UPHESC Assistant Professor Music Vocal 2025, 2026 PYQs

Concept: The tanpura (tambura) gives a continuous drone (usually Pa-Sa-Sa-Sa) with rich overtones via the jawari.

1. The singer tunes and holds pitch against it.
2. Violin and sarod are melodic instruments; harmonium is accompaniment (fixed pitch), not the traditional drone.

Short trick: Drone = Tanpura (jawari gives the buzz).

Concept: All three are Tamil folk forms.

1. Karakattam – dancing with a decorated pot (karagam) on the head, in honour of goddess Mariamman – correct.
2. Kavadi Attam – devotees carry the kavadi dancing to Murugan shrines (Thaipusam) – correct.
3. Villuppattu ('bow song') – a narrative form: the lead singer tells stories (ballads) to the beat of a large bow – so 'without storytelling' is wrong.

Short trick: Villu-pattu = bow + song = story-telling.

Concept: Raga is the melodic framework – fixed notes, aroha-avaroha, vadi-samvadi, pakad and chalan – within which a musician improvises.

1. Tala is the rhythmic framework.
2. Taan and gamak are ornaments/techniques used inside a raga.

Short trick: Raga = melody frame; Tala = rhythm frame.

Concept: Tarana uses meaningless syllables like 'ta na na, de re na, odani, tom, dir dir', sung mostly in drut laya; credited to Amir Khusrau.

1. Trivat – uses tabla/pakhawaj bols with sargam and words.
2. Chaturang – four parts: words, sargam, tarana bols and tabla bols.
3. Ragmala – a garland of several ragas.

Short trick: Ta-na-na-de-re-na = Tarana (Khusrau).

Concept: Ragamala miniatures link music, poetry and painting.

1. I – true: Ragamala miniatures of Rajasthani, Pahari, Deccani and Mughal schools.
2. II – true: a raga's dhyana (verse) describes its personified image.
3. III – false: music is closely related to dance, poetry, painting and sculpture.

Short trick: Ragamala proves III wrong.

Concept: Rabindra Sangeet = the 2,200-plus songs written and composed by Rabindranath Tagore (collected in Gitabitan).

1. Kazi Nazrul Islam's songs are 'Nazrul Geeti'.
2. Bankim Chandra wrote 'Vande Mataram'; Sarat Chandra was a novelist.

Short trick: Rabindra Sangeet = Rabindranath.

Concept: Check each raga.

1. I – true: Ahir Bhairav = Bhairav in the lower tetrachord (r) + Kafi in the upper (D, n).
2. II – true: Marwa and Sohni (Marwa thaat: r, G, M#) stress tivra Ma; Pancham is omitted (shadav).
3. III – false: Puriya uses komal Rishabh (Marwa thaat), not shuddha.
4. IV – true: Basant (Purvi thaat) is a spring raga using both Madhyams.

Short trick: Marwa-thaat ragas (Marwa, Puriya, Sohni) all use komal re.

Concept: Match each instrument with its master.

1. Pakhawaj – Kudau Singh (19th c. court of Rewa/Datia) (a-III).
2. Gottuvadhyam (Chitravina) – N. Ravikiran (b-I).
3. Vichitra Veena – Pt. Gopal Krishan (c-II).
4. Esraj/Dilruba – Arshad Khan (d-IV).

Short trick: Kudau-Pakhawaj, Ravikiran-Chitravina.

Concept: Jindua is a Punjabi folk duet in which a man and a woman sing in question–answer (dialogue) form.

1. Other Punjabi forms: Boliyan, Mahiya, Tappe, Heer, Jugni.

Short trick: Jindua/Jugni/Mahiya = Punjab.

Concept: Tagore's song-writing moves from devotion through patriotism to philosophy.

1. Early phase – Brahmo devotional songs (brahmasangeet) modelled on dhrupad (a-I).
2. Middle phase – the 1905 Swadeshi movement produced his nationalistic songs (b-III).
3. Late phase – mature, philosophical and spiritual songs (c-II).
4. Family influence – the musical, literary atmosphere of the Jorasanko Thakurbari (d-IV).

