Teentaal, the most common tala of Hindustani music, has how many matras?
- A.10
- B.12
- C.16
- D.14
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, 16. Teentaal runs over sixteen matras divided into four equal vibhags of four beats each. The first beat of the cycle is the sam and carries the stress, the third vibhag opens on a khali, and the cycle returns to the sam at the end. Its regularity is why most khayal performances and most instrumental gats are set in it.
Option A, 10, is the count of Jhaptaal, which is divided unevenly as two, three, two and three. Option B, 12, belongs to Ektaal and to Chautaal, the latter played on the pakhawaj for dhrupad. Option D, 14, is the count of Dhamar tala, the cycle used for the dhamar form sung at Holi, and also of Deepchandi. Each of the four numbers is a real tala count, so the question rewards a student who has memorised the whole table rather than one entry from it.
Read the full article: Indian Classical Music: Hindustani, Carnatic, Ragas and Talas
Practice Questions
View allWhich Veda is regarded as the source of Indian classical music?
- A.Rigveda
- B.Yajurveda
- C.Samaveda
- D.Atharvaveda
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The Samaveda is the Veda of melody. Most of its verses are taken from the Rigveda, but they are arranged for singing rather than for recitation, and that singing is known as Samagana.
Read the full explanation →The Sangeeta Ratnakara, a treatise accepted by both the Hindustani and the Carnatic traditions, was written by whom?
- A.Matanga
- B.Sarangadeva
- C.Bharata Muni
- D.Venkatamakhin
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Sarangadeva wrote the Sangeeta Ratnakara in the thirteenth century while attached to the Yadava court at Devagiri in the Deccan.
Read the full explanation →How many melakarta ragas are there in the Carnatic system?
- A.10
- B.22
- C.32
- D.72
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The melakarta ragas are the parent scales of Carnatic music, each of them using all seven notes in both ascent and descent.
Read the full explanation →Which is the oldest surviving form of Hindustani vocal music?
- A.Khayal
- B.Thumri
- C.Dhrupad
- D.Tappa
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Dhrupad is austere and devotional, sung in four sections called sthayi, antara, sanchari and abhog, and it opens with a long unmetred alap.
Read the full explanation →The pakhawaj is the percussion instrument traditionally used to accompany which form?
- A.Dhrupad
- B.Thumri
- C.Kriti
- D.Ghazal
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The pakhawaj is a long barrel drum played horizontally with both hands, deeper and graver in tone than the tabla, and its weight suits the slow and solemn movement of dhrupad.
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