UPHESC Assistant Professor Music Vocal 2025, 2026 PYQs

Concept: RTP is the most advanced improvisational piece of a Carnatic concert.

1. Ragam – free alapana; Tanam – rhythmic phrases without tala (like nom-tom); Pallavi – a single line sung with niraval, kalpanaswaras and tala variations.
2. It is the Carnatic parallel of the Hindustani alap-jod-bandish idea, but belongs to Carnatic music.

Short trick: RTP = Carnatic showpiece.

Concept: Match authors with texts.

1. I – false: Chaturdandi Prakashika (1620) is by Venkatamakhi; Ramamatya wrote Swaramelakalanidhi (1550).
2. II – true: Pundarik Vitthal wrote Sadragachandrodaya, Ragamala, Ragamanjari and Nartana Nirnaya.
3. III – true: Somanatha wrote Raga Vibodha (1609).

Short trick: Ramamatya-Swaramela; Venkatamakhi-Chaturdandi; Somnath-Vibodha.

Concept: Jaipur-Atrauli (Alladiya Khan) is a khayal gharana famous for rare/jod ragas and intricate, vowel-based (aakar) layakari.

1. (A) is true.
2. (R) is false – it is a khayal gayaki; it does not give priority to nom-tom alap. Nom-tom alap is the hallmark of Dhrupad (and of the Agra gharana's opening).
3. Hence (A) true, (R) false.

Short trick: Jaipur = aakar & jod ragas; Agra/Dhrupad = nom-tom.

Concept: 'Ragam' is simply the Carnatic (Tamil/Telugu) form of the word 'raga' – the melodic framework.

1. Carnatic 'talam' = Hindustani tala; 'alapana' = alap.
2. So the equivalent of 'Ragam' is Raga.

Short trick: Ragam = Raga, Talam = Tala.

Concept: Chhakri is a group folk song of Kashmir, sung with nout (pot), rabab, sarangi and tumbaknari.

1. Jhumur – western Bengal/Jharkhand tribal songs.
2. Chatka – lively variety of Bhawaiya from north Bengal (Cooch Behar).
3. Gambhira – Malda (Bengal) songs in honour of Shiva.

Short trick: Chhakri = Kashmir.

Concept: Margam order: Alarippu → Jatiswaram → Shabdam → Varnam → Padam/Javali → Tillana.

1. Alarippu ('blossoming') is pure nritta – it loosens and prepares the body.
2. Varnam, the centrepiece, alternates intricate jatis (nritta) with sahitya interpreted through abhinaya (nritya).
3. So the movement is from simple warm-up nritta to a complex blend of rhythm and expression.

Short trick: Alarippu = bud opening; Varnam = full bloom (nritta + nritya).

Concept: Devotional music (bhajan, kirtan, abhang) evokes Bhakti rasa, whose sthayi bhava is love for God.

1. Bharata listed 8 rasas; Shanta became the 9th; later writers (e.g. Rupa Goswami) established Bhakti rasa.
2. Raudra – anger; Shringara – romantic love; Veera – heroism.

Short trick: Bhajan → Bhakti rasa.

Concept: Sir William Jones (founder of the Asiatic Society, 1784) wrote 'On the Musical Modes of the Hindoos' (1784/1792).

1. Other Western writers: Augustus Willard, Captain Day ('Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India'), Fox Strangways ('Music of Hindostan').
2. Beethoven, Wagner and Mozart were European composers, not writers on Indian music.

Short trick: Jones = Asiatic Society + 'Musical Modes of the Hindoos'.

Concept: Indian music is melodic (monophonic): one melodic line (raga) over a drone (tanpura).

1. Polyphony, counterpoint and harmony (simultaneous independent lines/chords) characterise Western music.

Short trick: India = melody; West = harmony.

Concept: Pandwani is a Chhattisgarhi ballad narrating the Mahabharata (Pandavas) with a tambura and kartal.

1. Teejan Bai is its most famous exponent (Kapalik shaili); Padma Vibhushan 2019.
2. Allah Jilai Bai – Maand (Rajasthan); Malini Awasthi – Awadhi/Bhojpuri folk; Mamta Chandrakar – Chhattisgarhi folk singer.