Short trick: Bhakti → Swadesh → Darshan; home = Jorasanko.

Concept: Order the Bengali song traditions by origin.

1. Kirtan – Jayadeva's Gita Govinda (12th c.) and Chaitanya's padavali kirtan (15th–16th c.) – earliest (III).
2. Baul – mystic minstrel tradition, flourishing 17th–19th c. (Lalon Fakir) (II).
3. Rabindra Sangeet – late 19th to early 20th c. (I).
4. Modern Bengali songs (adhunik gaan) – 20th c. (IV).

Short trick: Kirtan → Baul → Rabindra → Adhunik.

Concept: Bharata placed the 7 swaras on 22 shrutis to fix their exact pitch (e.g. Sa on the 4th, Re on the 7th, Ga on the 9th shruti).

1. Shruti-intervals (4-3-2-4-4-3-2) define Shadja grama and Madhyama grama.
2. Rhythm and tala are measured by matra/laya, not shruti.

Short trick: Shruti fixes swara-sthana.

Concept: The ten pranas of tala: Kala, Marga, Kriya, Anga, Graha, Jati, Kala, Laya, Yati, Prastara.

1. Kriya, Kala and Graha are among them.
2. Vadi is a raga concept (the most important note), not a tala prana.

Short trick: Vadi belongs to raga, not tala.

Concept: Tagore (1861–1941) composed his songs from the 1870s to 1941 – the modern period of Indian music.

1. It belongs with the Bengal Renaissance of the 19th–20th centuries.

Short trick: Tagore = modern (1861–1941).

Concept: Kumar Gandharva, living in Dewas (Malwa), studied Malwa folk songs and created 'dhun-ugam' (folk-origin) ragas.

1. Examples: Malavati, Lagan Gandhar, Ahimohini, Sanjari, Bhavmat Bhairav, Beeharda.
2. He also wrote 'Anup Raag Vilas' and popularised Nirguni bhajans.

Short trick: Kumar Gandharva + Malwa folk = Dhun-Ugam ragas.

Concept: Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande (1860–1936) systematised Hindustani music.

1. He gave the 10-thaat classification and the Bhatkhande notation system.
2. Works: Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati, Kramik Pustak Malika, Abhinav Raga Manjari (pen-name Chatur Pandit).
3. Natyashastra – Bharata; Rabindra Sangeet – Tagore.

Short trick: Bhatkhande = Thaat + notation + Kramik Pustak.

Concept: Alankar (ornament) means decoration of swaras – note patterns and embellishments that beautify the melody.

1. Bharata described 33 alankars; Sharangadeva 63.
2. Gaan – singing; Giti – ancient song style; Varna – the movement of notes (sthayi, arohi, avarohi, sanchari) on which alankars are built.

Short trick: Alankar = ornament (like jewellery).

Concept: Match each form with its nature.

1. Dhrupad – grave, devotional, with nom-tom alap and pakhawaj (a-III).
2. Khyal – imaginative, improvisational (alap, taan, bol-taan) (b-II).
3. Thumri – shringara, romantic and expressive (c-I).
4. Tappa – quick, intricate, rhythmic taans (from Punjabi camel-drivers' songs) (d-IV).

Short trick: Dhrupad-serious, Khyal-improvise, Thumri-romance, Tappa-fast.

Concept: Electronic aids support, but do not replace, the guru's oral teaching.

1. Electronic tanpura/tabla (e.g. Radel, Riyaz apps) help daily practice; recordings let students re-listen to the guru.
2. A is extreme (cannot replace guru-shishya); C understates their role; D is false (improvisation stays personal).

Short trick: Technology = supplement, not substitute.

Concept: Research steps: problem → review of literature → objectives → hypothesis → research design and tools → data collection → analysis → conclusion/report.

1. Objectives come before the hypothesis (C wrong).
2. Data can be collected only after tools are chosen (D comes later), and analysis comes after collection (A later).
3. So the next step after hypothesis is selecting research tools/design.

Short trick: Hypothesis → Tools → Data → Analysis.