Advanced Level

Core topics Every learner takes these 8

1. Topic 01

   How to Render a Raga: Lines Compared

   The order of a full rendering (alaap, jod, jhala, gat) and how two slide lines pace it differently.

   Ready to move on when: You can outline a fifteen-minute rendering and say where two recorded renderings differ in pacing.

   Resources: Notes: the shape of a rendering · Listening: one raga in two slide lines (suggested)

2. Topic 02

   Advance Learning in the First Raga

   Take the first raga (suggested: Yaman) to full depth: rare phrases, the upper register, the vistar order.

   Ready to move on when: You can play a ten-minute alaap in the raga that your teacher accepts.

   Resources: Demo video · Tanpura track · Reference rendering

3. Topic 03

   Composition and Taan Patterns in the First Raga

   A gat in the first raga with six taans at fast laya.

   Ready to move on when: You can play the gat with six taans at fast laya, each landing on sam.

   Resources: Notation: gat and taans · Teentaal tabla track

4. Topic 04

   Alankar at Speed

   The alankar set at drut laya, both hands clean.

   Ready to move on when: You can play the alankar set at drut laya with every swara heard.

   Resources: Notation: the alankar set · Metronome or lehra track

5. Topic 05

   The Intricacies of Teentaal: Divisions and Laykari

   Teentaal's vibhags as places to start and end phrases, and phrases in tigun and chaugun.

   Ready to move on when: You can play phrases in tigun and chaugun that end on sam.

   Resources: Teentaal lehra track · Notes: laykari

6. Topic 06

   Advance Learning in the Second Raga

   The second raga (suggested: Bhupali) at full depth.

   Ready to move on when: You can play a ten-minute alaap and jod in the raga that your teacher accepts.

   Resources: Demo video · Tanpura track · Reference rendering

7. Topic 07

   Guided Rendering Rehearsal

   A full fifteen-minute rendering of one raga to your teacher, stopped and corrected.

   Ready to move on when: Your teacher hears the rendering through with the arc intact.

   Resources: Your recordings from this module

8. Topic 08

   Module 3A Review: Rendering and Hand Under Load

   Present a rendering, and check that posture and bar contact hold at speed.

   Ready to move on when: Your teacher closes the module after reviewing your presentation and sees no hand fault at drut laya.

   Resources: Checklist: what the presentation covers · Checklist: posture and hand

Electives Your teacher picks 4 of these 6 with you

• Elective

  Composition and Taan Patterns in the Second Raga

  A gat in the second raga with six taans.

  Ready to move on when: You can play the gat with six taans at fast laya, each landing on sam.

  Resources: Notation: gat and taans · Teentaal tabla track

• Elective

  Advance Learning in a Third Raga

  A third raga (suggested: Durga) at full depth.

  Ready to move on when: You can play a ten-minute alaap in the raga that your teacher accepts.

  Resources: Demo video · Tanpura track

• Elective

  Double Strings Together

  Two main strings sounded together under the bar, both in tune.

  Ready to move on when: You can play a phrase on two strings with both pitches true.

  Resources: Demo video · Tanpura track

• Elective

  Style: Maihar Drills at Drut Laya

  The Allauddin Khan palta set at drut laya.

  Ready to move on when: You can play five Maihar paltas at drut laya, both hands clean.

  Resources: Notation: Maihar paltas (needs making) · Metronome

• Elective

  Style: Da-Ra Coordination While Sliding

  Right-hand strokes kept even while the bar moves, as the Kabra instrument asks.

  Ready to move on when: You can play a meend phrase with Da-Ra strokes that stay even through the glide.

  Resources: Demo video, both hands in view

• Elective

  Style: Mohan Veena Taans

  Taan shapes of the Mohan veena line, with its harmonic strings sounding under them.

  Ready to move on when: You can play four taans in the manner your teacher demonstrates, landing on sam.

  Resources: Demo video · Listening: a Mohan veena gat (suggested)

Core topics Every learner takes these 8

1. Topic 01

   Morning and Evening Forms

   How morning and evening ragas differ in swara, movement and mood.

   Ready to move on when: You can name three features that place a raga in the morning or the evening.

   Resources: Notes: raga time and form

2. Topic 02

   Advance Learning in a Morning Raga

   A morning raga (suggested: Ahir Bhairav) at full depth.

   Ready to move on when: You can play a ten-minute alaap in the raga that your teacher accepts.

   Resources: Demo video · Tanpura track · Reference rendering

3. Topic 03

   Composition and Taan Patterns in the Morning Raga

   A gat in the morning raga with six taans.

   Ready to move on when: You can play the gat with six taans at fast laya, each landing on sam.

   Resources: Notation: gat and taans · Teentaal tabla track

4. Topic 04

   Ornament Drills: Gamak, Murki and Krintan

   Gamak, murki and krintan as named drills, then placed on request in a phrase.

   Ready to move on when: You can place each of the three ornaments where your teacher names it.

   Resources: Demo video · Notation: ornament drills

5. Topic 05

   Laykari and Tihai Placement

   A tihai is a phrase played three times to land on sam. Place tihais at the end of phrases.

   Ready to move on when: You can play three tihais that land on sam from different starting beats.

   Resources: Notation: tihais · Teentaal lehra track

6. Topic 06

   Drut Jhala

   Jhala at fast laya, building to a close.

   Ready to move on when: You can play two minutes of jhala rising to drut laya and closing cleanly.

   Resources: Demo video · Reference recording

7. Topic 07

   Performance Simulation with Tabla

   A twenty-minute set with a tabla player, run as if to an audience.

   Ready to move on when: Your teacher hears the set through with tabla and no stop.

   Resources: Tabla player or tabla track · Checklist: a set

8. Topic 08

   Module 3B Review

   Present a morning-raga rendering with ornaments, tihais and jhala.