Short trick: Pandwani = Pandava story = Teejan Bai.

Concept: Each classification belongs to a different period/scholar.

1. Thaat (10 thaats) – Pt. V. N. Bhatkhande (a-I).
2. Mela (72 melakartas) – Venkatamakhi, Chaturdandi Prakashika (b-II).
3. Raga-Ragini (6 ragas with raginis, putras) – medieval tradition (c-III).
4. Raganga – a modern classification (Narayan Moreshwar Khare and others) (d-IV).

Short trick: Thaat-Bhatkhande, Mela-Venkatamakhi.

Concept: Odissi has two basic postures: Chauka (square, masculine, Jagannath) and Tribhanga (three bends).

1. Tribhanga bends the body in opposite directions at neck, torso and knees, giving a graceful S-curve.
2. This curvilinear posture is the 'three-bend' that distinguishes Odissi from the angular, linear Bharatanatyam.
3. Mandala and Samapada are general dance terms, not the 'three-bend'.

Short trick: Tri = three, bhanga = bend.

Concept: Folk music, North or South, is the music of ordinary people.

1. It is sung together for community recreation, festivals and work.
2. It draws on varied (mixed) inspirations – seasons, rituals, labour, love.
3. It passes by oral tradition.
4. It uses the simple local dialect, not a refined/literary language – so 'refined language' is not important.

Short trick: Folk = simple dialect, not polished language.

Concept: Bharata's rasa theory: vibhava, anubhava and vyabhichari bhava together produce rasa (aesthetic relish) in the audience.

1. (A) is true – ragas are associated with rasas (Bhairav-shanta/karuna, Malkauns-veera, etc.).
2. (R) is true – music aims to evoke rasa in the listener.
3. Rasa theory is useful precisely because music aims to evoke aesthetic emotion – (R) explains (A).

Short trick: Music's goal = rasa; so rasa theory explains music.

Concept: A gharana's style lives through the guru-shishya lineage.

1. Even in universities and institutions like ITC-SRA, gharana gayaki is taught by gurus to disciples.
2. Military bands, film music and folk festivals do not carry gharana styles.

Short trick: No guru-shishya, no gharana.

Concept: The staff (stave) has five horizontal lines and four spaces; notes, clefs, rests and time signatures are written on it.

1. Pitch is shown by vertical position; duration by note shape (whole, half, quarter…).
2. Shruti, tala gestures and oral tradition belong to Indian practice.

Short trick: Staff = 5 lines + 4 spaces.

Concept: Rasa is the aesthetic relish experienced by the listener – the core idea of Indian aesthetics (Bharata, Abhinavagupta).

1. Shruti, tala and laya are technical elements of pitch and rhythm, not the aesthetic experience itself.

Short trick: Aesthetic experience = Rasa (rasyate iti rasah).

Concept: Darbari Kanada (Asavari thaat, late night) is a grave raga elaborated mostly in the mandra saptak in vilambit laya.

1. (A) is true.
2. (R) is true – its hallmark is the slow andolan on komal ga (g) and komal dha (d), e.g. 'g~ M R S', 'd~ n P'.
3. These oscillating komal notes create its heavy, serious mood, which is why it is elaborated slowly and low – (R) explains (A).

Short trick: Darbari = andolit komal ga-dha + mandra saptak.

Concept: Nyasa swara is the note on which a phrase or the raga comes to rest/ends.

1. Ansha – the predominant note (like vadi), not the resting note.
2. Tillana – a rhythmic composition; Ragamalika – a garland of ragas in one piece.

Short trick: Nyasa = rest; Ansha = chief.

Concept: Check each statement.

1. I – true: Ramamatya's Swaramelakalanidhi (1550) grouped ragas under 20 melas.
2. II – true: Venkatamakhi (1620) worked out 72 melas, basis of the melakarta scheme.
3. III – false: Tyagaraja composed mostly in Telugu, centred on Rama-bhakti, not temple ritual.
4. IV – true: Dikshitar's kritis are mostly in Sanskrit, on temple deities, with Advaita/Tantric philosophy.

Short trick: Tyagaraja = Telugu; Dikshitar = Sanskrit.