4 Tihai patterns you must remember - Vishwamohini Editor

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4 Tihai patterns you must remember

By Shivraj Sawant 4,845 views Tags: Tihai, Improvisation

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In this post I am going to share four Tihai patterns, if you remember these patterns you will be able to play Tihaiin any taal instantly

Normally we learn lot of material in Teentaal & most of the time we perform solo in Teentaal.
But when it comes to accompaniment of instruments like Sitar, Santoor, Sarod you may have to play & improvise some odd taals which you may not have learnt.

In such situation these tihai patterns will help you to play at least Tihai in that particuar taal.

Before we dive in this topic, you should know how to take a gap of 1 beat, 3 beats & 5 beats. These are very common gaps in many Tihai patterns

1 Beat gap
[melody start]
[1|Gap][lyrics]
[D1|-][tabla]
[S1|-][notations]
[melody end]
3 Beats gap
[melody start]
[1|Gap|Gap|Gap][lyrics]
[D1|-|-|-][tabla]
[S1|-|-|-][notations]
[melody end]
5 Beats gap
[melody start]
[1|Gap|Gap|Gap|Gap|Gap][lyrics]
[D1|-|-|-|-|-][tabla]
[S1|-|-|-|-|-][notations]
[melody end]
Lets see how these gaps will help us to play a single tihai in two more different taals.

Basic idea is to remember four Tihais which have gap of 1 beat between Pallas. And same Tihai will fit in different taal when you play them with gap of 3 or 5 beats

1. First Tihai Pattern

4 beats Tihai, it is a Tihai of Teentaal which we will play in CHATUSHRA jati (i.e. 4 beats in 1 beat)
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4][lyrics]
[D1D1T4T8|D1-D1D1|T4T8D1-|D1D1T4T8][tabla]
[melody end]
If you play sameTihai with 3 beats gap it fits in 5 beats
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4|5][lyrics]
[D1D1T4T8|D1---|D1D1T4T8|D1---|D1D1T4T8][tabla]
[melody end]
If you play same Tihai with 5 beats gap it fits in 6 beats
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4|5|6][lyrics]
[D1D1T4T8|D1---|--D1D1|T4T8D1-|----|D1D1T4T8][tabla]
[melody end]
So in this way if you remember first Tihai with 1 beat gap you can play same tihai with 3 beats gap which perfectly fits into next ( 4 + 1 = 5 ) beat taal & if you play same tihai with 5 beats gaps it perfectly fits in next to next ( 4 + 1 + 1 = 6 ) beat taal

2. Second Tihai pattern

7 beats Tihai, it is a Tihai of Roopak  which we will play in CHATUSHRA jati ( i.e. 4 beats in 1 beat )
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4|5|6|7][lyrics]
[D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1|D1-D1T4|D1G1T2N1|K1N1D1-|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1][tabla]
[melody end]
If you play sameTihai with 3 beats gap it fits in 8 beats
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8][lyrics]
[D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1|D1---|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1|D1---|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1][tabla]
[melody end]
If you play same Tihai with 5 beats gap it fits in 9 beats
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9][lyrics]
[D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1|D1---|--D1T4|D1G1T2N1|K1N1D1-|----|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1][tabla]
[melody end]
So in this way if you remember first Tihai of Roopak with 1 beat gap you can play same tihai with 3 beats gap which perfectly fits into next ( 7 + 1 = 8 ) beat taal & if you play same tihai with 5 beats gaps it perfectly fits in next to next ( 7 + 1 + 1 = 9 ) beat taal

3. Third Tihai pattern

10 beats Tihai, it is a Tihai of Zaptaal which we will play in CHATUSHRA jati ( i.e. 4 beats in 1 beat )
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10][lyrics]
[D1T4D1G1|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1|D1-D1T4|D1G1D1T4|D1G1T2N1|K1N1D1-|D1T4D1G1|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1][tabla]
[melody end]
if you play sameTihai with 3 beats gap it fits in 11 beats
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11][lyrics]
[D1T4D1G1|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1|D1---|D1T4D1G1|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1|D1---|D1T4D1G1|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1][tabla]
[melody end]
if you play same Tihai with 5 beats gap it fits in 12 beats
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12][lyrics]
[D1T4D1G1|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1|D1---|--D1T4|D1G1D1T4|D1G1T2N1|K1N1D1-|----|D1T4D1G1|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1][tabla]
[melody end]
So in this way if you remember first Tihai of Zaptaal with 1 beat gap you can play same tihai with 3 beats gap which perfectly fits into next ( 10 + 1 = 11 ) beat taal & if you play same tihai with 5 beats gaps it perfectly fits in next to next ( 10 + 1 + 1 = 12 ) beat taal

4. Fourth Tihai pattern

13 beats Tihai, it is a Tihai of 13 beats taal which we will play in CHATUSHRA jati ( i.e. 4 beats in 1 beat )
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13][lyrics]
[D1T4D1G1|D2N1G1N1|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1|D1-D1T4|D1G1D2N1|G1N1D1T4|D1G1T2N1|K1N1D1-|D1T4D1G1|D2N1G1N1|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1][tabla]
[melody end]
If you play sameTihai with 3 beats gap it fits in 14 beats
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14][lyrics]
[D1T4D1G1|D2N1G1N1|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1|D1---|D1T4D1G1|D2N1G1N1|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1|D1---|D1T4D1G1|D2N1G1N1|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1][tabla]
[melody end]
If you play same Tihai with 5 beats gap it fits in 15 beats
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15][lyrics]
[D1T4D1G1|D2N1G1N1|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1|D1---|--D1T4|D1G1D2N1|G1N1D1T4|D1G1T2N1|K1N1D1-|----|D1T4D1G1|D2N1G1N1|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1][tabla]
[melody end]
So in this way if you remember first Tihai of 13 beat taal with 1 beat gap you can play same tihai with 3 beats gap which perfectly fits into next ( 13 + 1 = 14 ) beat taal & if you play same tihai with 5 beats gaps it perfectly fits in next to next ( 13 + 1 + 1 = 15 ) beat taal

Conclusion is if you remember below four Tihai patterns you will be able to play tihai from 4 beat taal to 15 beats taal.

4 Beats taal Tihai
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4][lyrics]
[D1D1T4T8|D1-D1D1|T4T8D1-|D1D1T4T8][tabla]
[melody end]
7 Beats Roopak taal Tihai
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4|5|6|7][lyrics]
[D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1|D1-D1T4|D1G1T2N1|K1N1D1-|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1][tabla]
[melody end]
10 Beats Zaptaal Tihai
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10][lyrics]
[D1T4D1G1|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1|D1-D1T4|D1G1D1T4|D1G1T2N1|K1N1D1-|D1T4D1G1|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1][tabla]
[melody end]
13 Beats taal Tihai
[melody start]
[1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13][lyrics]
[D1T4D1G1|D2N1G1N1|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1|D1-D1T4|D1G1D2N1|G1N1D1T4|D1G1T2N1|K1N1D1-|D1T4D1G1|D2N1G1N1|D1T4D1G1|T2N1K1N1][tabla]
[melody end]

Check my other post on how to create multiple Tihais from single Tihai
http://vishwamohini.com/music/music.php?id=177

Combining these two techniques you can easily play many Tihais in taal which you have never learnt.

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