A tanpura resting beside a piano keyboard
    Free 8-lesson course

    RaagFinder Beginner Introductory Course

    You do not need to know music to begin. Start with a sound you can hum, discover the notes around it, and learn how those notes become part of a raag.

    Each lesson ends with a short quiz. Score 4 out of 5 to unlock the next lesson. Sign in to keep your progress across devices and receive a completion certificate at the end.

    Lesson 1 of 80 of 8 completed
    1

    What is a swara?

    Imagine a seven-step staircase made of sound. Each step is a musical note, called a swara. The seven names are Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni.

    The staircase is a simple way to imagine sounds going higher and lower. It does not mean that every musical step is the same distance apart.

    Try humming a comfortable sound. Now hum a little higher, then a little lower. You have changed the sound’s pitch: how high or low it sounds. This is different from making it louder or softer.

    Think of Sa as your home step. You choose a comfortable pitch for it, and the other swaras take their places in relation to it. Another person can choose a higher or lower Sa and still sing the same tune.

    A melody is a sequence of notes that you hear as a musical line or tune. It can rise, fall, repeat a note, or linger on one.

    Try it

    Listen first, then hum along if comfortable. You do not need to force your voice to match a sound that feels too high or too low.

    Go deeper: Sa is a reference

    Sa is also called the tonic, the reference note from which the other swaras are understood.

    A swara name describes a note’s relationship to Sa. It does not, by itself, specify one fixed keyboard key or frequency. This is why two singers can perform the same raag at different pitches and both be correct: their written swaras stay the same while their chosen Sa changes.

    In shortSwaras are the named notes we use to make melodies, with Sa as our home note.

    Lesson 1 quiz

    4 out of 5 to pass

    You can take the quizzes as a guest on this device. Sign in to save your progress across devices and to receive the completion certificate — results you earn now will be carried over when you sign in.

    1. 1. What is a swara?

    2. 2. Which list gives the seven swara names in order?

    3. 3. Pitch describes which quality of a sound?

    4. 4. What does Sa act as?

    5. 5. Two singers sing the same tune, but one chooses a higher Sa. What happens?