Notation Reference

Swaras

Komal (flat) swaras are lower case; shuddh and teevra are capitalised. Plain style keeps only the first letter.

• Shuddh SaSa
• Komal Rere
• Shuddh ReRe
• Komal Gaga
• Shuddh GaGa
• Shuddh Mama
• Teevra MaMa
• Shuddh PaPa
• Komal Dhadha
• Shuddh DhaDha
• Komal Nini
• Shuddh NiNi

Octaves

A leading apostrophe lowers, trailing apostrophes raise. The same marks apply inside ornament brackets.

• Mandra (low)'Sa
  Leading apostrophe.
• Madhya (middle)Sa
  No mark.
• Taar (high)Sa'
  Trailing apostrophe.
• Ati taar (higher)Sa''
  Two trailing apostrophes.

Beats

• Rest-
  Also used for an empty beat.
• Chikarix
  A drone-string stroke.
• Several notes in a beatSa Re ga
  Space separated, in order. Subdivision timing is not written.

Ornaments

Position decides the meaning of a reused glyph: a tilde or parentheses before the swara are meend arrival or kan; after the swara they are andolan or touch swaras.

• Kan(Ni)Sa
  One grace note struck just before the main note. Written in parentheses before the swara.
• Krintan{Sa Re}Ga
  A hammered or pulled run leading into the main note. Written in braces before the swara.
• Murki{^Ni Re}Sa
  A quick turn around the note. ^ means from above, v from below; the turn's swaras may follow the direction.
• AndolanSa~
  A slow, wide sway on the note. A tilde after the swara.
• VibratoSa%
  A quick, narrow shake on the note. A percent sign after the swara.
• GamakSa^
  A heavy oscillation approached from above. A caret after the swara.
• Touch swarasSa(Re Ga)
  Pitches grazed on the way out of the note, before the next one. Written in parentheses after the swara.
• Meend~Ga
  A glide arriving at this note from the previous one. A tilde before the whole token; the start note is left unmarked.
• Accent>Sa
  Play the note with emphasis. A > before the whole token, after any meend tilde.
• Da / RaSa[Da]
  Sitar and sarod right-hand strokes: Da inward, Ra outward. In brackets after the token.
• BowingSa[⊓]
  Bowed instruments: ⊓ down-bow, V up-bow, ' a new bow (direction unmarked). In brackets after the token.

Document layout

• Vibhag
  | Vibhag | X | | | | 2 |
  Markdown puts the vibhag signs in the table's header row. Plain starts each vibhag with | and its sign.
• Matra and bol rows
  | Matra | 1 | 2 | …
  Markdown adds a matra-number row and a theka-bol row under the header. Plain has neither.
• Line label
  | Sthayi | Sa | …
  The line's type, or the custom type text. A line inside a tihai is labelled Tihai first.
• Alap and palta lines
  - Sthayi: Sa Re Ga
  No table and no vibhag marks; notes in order.
• Legend
  _Legend: (Sa) kan · ~Sa meend_
  Lists only the ornament types present, in the order above. Omitted when the composition has none.

Not written

These parts of a composition have no text form yet.

• Subdivision timing
  Notes in a subdivided beat appear, their durations do not.
• Tihai structure
  Lines are labelled Tihai, but the three-fold boundaries are not marked.
• Line repeat counts
• Lyrics
• Tempo marks
  Only the section BPM is written.
• Recordings and practice data