I was a little confused as to how and when a tihai can be used. I know that it is used for effect, especially at a climactic point in a song. I don't, however, understand how it fits, for example, in tin taal. I think of Tin taal as 4 sets of 4 beats making up the total 16 beats.
1) dha dhin dhin dha
2) dha dhin dhin dha
3) dha tin tin ta
4) ta dhin dhin dha
so then when do you start the tihai? If you start it on the 1st beat (of the 16), then won't you only "use up" the first 12 beats (the first 3 sets of 4)? When i hear a tihai in tin taal, i hear something like. .
dha tirakita DHA
dha tirakita DHA
dha tirakita DHA dhin dhin dha. .and so on.
so the tihai doesn't fit in 16 beats then, it fits in only 12 right?. .unless you start on the 5th note and go up to beat 16 i guess, but i'm not sure whether that's what you do. If anyone can help, i'd greatly appreciate it. thanks. .
Getting down to basics, a tihai is any phrase repeated three times, with the goal of creating a cadential effect.
A tihai can start on any beat and end on any beat. However, in common performance practice, tihais generally end on sam (beat one). So, assuming this, then a tihai is a phrase repeated three times, starting on ANY BEAT, that ends on sam. After this, it's just a question of mathematics and musicality.
kjaan (Dec 31, 2003 03:50 a.m.):
Can someone give me couple of Dadra tihai's. Thanks
Dear Kjaan,
Tiha�s are not related to taal cycle. All Tiha�s can be played in all cycles, you just need to make them fit in starting on different beat. So, by "dadra" I assume you mean a six beat tiha� (wich can fit into tintal starting on beat 11 or rupak tal on beat 2 etc�).
Example 1 :
dha dha, dha - , - dha, dha dha, - - , dha dha, dha
Example 2 :
tirakita, dha - , - tira, kita dha, - - , tirakita, dha
Example 3 :
dha tirakitataka, dha - - (gin, - te) dha tira, kitataka dha - , - (gin - te) , dha tirakitataka, dha
Example 1, 2 and 3 share the same structure, the density of the phrases are simply increased. In example 3 "gin - te" is there only to fill the gap and is not part of the tiha�'s phrase.
If the speed of the cycle is too fast to play these tiha�s you can also play them half the speed wich make them twice as long. They now would fit into 2 cycles (12 beats).
Example 3 (modified)
dha tira, kitataka, dha - , - (gin , - te), dha tira, kitataka, dha - , - (gin , - te), dha tira, kitataka, dha
The same tiha� played in tintal would now start on beat 5 or on beat 3 in rupak tal etc�
kjaan (Dec 31, 2003 08:58 p.m.):
Thank you Gabriel for the above tihai's. Is Tirekitataka played tire kit ta ta ke or teri kit ta ke?
Dear Kjaan,
As you surely know, there is several ways of playing this particular phrase depending on the garhana you are studying. But here is one way that works well for me.
tirakitataka :
ti (right middle)
ra (right index)
ki (left)
ta (right middle and ring)
ta (right index)
ka (left)
You can also play it in any way you want as long as you like what you here and feel. So if you want to put some harmonic strokes in there, then you should.
