How to Write Indian Classical Songs

Want to write Indian classical songs that make listeners sit up, cry, and then ask you for a repeat? Good. You are in the right place. This guide gives you the tools to write compositions rooted in classical systems, to craft lyrics that connect, and to shape melodies that sound inevitable. We cover both Hindustani and Carnatic ideas, explain terms so you do not feel lost, and give practical exercises you can use today.

This is written for artists who are hungry, impatient, and not into vague theory unless it helps write a line that stings. Expect clear workflows, concrete examples, and a few jokes to keep you awake at 2 a.m. while composing. We will explain technical words and acronyms so you can drop them in conversation without sounding like a robot.

What Is an Indian Classical Song

Indian classical song is not a single thing. It lives in two main traditions. Hindustani music is the classical music of northern India. Carnatic music is the classical music of southern India. Each system has its own history, vocabulary, and performance norms. Both center on raga and tala. A raga is a melodic framework. A tala is a rhythmic cycle. Together they form the skeleton of a composition. Around that skeleton you add lyrics, ornamentation, tempo choices, and your personality.

Think of raga as the emotional weather. Think of tala as the heart beat. A good composition places a melody that fits the weather and rides the heart beat so that both feel natural and inevitable.

Raga Explained in Plain English

Raga is more than a scale. A scale is a set of notes. A raga is a set of rules about how those notes behave. A raga tells you which notes are important, which phrases are typical, which notes you should avoid lingering on, and what kind of ornamentation suits it. Each raga has a mood. Yaman can feel like twilight and sincerity. Bhairavi can feel like devotion and longing. Kalyani in Carnatic music is bright and regal.

Practical pieces of raga vocabulary

• Svara is a note. The common solfege is Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni. Sa is the tonic. These names are like Do Re Mi in Western music.
• Pakad or signature phrase. This is the short pattern that identifies the raga. If you hum the pakad, a trained ear can name the raga. You need a pakad for your song to feel anchored.
• Arohana and Avarohana are the ascending and descending note orders. They show which notes you can use in which direction.
• Vadi and Samvadi are the most important and second most important notes in a raga. These notes act like focal points.

Do this first practical exercise

1. Pick a raga you like. Listen to two or three performances. Hum the signature phrase. Try to sing the phrase cleanly five times.
2. Write down the short sentence that describes the mood. Example: Evening peace that wants company.
3. Keep that sentence visible as you write lyrics so words bend to the mood.

Tala without Torment

Tala is the rhythmic cycle. It can be simple. It can be complex. For song writing you only need a few basics. Each tala has a number of beats and a way the beats are grouped. Teental is a common tala in Hindustani music with 16 beats grouped as four sets of four. Adi tala is a common tala in Carnatic music with eight beats grouped as two sets of four. Know one tala deeply and you will be able to write in many tempos and feels.

Key tala concepts

• Matra means beat. Count the matras so the cadence feels right.
• Vibhag means the grouping of beats inside a cycle. It helps you map where the strong pulses are.
• Sam is the first beat of the cycle. Landing a phrase on sam gives closure. It is the anchor.
• Khali means an empty or weak beat cluster. It gives contrast and can be dramatic when you return to sam.

Practical rhythm routine

1. Pick Adi tala or Teental. Clap the cycle until you can feel the sam without counting with your head.
2. Practice拍 the clapping with headphones and a metronome if you want mechanical stability. Clap along for five minutes each day.
3. Once comfortable, hum a simple melody and place the end of each phrase on sam for a few trials to feel the resolution.

Types of Compositions You Can Write

Indian classical compositions have names that tell you something about their structure. Two major categories are bandish in Hindustani music and kriti in Carnatic music. Both are fixed compositions that performers use as the anchor for improvisation.

• Bandish is the composed song in Hindustani music. It has set melody and lyrics. It often includes an opening slow part, then medium and fast sections when the singer improvises around it.
• Kriti is the composed song in Carnatic music. It usually has pallavi, anupallavi, and charanam sections. Pallavi is like a chorus line. Anupallavi expands. Charanam completes the idea.
• Thumri and Dadra are semi classical forms that give more lyrical freedom and romantic or devotional moods. They are great if you want emotion over strict raga etiquette.

When you write your first composition aim for a bandish or a kriti style piece based on a single raga and a single tala. Keep the core short and flexible enough to improvise later.

Lyrics That Fit Classical Melody

Lyrics in classical songs are not the same as lyrics in pop songs. They often use classical languages such as Hindi, Urdu, Telugu, Tamil, Sanskrit, Kannada, Malayalam or Bengali. The sounds matter. Meter matters. Devotional themes and romantic themes are common. But you can write modern lyrics too. The trick is to make words serve melody and prosody first. Prosody means the natural stress and rhythm of words.

