A Theka (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Brahmic family, Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that ...

: Ṭhekā) literally means "support, prop". The term also refers to a musical composition in

classical Indian music Indian classical music is the art music, classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It is generally described using terms like ''Shastriya Sangeet'' and ''Marg Sangeet''. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as ...

for percussion instruments that establish a rhythm ('' Chanda''), beats (''Matras'') and the metric cycle of beats ('' Tala'') in a performance. An example is the theka of Dadra Tal: "Dha Dhi Na / Na Ti Na". A ''theka'' is the basic rhythmic phrase of a particular ''tala''. It is the underlying repeated pattern that shapes the time cycle of a musical expression.Kayal
Encyclopædia Britannica, Quote: "The rhythm of the melodic performance is nonmetric, but the percussion accompaniment is cast in a tala, and the time cycle is shaped by the repeated pattern (theka) performed by the accompanist." ''Theka'' is a term used by the drummers such as the ''

tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

'' players.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * *{{cite book, first=Emmie, last=Te Nijenhuis , author-link=Emmie te Nijenhuis , title=Indian Music: History and Structure , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NrgfAAAAIAAJ , year=1974, publisher= BRILL Academic, isbn=90-04-03978-3 Indian classical music Hindustani music terminology Carnatic music terminology

See also

References

Bibliography