Notes and Rhythm- Two pillars of Classical Music

The two pillars, on which Indian Classical Music rests, are Notes i.e. what is traditionally called as Swara and Rhythm i.e. what we call as Taal. Indian Classical Music has been performed in various forms and they can be generally classified as performance accompanied by rhythm or performance without the rhythm. The general pattern which is followed these days is, at first, a little preface or introductory part is performed without the use of Indian Drums, commonly known as Tabla. This part generally propagates the mood of Raaga which the artist is performing. After this mood building part is over, a fixed composition is played in a particular rhythmatic cycle. These cycles have a fixed number of beats. Each Raaga has a flavor which is to be explored and which is to be put forward in front of the listeners. The next post will be discussing Notes in detail.