Laya & Matra

Music has two fundamental dimensions: pitch and time. So far, everything we have covered has been about pitch: Swars, Saptaks, note positions. Now it is time to talk about the other half.

Rhythm.

And in Indian classical music, rhythm starts with two ideas: Laya and Matra.

Laya

Laya means tempo. It is the speed of the music, the pace at which it moves.

But Laya is more than just fast or slow. In Indian classical music, Laya is considered the pulse of the music, the steady heartbeat that holds everything together. Without Laya, music falls apart into random sounds. With Laya, everything has direction and structure.

There are three main types of Laya:

Vilambit Laya is slow tempo. Very slow, actually. The kind of slow where you can feel each beat stretching out. Vilambit is where the music breathes deeply and expansively. Bada Khayal, the long-form classical composition you will encounter later, is performed in Vilambit.

Madhya Laya is medium tempo. The comfortable middle ground. Not too slow, not too fast. Most bandishes at the Prarambhik level are performed in Madhya Laya.

Drut Laya is fast tempo. Rapid, energetic, exciting. Chota Khayal is performed in Drut Laya. When a vocalist starts moving fast and the tabla is racing along, that is Drut.

These are relative terms. Vilambit, Madhya and Drut are not exact BPM numbers. They are descriptions of relative speed, and the relationship between them is roughly this: Drut is approximately twice the speed of Madhya, and Madhya is approximately twice the speed of Vilambit.

Matra

If Laya is the speed, Matra is the unit. Matra means beat, the basic unit of time measurement in a Taal.

Think of Matra the way you think of a second on a clock. A second is the smallest unit of measurement you commonly use. A Matra is the smallest unit in a rhythmic cycle. Just as you count seconds to measure time, you count Matras to measure Taal.

Every Taal is defined by a specific number of Matras. Teentaal has 16 Matras. Dadra has 6 Matras. Keharwa has 8 Matras. When you clap along to music and count the beats, you are counting Matras.

The Exam-Ready Definitions

Laya: The tempo or speed of music. Three types: Vilambit (slow), Madhya (medium), Drut (fast).

Matra: The basic unit of time measurement in a Taal. Equivalent to one beat in a rhythmic cycle.

Common Misconceptions

Laya and Taal are not the same thing. Laya is the speed. Taal is the rhythmic cycle. The same Taal can be performed in different Layas. Teentaal in Vilambit sounds completely different from Teentaal in Drut, but it is still Teentaal.

Also, Matra does not have a fixed real-world duration. A Matra in Vilambit is longer than a Matra in Drut. The Matra is relative to the Laya, not to a clock.

Quick Quiz

1. What is Laya?

2. Name and describe the three types of Laya.

3. What is a Matra?

4. How many Matras does Teentaal have?

5. What is the difference between Laya and Taal?

Practice Exercise

Clap a steady beat. Count to 8 and repeat. That is one cycle of Keharwa. Now clap twice as fast with the same count. You just changed the Laya from Madhya to Drut while keeping the same structure. That feeling of speed changing but the pattern staying the same is exactly what Laya means in practice.

PEACE ! 🎻