The cards Question What is a tabla? Tap to flip Answer A pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent: a small drum (dayan) and a larger drum (bayan). Question What is the smaller drum of a tabla called? Tap to flip Answer The dayan. Question What is the larger drum of a tabla called? Tap to flip Answer The bayan. Question Up to how many strings does a sitar have? Tap to flip Answer Up to 21. Question What does the tanpura play in North Indian classical music? Tap to flip Answer Sustained drone sounds (it is a stringed instrument from the Indian subcontinent). Question Which three features does North Indian classical music typically involve? Tap to flip Answer Rhythm, melody and drone. Question In North Indian classical music, which instrument typically plays the melody? Tap to flip Answer The sitar. Question In North Indian classical music, which instrument typically plays the rhythms that accompany the sitar? Tap to flip Answer The tabla. Question What is a raga? Tap to flip Answer A set of notes used to create a composition; each raga has a specific mood associated with it. Question Why is a raga more than just a scale? Tap to flip Answer It has specific times of day, moods and emotions associated with it, and rules about how it should be played. Question What is the alap in North Indian classical music? Tap to flip Answer The introduction (first section), in which the performer improvises on the raga at a free tempo with no clear pulse. Question What is a melismatic melody? Tap to flip Answer One in which several notes are sung to one syllable of a word. Question What are microtones? Tap to flip Answer Small intervals: notes between the 12 Western semitones. Question In which languages is North Indian classical singing most commonly performed? Tap to flip Answer Hindi and Urdu. Question What is a tala? Tap to flip Answer A repeating rhythmic pattern in North Indian classical music. Question How are tala traditionally taught? Tap to flip Answer By ear, using spoken sounds such as da, dhin and ta. Question How many beats long is teental? Tap to flip Answer Sixteen beats. Question Is teental in 4/4? Tap to flip Answer No. It can sound like 4/4, but that is a coincidence: the tala, not a time signature, structures the time. Question What is the typical structure of a piece of North Indian classical music? Tap to flip Answer Alap, then gat, then jhala. Question What is the gat in North Indian classical music? Tap to flip Answer The second section, where the tabla joins with a clear pulse and the sitar melody is more structured. Question What is the jhala in North Indian classical music? Tap to flip Answer The final section, where tempo and energy build and the performers play virtuosically towards a frantic finale. Question What does it mean to play in a virtuosic style? Tap to flip Answer To play in a way that shows off your technical and musical ability. Question Is the alap-gat-jhala structure just a change of tempo from slow to fast? Tap to flip Answer No. The bigger changes are in the melody: free exploration of the raga, then a more structured gat, then a heavily improvised, virtuosic jhala. Question What is a djembe? Tap to flip Answer A common type of hand drum used in many West African traditions. Question What is an agogo bell? Tap to flip Answer A metal instrument of two pitched bells, played with a stick. Question What is a dunun? Tap to flip Answer A large two-headed drum played with a stick, often with a bell attached. Question Give one example of a percussion instrument used in traditional West African styles. Tap to flip Answer E.g. djembe, agogo bell, dunun or shekere. Question What is a polyrhythm? Tap to flip Answer Several rhythms played at the same time. Question What is a cross rhythm? Tap to flip Answer A polyrhythm in which two or more rhythms 'conflict' and feel as if they have a different pulse. Question Do the players in a cross rhythm use different time signatures? Tap to flip Answer No. It only sounds that way; the rhythms share the same time signature. Question What do most traditional West African musical traditions combine with music? Tap to flip Answer Dance. Question How do West African musicians traditionally learn rhythms? Tap to flip Answer By ear and through movement, rather than from notation. Question What is simple time? Tap to flip Answer Time in which each beat is divided into two quavers, e.g. 4/4 or 3/4. Question What is compound time? Tap to flip Answer Time in which each beat is divided into three quavers, e.g. 6/8 or 12/8. Question What is dununba? Tap to flip Answer A type of dance and music in compound time from Guinea. Question Is dance music around the world usually in 4/4? Tap to flip Answer No. Most modern Western dance music is, but dance music worldwide often uses other time signatures, such as 3/4, 6/8 and 12/8. Where this deck sits in the curriculum Curriculum National Curriculum for England Stage GCSE (Years 10–11) Course GCSE Music Unit North Indian Classical music and West African drumming Exam boards OCR England's National Curriculum sets what is taught; the units and their order are Oak National Academy's. Flash Feed is not affiliated with Oak or any exam board.
How this deck was checked On 2026-11-02, every card was compared with its source: the lessons of Oak National Academy, a public body funded by England's Department for Education that publishes lessons for the national curriculum. Because the cards come from those lessons, no second source was sought. The comparison was done automatically, not by a teacher, so a card can still be wrong. Flash Feed is not affiliated with any source named here.
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A Music lesson by Oak National Academy licensed under Open Government Licence (OGL)
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