Tinn Taal ਤਿੰਨ ਤਾਲ
A 16-matra taal (also known as Teentaal), counted in 4 vibhags of 4 + 4 + 4 + 4.
Practise over this theka A palta in Tinn Taal
- Matras
- 16
- Vibhags
- 4 + 4 + 4 + 4
- Sam (×)
- matra 1
- Taali (clap)
- matras 5, 13
- Khali (0, wave)
- matra 9
The theka
| Matra | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark | × | 2 | 0 | 3 | ||||||||||||
| ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ | ਧਾ | ਧਿੰ | ਧਿੰ | ਧਾ | ਧਾ | ਧਿੰ | ਧਿੰ | ਧਾ | ਧਾ | ਤਿੰ | ਤਿੰ | ਤਾ | ਤਾ | ਧਿੰ | ਧਿੰ | ਧਾ |
| देवनागरी | धा | धिन | धिन | धा | धा | धिन | धिन | धा | धा | तिन | तिन | ता | ता | धिन | धिन | धा |
| English | Dha | Dhin | Dhin | Dha | Dha | Dhin | Dhin | Dha | Dha | Tin | Tin | Ta | Ta | Dhin | Dhin | Dha |
How to keep Tinn Taal
Count the 16 matras aloud while you clap the taal: a clap on sam, the first and strongest beat, and on every taali, and a wave of the hand on khali, the empty beat. The vibhags of 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 tell you where each clap or wave falls; the theka above is what the tabla plays across one avartan, and the melody of a bandish lands back on sam at the end of every avartan.
In the studio, every bandish and palta in Tinn Taal plays over this theka, with the matra that is sounding lit in the notation and the bol lit in the theka, at any tempo from 30 to 260 matras a minute.