How to write lyrics for raga

1. Write a short emotional sentence. Keep it like a one line pitch. Example: I wait for the lamps to speak your name.
2. Choose language that matches tradition and audience. A Carnatic kriti in Telugu can sound authentic. A ghazal in Urdu will carry its own cadence.
3. Make a short repeating hook line that can appear as pallavi or chorus. In bandish this is often the mukhda which returns and anchors the listener.
4. Write body lines that create image and time. Use sensory verbs. Avoid stuffing. If a line can be shown by a single object, prefer that object.

Real life example

Core sentence: The courtyard remembers our evenings.

Mukhda or pallavi: Aangan yaad karta hai tera naam.

That line is short, singable, and sits on a soulful raga like Bhairavi or Kafi depending on your melodic choices.

Topline and Composition Workflow

Classical composition is part fixed composition and part improvisation. Here is a practical workflow to create a bandish or kriti.

1. Pick raga and tala. Choose a raga you know and a tala you can keep steady.
2. Create the mukhda or pallavi. This is the short hook line. Sing it over drone for a few minutes and find a melody that feels inevitable.
3. Write the anupallavi or antara. This expands on the hook with a new melodic idea. Keep the language supporting the central image.
4. Write the charanam or sthayi and antara. In Hindustani terms write the antara which moves to higher register and gives contrast. In Carnatic terms write the charanam.
5. Mark the sam points. Decide where phrases land on sam. Use those resolution points to create expectation.
6. Test with voice only. Sing with tanpura drone or an app that provides drone. Record and listen back to check prosody and phrasing.

One practical tip is to draft the melody on sargam. Sargam means singing note names Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni. Working in sargam makes note choices explicit. It also helps when you work with accompanists because they can read the pattern easily.

Ornamentation and Voice Techniques

Ornamentation gives classical music its personality. These are small movements that decorate notes. They are essential, not optional. Do not neglect them because they turn a melody into a raga statement.

Common ornamentation

• Meend means sliding between notes. It is like a portamento in Western music. It connects notes smoothly.
• Gamak is a deliberate oscillation or shaking of a note. It can be slow or fast.
• Kan is a grace note that brushes a main note. It sounds like a quick whisper before the main pitch.
• Taan is a fast run of notes used in improvisation. It shows virtuosity and builds excitement.

How to practice ornamentation

1. Pick a short phrase. Sing it straight and record. Then add one ornament at a time and record each version.
2. Listen back and choose the ornament that enhances mood rather than distracts. Less is often more.
3. Practice meend and kan slowly with a tanpura or drone until the transitions are smooth.

Improvisation Versus Fixed Composition

Your composition exists to be sung and then to be explored. After the composed part you will improvise. Improvisation is where phrasing, taan, and raga knowledge shine. Do not think of improvisation as random. It is disciplined freedom. The rules of the raga and the tala are your playground fences.

How to shape improvisation

• Start with a slow alaap or introduction. This is free rhythm melodic exploration that outlines the raga. It helps listeners feel the mood.
• Move into the composed mukhda or pallavi so the audience hears the anchor.
• Build medium speed improvisations. Use taans and melodic motifs derived from the mukhda.
• Return to the mukhda. The composed line always grounds the exploration.

Modernizing Your Classical Song

You do not need to sound like a museum exhibit. Blend classical with contemporary elements if you want. Many artists create fusion pieces that keep raga and tala intact but add bass, guitar, and modern arrangements.

Practical fusion tips

1. Keep the raga intact in the vocal melody. Do not force Western chord changes that contradict the raga.
2. Use subtle harmony elements that support the melody without clashing. A drone plus sparse pad can feel modern and respectful.
3. Place percussion like tabla or mridangam together with modern rhythm elements. Keep sam as a structural moment so classical and modern parts meet cleanly.
4. Record a plain version with tanpura and vocals first. Then build other elements around that phrase. This preserves authenticity under production.

Prosody and Language Play

Prosody matters even more in classical song because melodies often hold notes longer. A long vowel will sing better. Short consonant heavy syllables can be used for rhythmic sections. Place your important words on long notes so they land and breathe. Speak the lyrics at normal speed and mark stressed syllables. Those stresses should usually align with the tala pulses.

Example prosody exercise

1. Write a two line pallavi. Speak it naturally. Mark stressed syllables.
2. Set a slow tala. Try singing the pallavi with the stresses landing on strong beats.
3. If stresses fall oddly, reword the line so speech and song agree.

Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Here are things beginners and even intermediates do and how to fix them.

