Alankar Generator

How it works

Alankar (Sanskrit for “ornament”) is the name for these practice patterns in both Indian traditions; in Hindustani music they are also called paltas. In Hindustani writing “alankar” can also mean ornaments such as meend (a slide) and gamak (a strong shake); this tool means the practice patterns only. They are sung or played in sargam, the note names Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni (Hindustani) or S R G M P D N with numbers (Carnatic). Sa is the home note: whatever pitch you choose.

• The rule. A pattern is a short group of notes moved up the scale one note at a time, until its top note reaches the upper Sa. Coming down, the whole run is mirrored: every step goes down instead of up, so a group that starts on Sa going up starts on the upper Sa coming down, and the last group ends with its bottom note on Sa. It never goes past either Sa.
• Named patterns are the ones at least two sources print the same way: the first Carnatic lessons sarali varisai (simple up-and-down) and janta varisai (each note twice), the common Hindustani paltas, and the seven Suladi Sapta Tala alankaras (Carnatic patterns, one for each of the seven basic talas, the rhythmic cycles). Each of those fills exactly one cycle of its tala; the thin lines inside a group show the tala's parts. Those parts are the laghu (a part whose length is set by the tala's jati: tishra 3 beats, chaturashra 4, khanda 5, mishra 7), the drutam (2 beats) and the anudrutam (1 beat). No beat count or hand-wave is sounded or shown: keep the tala yourself.
• Any scale. The sources advise practising the same patterns in other scales and raagas, including five- and six-note ones; this tool moves the pattern one scale note at a time, whatever the scale. Besides Western scales and modes you can pick a thaat (one of the ten Hindustani parent scales) or a melakarta (one of the 72 Carnatic parent scales). Carnatic beginners usually use Mayamalavagowla (melakarta 15).
• Raagas are offered only where the sources agree on a plain rising aroh (the notes going up) and an avroh (coming down) that is its exact reverse, with no remark about a variant. Malkauns, for example, is left out: one source starts its aroh on the lower Ni and gives a turn (Ma Ga Ma Ga) coming down. Such an exercise uses the raaga’s swaras (notes); it is not a raaga phrase. A raaga is defined by its phrases and ornaments, which these patterns do not teach.
• Practice. The sources advise slow and clean first, then faster (double the tempo once a pattern is steady), with a drone (a held Sa) as the pitch reference.

Reading the notation

Each box is one note: the swara, a small line for komal (lowered) or tivra (raised; only Ma) and for the octave, and the Western note name with its octave number (C4 is middle C). The octaves are lower (mandra), middle (madhya, no word shown) and upper (taar); upper 2 is the Sa two octaves above the middle Sa. Notes outside the middle octave have a dashed edge. A dash box (–) holds the note before it one more beat; Hindustani (Bhatkhande) notation writes a dash too, and Carnatic lesson books write a comma or a semicolon. Swaras are named from your Sa: Hindustani names for Western scales, thaats and Hindustani raagas; Carnatic names (R1, G3 …) for melakartas and Carnatic ragas. Turn on Indian terms in the footer to put the swaras first; otherwise note names come first.

Where the patterns come from

These are the classic practice patterns taught in beginners’ lessons. Patterns that are not standard (groups of five, for example) are left out of the list; you can type them as your own pattern. Sarali varisai 3 and 4 are written differently in different lessons, so they are left out.

If you cannot hear the sound, the written exercise and the copied text work without it.

Keyboard shortcuts

• Spaceplay or pause
• Escstop and go back to the start
• ← →move Sa down or up a half step
• , .tempo 5 slower or faster
• Lrepeat on or off
• DSa drone on or off

Shortcuts pause while you type in a field or use a menu or slider. Space on a focused button presses it as usual. On the keyboard picture, the arrow keys move between keys and Enter plays one.

Letter, number and punctuation shortcuts can be turned off: use the Keyboard shortcuts switch in the footer, under Display. Space, Esc and the arrow keys keep working.

What is saved

Your last settings are kept in this browser only (browser storage); Sa and A4 are shared with the tuner and drone. A copied link holds the exercise’s settings in the address itself; nothing is sent anywhere.