Combining taals and raags | Music | Quizalize & Oak National Academy

Starter quiz

Which of the following defines texture in music?
- How fast or slow the music is played.
- The combination of different layers of sounds. ✓
- How loud or quiet the music is.
- The order of what happens in the piece of music.
Which of the following can be done with a taal?
- Sing it.
- Chant the bols. ✓
- Clap the rhythm cycle. ✓
- Play it on a sitar.
What does a bol represent?
- A melodic framework.
- A mood or feeling that a raag gives.
- A vocal representation of the sound a tabla drum can make. ✓
- The length of the rhythm cycle.
Match each taal and raag label with the musical activity.
- taal - played
  
  ⇔
  
  clap the rhythm cycle ✓
- taal - vocal
  
  ⇔
  
  speak the bols ✓
- raag - vocal
  
  ⇔
  
  sing a melody ✓
- raag - played
  
  ⇔
  
  play an improvisation on a pitched instrument ✓

Teentaal has 16 beats in its rhythm cycle. How can we count these beats?
- speak the bols ✓
- clap, tap and wave the beats of the rhythm cycle ✓
- sing a drone
- improvise using notes from the raag
True or false. A raag and a taal must start at the same time.
- 'false' ✓
Which one of the following would be good advice to offer someone improvising within a raag?
- Use all of the notes in the raag.
- Playing faster is easier.
- Start with fewer notes until you feel more confident. ✓
- Use any notes on your instrument - but play quietly.
How many different layers are combined in Hindustani Classical music?
- 'Three' ✓

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We can develop the texture of our piece by layering the taal and the raag.
The bols and the claps of the taal are a steady pulse we can layer a raag over.
We can add the raag by singing a melody and playing improvisations that use the notes of the raag.
The taal and raag don’t have to start at the same time. A raag can start halfway through the rhythm cycle.

The taal and raag begin and end at the same time.

A raag can start and end at any point in the rhythm cycle.

Taal - a rhythm cycle that measures musical time in Indian music
Raag - a series of notes that inspire a composition (from Sanskrit language meaning ‘to colour’)
Bol - a spoken syllable used to recite the rhythm (from 'bolna', the Hindi word for 'speak'.
Texture - the combination of different layers of sounds