In my Sitar lesson today, I have learnt the following aspects :

  • All the while I have been doing taans where the striking patter is “DA-RA-DA-RA..”. I have been practicing Malkauns for the past few months. The composition starts on the 9th beat. My taan pattern has always been to start the taan on the 2nd beat with the pattern “DA-RA-DA-RA..” Today guruji taught me the importance of following “DA-RA-DA”, “DA-RA-DA” pattern. In let’s say 6 beats,you can play 12 matras. For example “SS|SG|GG|MM|MG|GG”, there are 12 matras in 6 beats.  The striking pattern in “DR|DD|RD|DR|DD|RD”

  • Learnt the pattern : “DR|DD|RD|RD|DR”

  • Learnt the pattern : “DR|DD|R.|DR|DD|R.|”

  • Whenever one has to lift the finger to pay “MD|DD|MN|NN|MS|SS|”, one must always lift the finger and place the middle finger on the string for striking the note

  • In a taan, there must always be a central character. The notes should oscillate, flirt with the notes around the central character. In Malkauns, it is generally the “M”. Or the pakad for Malkauns

  • Pakad Malkauns -  ‘n S g m g S ‘n S ’d ‘n ’d ’m ’d ‘n S

It was nice learning experience today where guruji taught me the importance of variation. I intend to practice these variations and create some new taans