Compositions
Explore compositions through their lyrics, meanings, notation and musical structure.
How to read a compositionBrowse compositions
126 entriesReading a composition
Read the song through three connected layers: the words, their meaning, and their placement in the tala. Sthayi and antara name sections of the composition; the number and treatment of sections depend on the musical form.
This library uses one set of note signs. An explanation appears immediately before each score. A syllable can extend over several notes, and a word can continue into the next cycle.
Identify the entry beat, follow the phrase to sam, and notice how the section returns. The explanations below each score describe these joins without changing the original lyric or notation cells.
Lyrics, notation and section returns
Three layers to read
The lyric answers “what words are sung?” Transliteration helps a reader approach their sound. Translation explains their meaning. None of these, alone, says how long a syllable lasts or which note it carries. Those belong in the score and performance.
Reading notation
S R G M P D N are shuddha notes, r g d n are komal notes, and M^ is tivra Ma. ↑ marks the upper octave and ↓ the lower; unmarked notes are in the middle octave. — continues the previous sound, · marks an unsung position, and parentheses indicate grace notes.
Words across beats
A word can extend across several matras or divisions. Keep the readable word intact in the lyric panel and show its syllabic placement separately in the score. A held vowel is not a new word. A swara-syllable passage can be part of a composition without having a poetic translation.
Learn the composition
Learn the words, repeats and melodic turns together so that the composition remains a coherent musical whole.
Test on the worked example
Open Sab gunijan Iman gaat. Compare the readable lyric with the beat table. Notice the two wordless swara rows and the separate supplied grace-note and connection map. Read that map with the principal-note table; neither replaces a teacher’s demonstration of vocal inflection.
Reading notation
S R G M P D N are shuddha notes, r g d n are komal notes, and M^ is tivra Ma. ↑ marks the upper octave and ↓ the lower; unmarked notes are in the middle octave. — continues the previous sound, · marks an unsung position, and parentheses indicate grace notes.
Lyrics and syllable rows
Full lyric text, Roman transliteration, meaning and beat-aligned syllables serve different purposes. Syllable rows use Roman letters or Devanagari; each cell shows their timing, holds and repetitions. Case such as D in a lyric transliteration must not be interpreted as a swara outside the score's notation layer.
Reading in Hindi
The English and Hindi pages use the same note symbols, octave arrows and duration signs. Hindi meanings explain the lyrics without changing the music.
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