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Talas are rhythmic cycles in Indian music. Each word or rest in a tala is the same length. These words or rests are each equal to a beat. There are talas ranging from a 3 beat cycle to 108 beats within a cycle! The most popular talas have 5,6,7,8,10,12,14, and 16 beats to a cycle. There are also other cycles that are only played by outstanding musicans on rare occasions. Talas do not have a fixed tempo. They can be played at any speed.

The most common instrument for rhythm in Hindustani music is the tabla. In Carnatic music, the most common instrument is the mridangam. On tabla, the specific strokes and the sounds they produce are called bols. Each bol has a name that can be vocalized and written. Bols distinguish one tala from another even if the number of beats is the same.

Talas that have the same number of beats also differ by the division of the tala into sections and by accents. A tala does not necessarily have evenly divided sections. Beats have different degrees of emphasis within a tala, and are marked by a system of claps, waves, and movements of the fingers.

The most important point in a tala is the sam. The sam is the first beat of a tala, and is heavily emphasized. The sam is also the end of the rhythmic cycle because compositions always end on the downbeat. A soloist has to sound an important note of the raga on the sam. The sam is represented by the symbol "X" and marked by a clap.

The khali is the next most important after sam. Literally the "empty beat," it is the unaccented beat of the tala and the lack of accent is emphasized. It is always the first beat of a section. The khali is important because it shows the musician that the sam is approaching. It is written with the symbol "0" and marked by a wave.

Talas have other accented beats called tali, also marked by claps. They are not as heavily accented as the sam, but divide the tala into smaller sections as do the sam and khali. In written notation, the tali are numbered. The beats following the first beat of each section are indicated with digits that are greater than 0.

Bibliography

North Indian Talas. 28 May 2009 <http://www.ancient-future.com/theka.html>.

Shankar, Ravi. "On Appreciation of Indian Classical Music." Ravi Shankar. 2006. The Ravi Shankar Foundation. 28 May 2009 <http://www.ravishankar.org/indian_music.html>.

"Tala (music)." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 18 May 2009, 01:49 UTC. 28 May 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tala_(music)&oldid=290632324>.