# Cycles

In Hindustani music a rhythm is a cycle called a tāl. It has a fixed number of beats, split into sections, with a clap (sam and the claps) on some and a wave (khali) on others. Here only the first beat of each section sounds; the strokes are on the Tabla and Madal pages.

> Lesson 8 of 12.
>
> - You learn: To hold a long cycle of 6 to 16 beats in your head by its sections, and to know where the first beat (sam) falls.
> - Why now: A timeline repeats every bar or two. Indian tāl uses the grouping idea from lesson 5 on cycles of up to sixteen beats, with a name for each section. It comes once you can hold a repeating pattern.
> - You need: Lesson 5: counting in groups.

The small marker over each section is its sign: X is sam (the first beat, the strongest), 0 is khali (a wave, the open feel), and the numbers are the later claps.

## Six and eight

**Dadra (6)**

    hits     x . . x . .

In notation: a tal has no time signature, because its sections are not bars of a time signature but the divisions of the cycle. Each section of the tal is drawn as a bar, so the sections you see in the grid become the barlines, and each beat is a quarter note or a quarter rest.

**Kaharba (8)**

    hits     x . . . x . . .

> Kaharba is eight beats in two fours, but most Kaharba grooves feel like 3-3-2 inside. That is the tresillo again, in another tradition's clothes.

## Seven and ten

**Rupak (7)**

    hits     x . . x . x .

**Jhaptaal (10)**

    hits     x . x . . x . x . .

## Twelve and fourteen

**Ektaal (12)**

    hits     x . x . x . x . x . x .

**Chautaal (12)**

    hits     x . . . x . . . x . x .

**Deepchandi (14)**

    hits     x . . x . . . x . . x . . .

**Dhamar (14)**

    hits     x . . . . x . x . . x . . .

## Sixteen

**Teentaal (16)**

    hits     x . . . x . . . x . . . x . . .

1. Count the cycle aloud and clap on sam, 1.
2. Add the sections: clap the first beat of each, say the others.
3. Wave on the khali instead of clapping.
4. Play it on the Tabla or Madal page with the real bols.

## Self-check

- Count Teentaal 16 beats without losing sam
- Clap and wave Dadra: clap on 1, wave on 4
- Count Rupak 3-2-2 and Jhaptaal 2-3-2-3 until the length feels natural

## Play it on your instrument

- Tabla: Keherwa, dadra and teentaal with sam, khali and the bols; more cycles on the classical list. (Main taals, More classical taals)
- Madal: The same cycles adapted for the madal: dadra, kaharba, rupak and jhaptaal. (Tabla taals on the madal)

All instruments: apply.html