advanced Estimated learning time: 3 h

9.6 Gati and nadai, and why the page under-specifies

Say how many subdivisions a beat is carrying, and explain why written notation can never be enough.

Gati is how a beat is divided — into threes, fours, fives, sevens or nines — and changing it changes everything about how a line feels while the tala stays exactly where it was. Together with gamaka it is the second half of what the notation leaves to the teacher.

Work through these

  • Count a beat in threes and then in fours without the beat moving.

    Tala (music) · Reference
  • Play one exercise in two different gatis.

  • Say two things a written line cannot tell you.

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