Swar | स्वर | Notes

Let us consider the structure of any keyboard or harmonium ( हार्मोनीयम ) which you might have seen before as shown below.

See the above figure carefully.There are two type of keys with the colors black and white.We have only defined the notes for white keys.In western style of notation, we start from the note C followed by D,E,F,G,A,B and finally came back to C and the cycle goes on. In this notation the position of notes will remain same.

Key Concept - One of the most important concept is the difference between two notes. The difference between two adjacent keys is half note or semi-tone ( आधा स्वर ).

In western notation, position of notes remains same but that is not the case with Indian Classical Music although the relative difference between two notes is same.

Like, the difference between Sa (सा) and Re (रे) will always remain one note (एक स्वर). simillarly the difference between Re (रे) and Ga (गा) will also remain one note (एक स्वर).

Now the difference between Ga (गा) and Ma (मा) will be half note (आधा स्वर) and the process will remain same.

The key difference between western style and Indian style of notation is that the notes remains fixed in western notation but we can select any note as Sa (सा) in Indian notation and define the others on the basis of notes difference theory that we mentioned in key concept above. The Sa (सा) is decided on the basis of the range of voice in which a vocalist can sing without any strain.

Now we have defined the following notes ( स्वर) known as shudh swar (शुद्ध स्वर).

Now carefully see the diagram of keyboard or harmonium drawn above. What about the the black key or note between Sa and Re, also the note between Re and Ga and others. Let us define these notes now.

Komal Swar (कोमल स्वर)

The note between Sa and Re is known as Komal Re (कोमल रे) symbolized as (रे)or(Re) by underlining the note (swar).

Four notes Komal Re, Komal Ga, Komal Dha and Komal Ni ( Re , Ga , Dha , Ni ) are defined as half note below the actual shudh swar.

Now all the notes have been defined except the note between Ma and Pa. This note is defined as Teevra Ma (Ma') i.e. (तीव्र म).

Now the collection of notes Sa, Re, Re, Ga, Ga, Ma, Ma', Pa, Dha, Dha, Ni, Ni, Sa is called as one octave (सप्तक). Sometimes saptak is also defined as the collection of the shudh swars.