Basics of Raag

I have written quite a bit about the theory and my reason is that I want people interested in learning Naats to actually get to reading Naats instead of spending too much time learning theory, getting bored and eventually given up. You will have to keep coming back to check up but it will take you a minimum of  two three visits to this page before you fully grasp everything that's written here.
You may just skim through this page if you want but if you don't understand this then you won't be able to use the next post which explains how you can use it to read Naats.

The Seven Surs. 

We have 7 names for the musical notes. All music theories have the same 7 notes with different names.

The Western and Arabic music system use the french names which go like this:

Do----Re---Mi---Fa---Sol---La---Si and back to Do.

The Indian Music system uses these names:

Sa---Ray---Ga---Ma---Pa---Da---Ni and back to Sa.

Below is a table which brings all these together:

To start learning Raag all you have to do is learn the names by heart forward and backward.

Now, if you went through my post History of Raag, then you are aware that I mentioned something about 7 or 12 notes. Well in this post I am going to explain to you what I meant.

There is one "Sa" and one "Pa". Everything else (Ray, Ga, Ma, Da, Ni) are all doubles. So two "Ray"s, two "Ga"s etc.

In the doubles we have names so we can tell the difference. So the first Ray is called Komal (which mean half) and the second is called Shudd (which means full) Ray. Although we tend not to say Shudd with the Shudd notes. So we would call the Komal Ray a "Komal Ray" but the Shudd Ray we would just call "Ray". The piano diagram below should make it easy to understand.

So the scale starts from "Sa" and goes like this:

Sa-Komal Re - Re - Komal Ga - Ga - Ma - Tivra Ma - Pa - Komal Da - Da - Komal Ni - Ni - Sa.

These names run throughout the piano and any musical instrument for that matter. On a piano you will see that there are two black keys then three black key. The same way  this pattern of the keys run through the whole piano, in exactly the same way the 12 notes keep running throughout to the end of the string or in this case the end of the piano. From one Sa to the next Sa is a whole scale which we would call a Saptak.

By combining these 12 notes in different ways we make different modes/scales/groups. A group is what we call a Raag. Each Raag is different and has its own mood when someone sings in that mode/group.  If there is something you don't understand in the picture or anything else, don't worry. You will fill in these gaps all by yourself as we learn more. For now just spot the names that I mentioned in the picture.

You might have also noticed that there is one note that is called "Tivra Ma" instead of "Komal". So I am going to explain it here.

The default scales goes like this: Sa - Re - Ga - Ma - Pa - Da - Ni - Sa.  All Shudds (Full Notes)

A few decades ago, the Shudd Ma (Ma on the picture)was the Komal Ma. Which meant that the Tivra Ma (on the picture) was the default. Please look at the picture to understand this before you read on.
Then the white people invaded and brought their musical system with them. So to make both musics work together the positions of the "Ma"s were changed.
The Komal Ma became the Shudd Ma (default) and the old Shudd Ma was now called Tivra Ma.
Phew! So after you've spent 2 years to learn that, you can look at the next paragraph.

So how do we make a Raag?

Well, here's an example. Its called Raag Bhairavi and it's one of the fundamental Raags that teachers start off with. It goes like this:

Sa - Komal Re - Komal Ga - Ma - Pa - Komal Da - Komal Ni - Sa.

Notice that we only used one of each. We did not use both Komal and Shudd forms in the same Raag. Both  forms are used in different conditions but that's for the advanced theory. Just remember that you cant use both forms of the same note in a Raag. For now.

So we understand the basics and we even made a Raag. If you sit on a Piano and play the notes of Raag Bhairavi you will notice that they all sound in place. Before learning the theory you were probably hitting both forms of the same note whenever you played which made it sound really bad. Well now you know better.

As this is a basics post I want to make a reference here about how I will write the names of the notes.

    Sa--Komal Re--Re--Komal Ga--Ga--Ma--Tivra Ma--Pa--Komal Da--Da--Komal Ni--Na--Sa.
 
    S           r            R           g          G      m          M        P            d          D        n            N      S


Please note that the Shudd Ma is noted with a lowercase "m" instead of a capital M.


So if you understood that then you know which Raag I am giving a reference to below. Which Raag is this?


                                                        S--r--g--m--P--d--n--S


Now that you understand the theory you want to know how you can use it to learn to sing Naats. Well for that all you have to do is click Here