[Listening extract audio not available in printed QP] QP Music skeleton score: see Insert. Read questions below. In a North Indian performance, one musician...
Question 1 Report
[Listening extract audio not available in printed QP]
QP Music skeleton score: see Insert. Read questions below.
In a North Indian performance, one musician plays a plucked string instrument with a long neck and gourd resonator. Another maintains a repeating rhythmic cycle on hand drums.
(a) Name the plucked string instrument. [1]
(b) What term describes the repeating rhythmic cycle? [1]
[Total: 2 marks]
Answer Details
(a) The plucked string instrument is the sitar. [1]
The sitar is the most recognisable instrument of North Indian (Hindustani) classical music. It has a long neck with movable frets, a large gourd resonator at the base, and typically 18-21 strings, including melody strings, drone strings, and sympathetic strings that vibrate in resonance. The player plucks the main melody string with a wire plectrum (mizrab) worn on the index finger. The curved frets allow the player to bend notes by pulling the string sideways, producing the characteristic slides and ornaments (meend, gamak) essential to raga performance.
(b) The repeating rhythmic cycle is called a tala. [1]
Tala is the system of rhythmic organisation in Indian classical music. A tala is a fixed cycle of beats, divided into groups, that repeats throughout a performance. The tabla player maintains the tala while the soloist improvises over it. Common talas include tintal (16 beats in groups of 4+4+4+4), jhaptal (10 beats), and rupak (7 beats). The first beat of the cycle is called sam, and performers aim to arrive back at sam together after passages of improvisation, creating moments of rhythmic convergence.
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