Teentaal (alternatively spelled tintal, teental, or tintaal, and also called trital; Hindi:
तीन ताल) is the most common ''
taal'' of
Hindustani music
Hindustani classical music is the Indian classical music, classical music of the Indian subcontinent's northern regions. It may also be called North Indian classical music or ''Uttar Bhartiya shastriya sangeet''. The term ''shastriya sangeet'' ...
, and is used for ''drut'' (fast tempo). It is symmetrical and presents a very simple rhythmic structure against which a performance can be laid.
''It is of 16 beats'' with 4/4/4/4/ pattern and 4 divisions.There are 3 claps(tali) and 1 gap(khali).
Arrangement
Teentaal has sixteen (16) beats
in four equal divisions (
Vibhag
'Vibhag' (in music) represents a duration of rhythmic phrasing in Indian classical music made up of a certain number of beats. They are the rough equivalent of bars in western music, but instead of always being equal subdivisions of the tala (the ...
). The period between every two beats is equal. The first beat out of 16 beats is called ''sam'' and the 9th beat is called ''khali'' ('empty'). To count the Teentaal, the audience claps on the first beat, claps on the 5th beat, then waves on the 9th beat and lastly again claps on the 13th beat; these three claps (
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
''teen'' 'three' + ''taal'' 'clap') give the rhythm its name.
Uses
Teentaal can be used for both accompaniment and solo. There are various Kaidas and Parans based on it. Teentaal is the most widely used taal. Teentaal is mostly used in the drut laya and Zhalas.
Theka:
DHA DHIN DHIN DHA ,
DHA DHIN DHIN DHA ,
NA TIN TIN TA ,
TETE DHIN DHIN DHA ,
Theka
मात्रा भाग : ४-४-४-४.
धा धिं धिं धा - धा धिं धिं धा - धा तिं तिं ता - ता धिं धिं धा
It has a characteristic pattern of
bols (theka).
This can also be shown using the following figure
Note the bols used for the first beat of each division: Dha, a bol involving both hands, is played at the beginning of the first, second and final divisions; for the khali section, Naa – a right hand bol – is used to indicate that the division is open. There are some pedagogical variations as to the actual syllables pronounced when reciting the bol, most of which occur in the final two vibhags.
Also note that this variation is from the Lucknow Gherana.
References
{{Hindustani Classical Music page end
Hindustani talas