   Ready to move on when: Your teacher closes the module after reviewing your presentation recording.

   Resources: Checklist: what the presentation covers

Electives Your teacher picks 4 of these 6 with you

• Elective

  Advance Learning in an Evening Raga

  An evening raga (suggested: Bihag) at full depth.

  Ready to move on when: You can play a ten-minute alaap in the raga that your teacher accepts.

  Resources: Demo video · Tanpura track

• Elective

  Ektaal: a Vilambit Gat Frame

  Count Ektaal at slow laya and fit a gat line into it.

  Ready to move on when: You can play a gat line over a vilambit Ektaal lehra for two cycles, landing on sam.

  Resources: Ektaal lehra track · Notation: the gat line

• Elective

  Listening: One Raga, Three Renditions

  Three renditions of one raga by different instrumentalists, compared for structure and pacing.

  Ready to move on when: You can lay out the structure of each rendition and say where they diverge.

  Resources: Listening: three renditions (suggested, teacher to confirm)

• Elective

  Style: Ravi Shankar, Barun Kumar Pal and the Sitar Line

  Pandit Ravi Shankar on sitar and Pandit Barun Kumar Pal on Hansa veena in one raga.

  Ready to move on when: You can name two things the Hansa veena keeps from the sitar and one it changes.

  Resources: Listening: one raga by each (suggested, teacher to confirm)

• Elective

  Style: Vocal-Led Taans

  Taans built from sung phrases, as the chaturangui line takes them from vocal music.

  Ready to move on when: You can sing and then play four taans with the played shape matching the sung one.

  Resources: Demo video · Listening: a vocal taan passage (suggested)

• Elective

  Style: Gamak Taans of the Sarod Line

  Taans with gamak on every swara, from the Maihar sarod repertoire.

  Ready to move on when: You can play two gamak taans at medium laya with every swara's centre clear.

  Resources: Demo video · Notation: gamak taans (needs making)

Core topics Every learner takes these 8

1. Topic 01

   Review of Advanced Repertoire and Weak Links

   Find the weakest raga or technique from 3A and 3B and work on it.

   Ready to move on when: Your teacher hears the weak item fixed in a cold run.

   Resources: Your 3B presentation recording

2. Topic 02

   Advance Learning in a Concert Raga

   The raga you will present (suggested: Charukeshi), taken to full depth with its gat and taans.

   Ready to move on when: You can play a fifteen-minute rendering of the raga that your teacher accepts.

   Resources: Demo video · Tanpura track · Notation: gat and taans

3. Topic 03

   Andolan and Pitch Under Ornament

   A slow swing on a swara (andolan), with the pitch kept true under every ornament.

   Ready to move on when: You can place andolan on request and keep the swara's pitch true.

   Resources: Demo video · Tanpura track

4. Topic 04

   Tihai Arithmetic

   Build tihais by counting: the phrase, the gaps and the landing, across three cycles.

   Ready to move on when: You can compose and play a tihai that lands on sam after three cycles.

   Resources: Notes: tihai arithmetic · Teentaal lehra track

5. Topic 05

   Composing a Gat

   Compose a gat in a raga you play, notate it, and play it.

   Ready to move on when: Your teacher accepts your notated gat and your recording of it.

   Resources: Notes: how a gat is built · Notation template

6. Topic 06

   Teaching a Foundation Topic Under Supervision

   Teach one Foundation topic to a learner with your teacher watching.

   Ready to move on when: Your teacher accepts your session, and the learner meets the topic's finishing line.

   Resources: The Foundation topic you teach · Notes: running a session

7. Topic 07

   Concert Rehearsal: Programme and Running Order

   Set the thirty-minute programme, the order and the timings, and run it with tabla.

   Ready to move on when: Your teacher accepts the programme and hears it run once to time.

   Resources: Tabla player or tabla track · Template: running order

8. Topic 08

   The Concert: Judged Stage Performance

   A thirty-minute programme with tabla to an audience, judged.

   Ready to move on when: The judges pass the performance.

   Resources: Your running order · Checklist: what the judges assess

Electives Your teacher picks 4 of these 6 with you

• Elective

  Vistar: Extended Elaboration

  Twenty minutes of vistar that keeps building without repeating itself.

  Ready to move on when: You can sustain twenty minutes of vistar that your teacher accepts.

  Resources: Reference recording · Teentaal tabla track

• Elective

  Advance Learning in a Seasonal Raga

  A monsoon raga (suggested: Megh) at full depth.

  Ready to move on when: You can play a ten-minute alaap in the raga that your teacher accepts.

  Resources: Demo video · Tanpura track

• Elective

  Jhaptaal: a Gat in Ten Beats

  Count Jhaptaal and play a gat in it.

  Ready to move on when: You can play the gat over a Jhaptaal lehra for four cycles, landing on sam.

  Resources: Jhaptaal lehra track · Notation: the gat

• Elective

  Style: A Dhun to Close the Set

  A light-classical dhun of the kind the Kabra line closes a programme with.

  Ready to move on when: You can play the dhun as a closing item that your teacher accepts.

  Resources: Notation: the dhun (teacher's choice) · Listening: Call of the Valley (suggested)

• Elective

  Style: Light-Classical Slide with Accompaniment

  A light-classical piece in the Mohan veena manner, played with an accompanist.

  Ready to move on when: You can play the piece with an accompanist, keeping time and tune together.

  Resources: Notation: the piece (teacher's choice) · Accompaniment track

• Elective

  Style: A Sarod-Line Gat with Taans

  A gat from the Maihar sarod repertoire, played with taans on the slide.

  Ready to move on when: You can play the gat with four taans at fast laya, each landing on sam.

  Resources: Notation: the gat (teacher's choice) · Teentaal tabla track