तीनतालTeentaal

Teentaal is sixteen matras long, in four vibhags of four. It is the first taal most students learn and the one they meet most often after: bandishes in drut khayal, the gats of the sitar, the sarod and the bansuri, bhajans and light classical songs. Its name says how it is counted: teen, three, for its three talis, the claps on the 1st, 5th and 13th matras. On the 9th the hand waves instead: that is khali, the empty one. Its old name, Tritaal, means the same.

Play it, and watch the ring above: the gold dot at the top is sam, where the cycle begins and where everything lands.

The theka

The theka is the tabla's way of saying a taal: one bol to each matra, so that anyone listening can tell where in the cycle the music is. Teentaal's is the most familiar in Indian music:

Listen to the third vibhag. From the 10th matra the bayan, the bass drum, falls silent: Tin Tin Ta Ta, the dayan alone, light and dry. At the 14th, Dhin brings the bayan back, and its round bass carries the cycle home to sam. That empty stretch is how a musician knows, without counting, that sam is near.

Some tabla players play the 13th matra as TeTe (two quick strokes) instead of Ta; Meend's tabla has both.

Counting with the hands

Before the tabla, a taal is kept with the hands. A clap marks sam and each tali; a wave of the hand, palm turned up and silent, marks khali; the matras between are counted on the fingers, little finger first. For Teentaal: clap, clap, wave, clap, the vibhags' signs written X 2 0 3.

Count along while it plays: clap on 1, touch fingers on 2, 3 and 4; clap on 5; wave on 9; clap on 13. Then try it without the tabla, saying the bols aloud, until the cycle is in your body and not on the page.

The bols

Each bol is a stroke, or two at once, on the tabla's two drums: the dayan (right, tuned to Sa) and the bayan (left, the bass).

Dha and Dhin are open: they ring, with the bayan's bass under them. Tin and Ta are the dayan alone. So the theka is not only a rhythm but a shape of sound: heavy and open, then light and closed, then heavy again into sam.

How fast it is played

Teentaal is played at every speed, and its character changes with the laya:

• Vilambit (slow, below about 60 matras a minute): the slow gats of the sitar and sarod, the masitkhani, and slow bandishes.
• Madhya (medium, about 60 to 140): most bandishes, bhajans, and the place to learn.
• Drut (fast, above about 140): fast gats and bandishes, and taans. In a jhala the tempo can climb far higher, the tabla thinning its strokes to keep up.

Set the tempo above, and the theka, the layakari and the exercises below all follow it.

Layakari: dugun, tigun, chaugun

Layakari is playing in a multiple of the laya while the taal's pace stays the same. In dugun (twice), two bols fill each matra, so the whole theka goes by twice in one avartan; in tigun three times, in chaugun four. The matras don't hurry: sam still comes round at the same moment, and that is the point of it.

For a bansuri player this is the heart of riyaz with a tabla: the same palta played one, two and four swaras to a matra, the theka steady under it.

A tihai

A tihai is a phrase played three times, timed so that its very last stroke falls on sam. It is how a taan, a tukda or a whole performance ends, and when it lands, the listener feels it.

The one below is TiRaKiTa Dha, then a matra's rest, three times: eight matras from its first stroke to its last. To land on sam it must begin on the 10th matra, so the theka is played up to the 9th, and the tihai takes the rest of the avartan and the sam after it.

Fitting a tihai is done by counting back from sam: its length, less one, back from the sam it is to land on. Longer phrases, gaps between them, or a phrase in dugun change the arithmetic, but never the rule.

For the flute

Start the tabla, then play these with it: the swaras keep to its beats, at the tempo you set, in your Sa.

Play each first with the theka at a slow madhya, until every swara sits exactly on its matra; then raise the tempo a little at a time. Count the vibhags on the hands while the tabla plays, and the taal will stay with you when it stops.

Questions

How many matras does Teentaal have?

Sixteen, in four vibhags of four. Its signs are X 2 0 3: sam on the 1st matra, talis on the 5th and 13th, khali on the 9th.

Why is it called Teentaal?

Teen means three: it has three talis (claps), on matras 1, 5 and 13. Its Sanskrit name, Tritaal, means the same.

Which matra is khali in Teentaal?

The 9th. From the 10th to the 13th the bayan is silent, and its return on the 14th leads back to sam.

How is Teentaal different from Tilwada and Addha?

All three have sixteen matras, counted X 2 0 3. Tilwada is for slow khayal, its theka heavy with TiRaKiTa; Addha has a lilting, swung feel, for thumri, ghazal and light music. Teentaal sits between them, plain and even, at home at any speed.