NOTATION SYMBOLS OF BHATKHANDE NOTATION SYSTEM , CHANDAN KUMAR

NOTATION SYMBOLS OF BHATKHANDE NOTATION SYSTEM :

There have been many systems of notation in Hindustani music over the centuries, but a system proposed by musicologist Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande (1860-1936) gained widespread acceptance during the early 20th century, and is commonly used to this day in music textbooks and other situations within the Hindustani (North Indian) classical music community. The Bhatkhande system uses the Devanagari script for the notes and the lyrics, and a few other simple symbols.

NOTATION 

The symbols, lines or numerals used to portray the written form of notes, registers and Tala in Music are called notation . 

Objective Of Notation  

Pure, modified notes, different registers and Talas can be shown through the medium of various symbols in notation.

In Modern era, the notation system created by Pt. Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande is the most prevalent. Being simple and easy to use, this notation system is used in most published books and academic institutions pt. V.N. Bhatkhande created a notation system and used it in books published by the name ‘Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati, Kramik Pustak Malika (6 parts). 

It proved to be very convenient for the purpose of publishing. 

The symbols used in this notation system are as follows:-

Shuddha Svara - no symbol only Sa Re Ga .......

Komal Svara - horizontal line underneath the Svara (Ga)

Tivra Svara - Perpendicular line above Madhyam (Ma). 

Mandra Saptak - dot below Svaras Ma Pa Dha Ni

Madhya Saptak - no symbol, only Sa Re Ga……… 

Tara Saptak - dot above Svaras Sa Re Ga Ma 

Number of (-) symbol after a Svara indicates the number of Matras till which the Svara has to be continued singing. Svaras within the symbol ( ) should be sung in a single Matra. Symbol used to show Meend – Pa Re. 

The Matras of Talas are shown by the symbols given below. 

Sam – × Khali – 0 Tali – 2,3,4 etc. 

shows the number of the Tali. If a Svara is bracketed, e.g. (Pa), it means that first the Svara following the given Svara, then the Svara itself, then the Svara preceding it and then again the Svara itself is to be sung. 

That is, Dha Pa Ma Pa, these four Svaras are to be sung in a single Matra in the given example.

FIGURE SHOWING :- romanized example of the Bhatkhan
e system.

In the above example the top line states the name of the raga (Kedar), the rhythm cycle (Teentaal), and the tempo (Drut Laya). The sheet is divided vertically into four sections by drawing three vertical lines to represent the four sections of teentaal, so that each line of lyric can be neatly fitted into a single row. For each line of the composition, there are three rows of notation. The first row notates the melody, the middle row contains the lyrics, and the last row provides rhythm markers. Unlike in my system, where I begin notating from column 9 to indicate that the composition begins on beat 9 of the teentaal rhythm cycle, the traditional system begins notating at the far left of the sheet and provides rhythm markers to tell We what beat of the rhythm cycle pertains to which syllable of the composition.

The traditional system assumes that students are familiar with the basic rhythm patterns. Given the information that the composition is in teentaal, one is expected to know that teentaal comprises four sections of four beats each, and that the first beat of the third section of this cycle is muted. The rhythm markers in notation, therefore, are quite minimalist. Three types of markers are used. A cross (x) indicates the first beat of the rhythm cycle (also called sam). A small circle (o) denotes a muted beat (in the case of teentaal, this is the first beat of section 3). If a section is neither the first section, nor starts with a muted beat, it is simply denoted by the section number.

The melody is notated using the solfa syllables of the notes and a few other symbols. Flat versions of notes (not featured in this particular example) are shown by an underline. A sharp is denoted by a vertical line above the note. If a note belongs to the octave above or below the main octave, a dot is placed above or below the note. A hyphen indicates that the previous note is to be elongated. When two notes need to be sung within the space of a single beat, they are joined underneath by a curved line.

The lyrics are written in the middle row, syllable by syllable, to show what syllable must be sung to what note(s) and at which beat. A symbol resembling a large "S" is used to indicate that a syllable must be elongated or sustained for the beat(s) in question.

The Bhatkhande system works well for those who notate music by hand in Devanagari, but is inconvenient for writing or sharing notations digitally. This is one of the reasons websites on Hindustani music tweak it in an effort to adapt it to the digital medium. Which is fine, except that there is no uniformity, as the digitization of Indian music is still in its infancy and there is a lot of experimentation going on. Until a new system suited for the digital medium is perfected and popularized, we may have no choice but to put up with this lack of uniformity. Most websites, however, provide an explanation of their notation system.

                     REFERANCE - 

• https://www.nios.ac.in/media/documents/Hindustani_Music_242/
• hindustanimusictheorybook
• https://raag-hindustani.com/Notation.html
• 08/03/2023