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Taal · 10 matras

झपतालJhaptaal

Ten matras, grouped two and three, two and three: a short step and a long one, and the lilt that comes of it.

  • 10 matras
  • 4 vibhags: 2 + 3 + 2 + 3
  • X 2 0 3
  • Khayal, gats, bandishes
X203DhiNaDhiDhiNaTiNaDhiDhiNa10matrasPractise with it on Meend’s tabla →
84 madhya
About these soundsMeend makes the harmonium and santoor sounds itself. They aren’t recordings of real instruments, so they sound close, but not quite the same. They are here to let you hear how the swaras go.The tanpura and tabla are recordings of real ones.

Jhaptaal has ten matras in four vibhags of two, three, two and three. Where Teentaal walks in even steps, Jhaptaal limps beautifully: short, long, short, long. It is a taal for khayal in madhya laya, for bandishes and for instrumental gats, and once its gait is in your body, every phrase you play in it seems to lean forward.

The theka

  1. X
    1. 1Dhi
    2. 2Na
  2. 2
    1. 3Dhi
    2. 4Dhi
    3. 5Na
  3. 0
    1. 6Ti
    2. 7Na
  4. 3
    1. 8Dhi
    2. 9Dhi
    3. 10Na

Each vibhag ends on Na, and the long vibhags begin with a doubled Dhi Dhi: say it aloud, Dhi Na, Dhi Dhi Na, and the taal's whole shape is there. On the 6th matra the khali vibhag, Ti Na, drops the bayan's bass, and Dhi Dhi Na brings it back to lead into sam.

Counting with the hands

Clap, clap, wave, clap, as for Teentaal, X 2 0 3, but the spaces between them are uneven: two matras, then three, then two, then three. Sam on the 1st matra, talis on the 3rd and 8th, khali on the 6th.

  1. XClap: sammatras 1–2
  2. 2Clapmatras 3–5
  3. 0Wavematras 6–7
  4. 3Clapmatras 8–10

Counting it on the fingers is the best way to feel the two-and-three: one two, one two three.

The bols

BolHow it is playedOn
TinThe dayan between the rim and the black syahi, ringingDayan
GeThe bayan, open: the bass, its pitch bent by the heel of the handBayan
DhiTin and Ge at once (Dhin, said short)Both
NaThe dayan’s rim, struck with the tip of the index finger, lifted at once so it ringsDayan
TiAs Tin; inside TiRaKiTa, a closed stroke on the syahiDayan

Jhaptaal's theka is spare: four bols, Dhi, Na, Ti and the bayan under Dhi. Its character is all in where they fall.

How fast it is played

Jhaptaal lives mostly in madhya laya, from about 60 to 140 matras a minute: khayals, bandishes and gats. It is also played slower, and faster for drut compositions, but its lilt is clearest in the middle.

Layakari: dugun, tigun, chaugun

Dugun: two to each matra
  1. X
    1. 1DhiNa
    2. 2DhiDhi
  2. 2
    1. 3NaTi
    2. 4NaDhi
    3. 5DhiNa
  3. 0
    1. 6DhiNa
    2. 7DhiDhi
  4. 3
    1. 8NaTi
    2. 9NaDhi
    3. 10DhiNa
Tigun: three to each matra
  1. X
    1. 1DhiNaDhi
    2. 2DhiNaTi
  2. 2
    1. 3NaDhiDhi
    2. 4NaDhiNa
    3. 5DhiDhiNa
  3. 0
    1. 6TiNaDhi
    2. 7DhiNaDhi
  4. 3
    1. 8NaDhiDhi
    2. 9NaTiNa
    3. 10DhiDhiNa
Chaugun: four to each matra
  1. X
    1. 1DhiNaDhiDhi
    2. 2NaTiNaDhi
  2. 2
    1. 3DhiNaDhiNa
    2. 4DhiDhiNaTi
    3. 5NaDhiDhiNa
  3. 0
    1. 6DhiNaDhiDhi
    2. 7NaTiNaDhi
  4. 3
    1. 8DhiNaDhiNa
    2. 9DhiDhiNaTi
    3. 10NaDhiDhiNa

In tigun the uneven vibhags and the threes run against each other in a way that is hard to count and lovely to hear: play it slowly first.

A tihai

TiRaKiTa Dha, a matra's rest, three times: eight matras. To land on sam it begins on the 4th matra, the second of the first long vibhag.

1st avartan

  1. X
    1. 1Dhi
    2. 2Na
  2. 2
    1. 3Dhi
    2. 4Dhi
    3. 5Na
  3. 0
    1. 6Ti
    2. 7Na
  4. 3
    1. 8Dhi
    2. 9Dhi
    3. 10Na

2nd avartan

  1. X
    1. 1Dhi
    2. 2Na
  2. 2
    1. 3Dhi
    2. 4TiRaKiTa
    3. 5Dha
  3. 0
    1. 6–
    2. 7TiRaKiTa
  4. 3
    1. 8Dha
    2. 9–
    3. 10TiRaKiTa

3rd avartan

  1. X
    1. 1Dha
    2. 2Na
  2. 2
    1. 3Dhi
    2. 4Dhi
    3. 5Na
  3. 0
    1. 6Ti
    2. 7Na
  4. 3
    1. 8Dhi
    2. 9Dhi
    3. 10Na

For the flute

Start the tabla, then play these: they begin with its next sam.

One swara to a matra, in Jhaptaal's twos and threes
SRGMPMGRS–
Two to a matra
SRGMPDNSSNDPMGRS–

Let the long vibhags breathe: the third swara of each is where the taal's lilt sits.

Questions

How many matras does Jhaptaal have?

Ten, in vibhags of two, three, two and three. Its signs are X 2 0 3.

Which matra is khali in Jhaptaal?

The 6th, where Ti Na is played without the bayan's bass.

How is Jhaptaal different from Sooltaal?

Both have ten matras. Sooltaal, a pakhawaj taal of dhrupad, counts them in five vibhags of two; Jhaptaal, the tabla's, in two and three, two and three.