• Trying to use too many ragas. Fix by committing to one raga per composition and making every line serve that raga.
• Ignoring tala. Fix by practicing sam alignment until you do not need to count out loud.
• Using ornaments without purpose. Fix by asking what the ornament adds emotionally. Remove it if it feels showy without story.
• Writing lyrics without prosody. Fix by speaking lines out loud and shifting stressed syllables to match strong beats.
• Adding modern harmony that clashes. Fix by testing melodies against chord tones and removing any chord that forces a forbidden note in the raga.

Songwriting Exercises You Can Do Today

One Line to Rule Them All

Write a single line that states the emotion in plain speech. Turn it into a short mukhda. Keep it under eight syllables if possible. Repeat it until you find a melody that feels obvious.

Sargam Draft

Take your mukhda and sing it in sargam. That is Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni. Use sargam to lock note choices before you add words.

Drone Play

Use a tanpura app or a drone. Sing the mukhda for five minutes with only a drone. Add one ornament every thirty seconds and listen back to choose the best version.

Tala Mapping

Write the mukhda on paper and mark where each phrase ends inside the tala cycle. Practice singing so endings land on sam when appropriate.

Language Swap

Write the same mukhda in two languages. Test which sounds more natural. Often a slight change in language can change the texture of a melody significantly.

Production and Recording Awareness for Composers

Even if you are not a producer you should know a few things.

• Record a dry vocal with drone first. This is your reference.
• Keep microphone distance consistent so ornamentation records clearly.
• When adding instruments do not bury the vocal. Classical singing needs space to breathe.
• Use reverb to create a sense of hall or shrine. Too much can blur ornamentation.

Examples You Can Model

Theme: Waiting at dusk for someone who never comes.

Mukhda: Sham ke diye tumhara naam lete hain.

Antara: Charon or hawa tumhara qissa sunati hai.

How to sing this: Keep the mukhda slow and centered on Sa and Pa. Use a straight meend between the second and third note of the phrase. Let the antara climb into Ga and Dha with a short murki before resolving to Sam.

How to Practice Efficiently

Practice like it is a job you love and you wish paid you better. Structure beats vague hours. Here is a simple routine.

1. Warm up 15 minutes with sargam and meend practice.
2. Spend 20 minutes on tala and clapping cycles with a metronome or tabla recording.
3. Work 30 minutes on mukhda and prosody. Record two takes and pick the better one.
4. Spend 20 minutes improvising phrase by phrase. Do not rush. Focus on mood.
5. Finish with 10 minutes of listening to a classic performance in your chosen raga. Make notes on phrasing and emotion.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need formal training to write Indian classical songs

No. Formal training helps because you will learn raga vocabulary and tala discipline. Still, many composers start by listening deeply and practicing with a drone. Learn one raga and one tala well. That knowledge will allow you to write respectable compositions. Formal lessons accelerate the process but do not replace disciplined listening and practice.

Can I write classical songs in modern languages

Yes. You can write in Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, English or any other language. The important part is prosody and vowel placement. Long vowels sing better on sustained notes. If you write in English pay special attention to stressed syllables and fit them into the tala accordingly.

How long should a bandish or kriti be

There is no fixed length. Many classic bandishes are short and repeatable. A common approach is a short mukhda of one or two lines and an antara of two to four lines. A kriti might have a pallavi, anupallavi and charanam. Keep the core compact so there is room for improvisation. Clarity beats length.

What is the best drone for practice

A tanpura is traditional and ideal. Use a tanpura app or a shruti box if you cannot access a tanpura. The exact timbre is less important than steady pitch. Set the drone to your comfortable tonic and practice with it consistently.

How do I know if a note is allowed in a raga

Consult the arohana and avarohana of the raga and listen to model performances. Some ragas omit certain notes in ascent or descent. If you are unsure, keep to the core pakad phrases and avoid unexplained chromatic moves until you learn the raga better.

Can I add chords to a classical song

You can, but use caution. Chords can introduce notes that clash with a raga. If you want chords, use drones or pads that support the tonic and fourth or fifth notes. Keep harmonic movement minimal so the raga remains the primary identity.

Action Plan You Can Use Today

1. Pick one raga and one tala. Listen to three classic performances in that raga and write the pakad in a notebook.
2. Write a one line mood sentence. Turn it into a short mukhda of one or two lines.
3. Sing the mukhda on sargam over a drone and find a melody that repeats with authority.
4. Write an antara or anupallavi that expands the idea. Keep prosody aligned with tala.
5. Record a dry version with tanpura and listen back. Edit words that clash with stress or melody.
6. Practice ornamentation and one taan pattern for five minutes daily until it becomes natural.
7. If you want modern elements, add one subtle pad or bass and test that the raga sounds intact.

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