Applied Music Theory Questions and Answers

Answer: B

Raga Bhupali is Sa Re Ga Pa Dha with all shuddha swaras. Making Re and Dha komal gives Sa Re(komal) Ga Pa Dha(komal), which is raga Vibhas (also called Bibhas), a morning raga of the Bhairav family.

Bhairavi and Todi are seven-note ragas and use komal Ga as well, and Vibhas is a definite named raga, so 'none of the above' is wrong. The answer is (B). Vibhas is a morning raga of the Bhairav thaat, while Bhupali belongs to the Kalyan thaat and is sung in the evening.

Answer: B

Raga Multani is Sa Re(komal) Ga(komal) Ma(tivra) Pa Dha(komal) Ni. Making Rishabh and Dhaivat shuddha gives Sa Re Ga(komal) Ma(tivra) Pa Dha Ni, which is raga Madhuvanti, an afternoon raga.

Gurjari (Gurjari Todi) keeps komal Re and Dha, so it is a Todi-type raga and not the result of this change. Bihag and Maru Bihag keep shuddha Ga, whereas the new scale has komal Ga. Only Madhuvanti fits, so the answer is (B).

Answer: C

The combination of Miya Malhar and Sarang creates Miya ki Sarang, a raga of the Sarang family that carries the colour of Miya Malhar, the monsoon raga attributed to Tansen. The answer is (C).

Jayant Malhar and Nat Malhar are blends of Malhar with other ragas (Jayjayvanti and Nat), and Shuddha Sarang is the plain Sarang without any Malhar element. So only Miya ki Sarang stands for the mixture named in the question.

Answer: A

The audav raga (five notes in the ascent, omitting Re and Dha) that uses both Gandhars is Jog. Both the shuddha and the komal Ga appear in its phrases, which is what gives the raga its character. The answer is (A).

Bhupali and Deshkar are pentatonic ragas that use only the shuddha Gandhar, and Jogia is a Bhairav-thaat raga with komal Re and Dha and a different scale. So only Jog fits the description. The Khamaj thaat, to which Jog belongs, has shuddha notes with komal Ni.

Answer: B

Bhupal Todi and Bilaskhani Todi have the same aroha, which is Sa Re(komal) Ga(komal) Pa Dha(komal) Sa; both are pentatonic in the ascent. The pair is (B).

Miya ki Malhar and Bahar differ in their notes and movements, Miya ki Todi and Multani have different aroha because Multani omits Re and Dha going up, and Yaman Kalyan and Puriya Kalyan also differ in their ascent. Only the two Todi variants share the aroha.

Answer: D

The correct answer is Bahaduri Todi.

The key marks Bahaduri Todi as the raga that does not belong to Todi thata. The others are standard ragas of the Todi thata in Bhatkhande's scheme: Todi itself, Gurjari Todi and Multani.

In Bhatkhande's scheme the Todi thata is the scale with komal Re, komal Ga, tivra Ma and komal Dha, and the ragas of that thata draw on this set of notes.

Todi and Gurjari Todi carry the thata name, and Multani, a raga of the afternoon, is also placed in the Todi thata, so the question is solved by seeing which one of the four the key sets apart.

A raga that carries the thata name in its own name, as Todi and Gurjari Todi do, and Multani, a well known evening raga, are all grouped under Todi thata, so none of them can be the one that falls outside it.

Answer: B

The correct answer is Harmony.

A chord is a set of notes sounded together, and the use of chords and their progressions is the foundation of harmony in Western music.

A chord is formed by sounding three or more notes together, often built in thirds, and a series of chords makes a progression. Western music rests on this vertical structure, while Indian music rests on melody over a drone.

A rest is a silence of a counted length, staccato is a way of playing notes short and detached, and metre is the pattern of beats, so none of the three is made by notes sounded together.

Staccato is a way of playing notes short and detached, a rest is a silence, and metre is the arrangement of beats in a bar. None of them is built on chords.

Answer: C

The correct answer is Shuddh Kalyana.

Shuddh Kalyan is the raga that does not belong to the audav-audav jati. It is an audav-sampurna raga that uses seven notes in descent and five in ascent.

Durga, Vibhas and Malkauns each use five swaras both ways, which is why they are called audav-audav, and Shuddh Kalyan is the odd one out.

Malkauns uses the swaras S g M d n, Vibhas uses five swaras of the Bhairav family, and Durga uses S R M P D, so each of these has five swaras both ways.

Durga, Vibhas and Malkauns are pentatonic in both ascent and descent, so they belong to the audav-audav jati.

Answer: B

The correct answer is Multani.

The key marks Multani as the paramelpraveshak raga, that is, a raga that marks the shift from one thata to another.

A paramelpraveshak raga is one whose notes permit a passage from one thata to the next, and such ragas were used by Bhatkhande to help in fixing the time of a raga.

Bhimpalasi, Gavati and Shree are well known ragas, but the key does not mark any of them as the raga that leads into another thata.

Bhimpalasi, Gavati and Shree are not the raga the key gives for this role.

Answer: B

The correct answer is Miyan ki Todi.

Miyan ki Todi is the ashraya raga of Todi thata, the raga from which the thata takes its name and character.

An ashraya raga is the parent raga that gives its name to a thata, and Miyan ki Todi, attributed to Tansen, is the ashraya raga of Todi thata.

Gurjari Todi, Bilaskhani Todi and Bhupal Todi are members of the family, but they are not the raga on which the thata rests.