar
Deeper female voices	F♯, G	kali teen, safed paanch
Most female khyal singers	G♯	kali chaar (black 4)
Brighter female voices	A, A♯	safed chhe, kali paanch
The highest voices, children	B	safed saat (white 7)

These are starting points, not rules. Plenty of fine singers sit a semitone or two away from the “usual” key, and a teenage voice may move for a few years.

Too low, or too high?

After a week at your new Sa, check it against these signs. One sign on its own means little; two or three that agree mean it is worth moving a semitone.

Let an app listen

Sangat’s Find my Sa listens while you sing a few comfortable notes and suggests a key. It runs in your browser, and the microphone audio is analysed on your device and never sent anywhere. It is free, with no account: once it is sure of your Sa, it tunes the tanpura, the tabla and the harmonium to it. If you sing over a drone, it still finds the octave that is yours.

Questions