One thing I’ve struggled with while learning Tabla is properly documenting compositions and practice material after lessons — especially with a busy work life.

A lot of times I’d learn something from my teacher, quickly note it down somewhere, and tell myself I’d clean it up later. But after a long workday, that “later” usually never came.

Weeks later I’d end up:

forgetting parts of the composition

struggling to read my own shorthand

or digging through notebooks, PDFs, screenshots, and random documents trying to find old material again

Over time I realized the actual learning wasn’t the hard part — consistently organizing and revisiting the material was.

So I started building a desktop tool called SwarTaal mainly to make Tabla notation faster, cleaner, and easier to revisit during riyaaz sessions.

Still refining it, but before going further I genuinely wanted to ask the community:

How are you all currently documenting and organizing your Tabla material?

And what part of the process feels the most frustrating or time-consuming?

Hi community,

Let me give you a background. I was browsing through some instruments that give a Nordic feel (droning strings with a mystical vibe) like the Hurdy Gurdy/Nyckelharpa and thought why not look closer to home. I was introduced to the Sarangi at first and finally to the Dilruba, which has stolen my heart.

1. I am a pianist and I used to play in school for over a decade but I still want your opinion. I strongly believe I have some musicality in me. I am not an avid Hindustani classical music listener but I imagine I can play some great European melodies, discover Hindustani classical music and I LOVE how it sounds. I know one cannot really rationalize this but should I go for the Dilruba? Does it take

2. I live in Mumbai. Where do I buy it from? I found Sikh Music Studio in Ludhiana and it looks good but I can't tell if their quality is as good. What do you recommend? And most importantly, who do I learn it from in Mumbai? Is learning online good enough?

My research results have been sparse and confusing. Do let me know. Even links are very helpful.

I've been learning and practicing in a 'guru shishya parampara' for the last 5 years. How do I or someone like me start performing on stage given they have no generational legacy or contacts to start with as leverage?

I'm working on a computational project and generated this melody algorithmically. No human performance - the notes, durations, and phrase structure are all system output. I want to know if the raga character is recognisable without being told what it is. Does this sound like a specific raga to you? Does the melodic movement feel grammatically coherent or does something feel off?

Note for context: the system currently works at the symbolic MIDI level only -there are no ornaments (no andolan, no meend), no tala, and no dynamic variation. Everything you hear is note selection, duration hierarchy, and phrase structure. I'm specifically interested in whether the grammar is recognisable despite what's missing, not whether it sounds like a finished performance.

If the above link doesnt work for you, try this: https://voca.ro/1mkXF2Mu2dcf

I'm totally new to Indian classical singing, just knowing some basics. I'm really having trouble perfecting my SA. Right now I'm comfortable with safed1 SA(C1) , but when I start after stopping or talking it (my voice) totally goes out of tune. Then I need another 5 mins just to get to that baseline again. Also can someone give me tips on how to perfect 1 saptak ( completing sa re ga ma pa dha ne sa) according to scale

Right now I am using tanpura app and another app to know about the tune of my voice.

Any help is really appreciated🙏🏻

I recently bought c sharp carnatic flute and im not able figure out finger placement chart, I saw chart which are completely different from each other, can you help me figure out this?

Thank you

Hello people of Pune!

I'm looking for fellow musicians who are interested in doing riyaz together. I would love to meet y'all this weekend if possible for a Riyaz session. :)

Please don't hesitate to DM me in case this is of interest to you.

Hi everyone! Does anyone have any recommendations of Indian children’s songs I can share with students? I’ve been showing them a lot of music around the world lately and have been working on a project for my grad school project and have been struggling to find children songs from India. I know some of my kids have asked for songs in Tamil, I just would like some help and/or recommendations. I teach elementary school and love when kids get excited about hearing a song in a language they know :) if you know of any books with Indian children’s songs in it as well that would be so appreciated!

I'm fascinated by konnakol.

Is there anything like Konnakol in Hindustani classical music?

Hello! I have been looking for singing classes online or in person (Edmonton, Canada) for Hindustani music. Please let me know if anyone is aware of any teachers who I could contact. Thank you!!

Hey, I am a 17 year old girl, I really wanna learn hindustani classical singing, especially vocals, I am a complete noob at it.

Can you please refer a teacher who can help me with my goals online

It's always struck me that the term 'Kauns' is used inconsistently, with various definitions offered depending on who you ask. So I decided to analyse all 65 ragas I could find with variants of 'Kauns/Kaunsi' in the title, including direct input from artists of various gharanas. Here's what I found...

—Full writeup with listening links: What does ‘Kauns’ mean? A brief survey of all known Kaunsi ragas

https://preview.redd.it/4cn6o5bz2tyg1.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=9b962ffe48af46ed7b892b859706c56ded68abe8

"Perhaps the ragascape’s most famous suffix, the term ‘Kauns’ is nevertheless fraught with complications. Traditionally, the presence of ‘Kauns’ in a raga’s name simply indicated that it ‘drew from Malkauns’ – but today, the term also seems to encompass a broader set of meanings. Multiple overlapping definitions have been offered, but none quite seem to capture the full character of how ‘Kauns’ is used today.

