Tala Clapper

Run the Tala Clapper MicroSim Fullscreen

About This MicroSim

A tala is a repeating cycle of beats in South Asian music. This MicroSim draws one cycle as a circle of beat dots, like a clock face, so you can see how the beats come back around to the start. The first beat of the cycle, called sam, is the large star-marked dot at the top. Claps (tali) are filled orange dots, waves (khali) are hollow teal dots, and the other beats are small dots. Colored bands show the sections of the cycle, with their traditional markings (X, 2, 0, 3 for Hindustani talas; laghu and drutam for Adi tala).

You can choose four talas:

Tala	System	Beats	Sections
Teentaal	Hindustani	16	4 + 4 + 4 + 4 (wave on beat 9)
Rupak	Hindustani	7	3 + 2 + 2 (starts on a wave)
Dadra	Hindustani	6	3 + 3 (wave on beat 4)
Adi tala	Carnatic	8	4 + 2 + 2 (palm, three finger counts, palm-flip, palm-flip)

The MicroSim starts paused and silent. When you press Start, each beat lights up in turn and the center shows what your hand does. Short clicks are synthesized in your browser with WebAudio (no recordings are used): a low, longer tone marks sam, a bright click marks a clap, a soft tick marks a wave, and a quiet tick marks the other beats. Untick Sound on to mute it.

How to Use

1. Choose a tala from the menu. Teentaal is selected first.
2. Read the panel to learn how the tala is divided. Click any beat dot to see what your hand does on that beat.
3. Press Start. Count the beats out loud and clap, wave or tap your fingers when the center tells you to.
4. Use the Tempo slider to slow down (40 beats per minute) or speed up (160).
5. Watch the cycle counter. Try to land on sam with a big clap (or, in Rupak, a wave) every time the cycle comes around.
6. Press Pause to stop, switch talas, and compare.

Learning Objective

Students will be able to count through a full cycle of four common talas, perform the clap, wave and finger-count gestures in the right places, and identify sam, the first beat, when the cycle returns.

Bloom level: Apply (count, perform, keep time).

Iframe Embed Code

<iframe src="https://aaryavvatts-lab.github.io/south-asian-culture-textbook/sims/ch09-tala-clapper/main.html" height="632px" width="100%" scrolling="no"></iframe>

Lesson Plan

Grade level: 9-12 (music, world cultures, ethnic studies, or a South Asian student club meeting)

Duration: 15 to 20 minutes

Activity:

1. (3 min) Warm-up: the class claps a steady 4/4 beat together. Ask: where is "one"?
2. (5 min) Project the sim with Teentaal at 60 bpm. The class claps and waves along for two cycles, counting aloud. Point out the wave on beat 9 and the "arrival" on sam.
3. (5 min) In pairs, students try Dadra and Rupak. Before pressing Start on Rupak, each pair predicts what happens on beat 1.
4. (5 min) Students learn Adi tala with palm, finger counts and hand flips, then try to keep the tala going with the sound muted while a partner watches the screen to check.

Assessment questions:

1. How many beats are in Teentaal, and which beat is the wave (khali)?
2. Why is Rupak described as starting on khali?
3. In Adi tala, what does the hand do on beats 2, 3 and 4?
4. If a tala is played at 60 beats per minute, how many seconds does one cycle of Teentaal take? Of Dadra?
5. Why might musicians smile or nod when they land on sam together?

Related Chapter

Chapter 9: Music