For example, Chandrakantha states that it is “generally used to represent 5-note ragas”, and Ocean of Ragas points to common factors such as “a pentatonic scale [comprising] shuddha ma with komal or shuddha ga, dha, and ni”, adding that “some have 5 notes in aroha, and 6 or 7 in avroh…and some examples have tivra Ma”. Rajan Parrikar notes that “in most formulations, the Malkauns template serves as the starting point, but occasionally a Kauns prakar may instead be informed by its mannerisms” – while Surajit Bose offers the following summary: “Narrowly defined, ‘Kauns’ implies an aroha-avroh of ‘Ga-Ma-Dha-Ni‘, [although] each member of the family may take a different permutation of shuddha and komal…and Madhukauns dares to be different”.

All of these definitions are helpful, and none are misleading – but concise elaboration still seems elusive. Perhaps the term itself is now too diffuse to be usefully defined: the ‘Kauns zone’ is evolving rapidly, with dozens of fresh forms having been created over the past few generations, many of which appear to share little resemblance. Or perhaps the term still carries specific meaning – after all, artists choose their raga names carefully, and still consider the term to bring something vital.

If the meaning of a word is its use in the language, the only way to bring clarity is via direct study of how the term ‘Kauns’ is actually used in the modern ragascape. So I gathered every known raga with ‘Kauns, Kaunsi, Kosh, Kaushik’ in the title (see Etymology), along with anything I could find about the origins of their names and melodic combinations. Whatever this process may reveal, it’s a great excuse to listen to some rare and strange Kaunsis…

https://preview.redd.it/tklq15y04tyg1.png?width=1008&format=png&auto=webp&s=ceb786fc0c4343e7b6ebf31a17d328149837bc48

• SUMMARY OF THE 'KAUNS ZONE' •

—Typically, the term still implies the vital presence of Malkauns – although a surprising number of recent creations come directly from its derivative Chandrakauns instead (SgmdNS), and a few take their suffix from Madhukauns (SgMPnS). By my reckoning, 42 of the 65 Kauns ragas can be classed as direct Malkauns offshoots, while 18 of the rest derive primarily from Chandrakauns – with a few more via Madhukauns.

—In practice, this means that the raganga can be summarised via four ‘core sequences’: Sgm (Malkauns-ang); SgM (Madhukauns-ang); dnS (Malkauns-ang); dNS (Chandrakauns-ang) – with all known Kaunsi ragas containing at least one of these sangatis except the outlying Amirkhani Kauns (which may not even have been designated as a ‘Kauns’ by its creator).

—Inversely, it also seems that virtually every raga which does draw significantly from Malkauns will include ‘Kauns/Kaushik’ somewhere in its title – indicating that artists still consider Malkauns to deserve name recognition when it appears in a mixed concoction.

—The principle that ‘Kauns ragas match the generic swaras Sa-Ga-Ma-Dha-Ni’ appears to be weakening, with less than half the ragas limiting themselves to this grouping (26/65)...Inversely, almost all the ‘Sa-Ga-Ma-Dha-Ni’ ragas from the Megalist do include ‘Kauns’ in their name, with the only notable exception being Hindol (considered to overlap with the historical Malkauns lineage, hence the Carnatic equivalent being known as ‘Hindolam’). Thus, we should flip the original statement round: i.e. it is more accurate to say that ‘Sa-Ga-Ma-Dha-Ni = Kauns’, rather than vice versa.

—Every single raga on the list includes some form of ma – and all but 5 feature shuddha ma (unsurprising given its status as Malkauns’ vadi). Aside from Madhukauns, the ‘tivra Ma only’ cases are all rare (Harikauns, Tivrakauns, Nirmalkauns, & Amirkhani Kauns). Similarly, if the Kauns element is present in poorvang, komal ga will be prominent: due to the presence of this swara in all three of Malkauns, Chandrakauns, and Madhukauns. However, plenty of Kauns ragas do not feature komal ga (14/65), including those which constrain their Kauns elements to the upper scale (e.g. Sarangkauns)...and those which draw their komal ga from a non-Kauns source (e.g. Jog’s GmgS in Jogkauns).

SUMMARY: While this analysis may have uncovered some interesting trends and patterns, are we really any closer to a concise, useful definition of ‘Kauns’? And if not, does this matter? In the end, all I can say with confidence is that the term still ultimately means ‘derived from the Malkauns lineage’ – although today, almost a third of known Kauns ragas are ‘second-order derivatives’, formed directly from Chandrakauns rather than Malkauns (with a few ‘third-order’ examples arising from Madhukauns: itself formed via a ma-murchana of Chandrakauns).

The real aim of this inquiry is to bring the full variety of the Kauns family to broader attention, and to shine a spotlight into the rare corners of a rapidly-expanding zone of raga. Browse the full list of 65+ Kaunsis here – and don’t hesitate to send me your reflections or any Kaunsis I’ve missed! I know there must be more out there...

—FULL WRITEUP WITH SUMMARIES OF ALL 65 KAUNSIS—

Hey, looking for recommendations for Hindustani classical vocal classes in Mumbai.

I learnt for close to 10 years growing up (no formal exams), but then had a ~7 year break. Lately I’ve been getting back into listening and really want to restart properly.

One of my old teachers was trained under Pt. Ajay Chakrabarty, and listening to Kaushiki Chakrabarty recently kind of pushed me to take this seriously again. I would also really prefer classes in similar style

I’m not looking for super casual hobby classes, would prefer something structured, and maybe eventually give exams through an affiliated institute.

My workdays might be really hectic, so ideally would prefer classes with either flexible batches or weekday classes. Also a bit of a weird request, most places I have inquired usually have batches with kids, was hoping for one with maybe adult batches. I would also prefer offline classes

Would love to hear from anyone who’s been in a similar spot or has good teacher/institute recs.

Thanks!