MORCHANG KEHERWA

I will periodically be adding lessons and content to this page. To start, I will introduce a common Rajasthani pattern on the morchang, the Keherwa Tal (Tal meaning rhythmic pattern). 

This rhythm is an 8-beat pattern consisting of two 4-beat phrases. Indian music uses mnemonic syllable patterns to convey rhythm, called “Bol”. The Bol for Keherwa Tal is as follows: 

Dha Ge Na Ti 

Na Ka Dhi Na

When playing the morchang, we silently “speak” the syllables into the instrument when plucking, forming the mouth in the shape of words. The Bol pattern is modified when playing morchang to produce the best sound for each syllable on the instrument. We use the following syllable substitutions: 

Ee Yu Khu Khu

Ah Hu Khu Khu

The morchang is plucked at the start of each four-beat phrase:

This pattern is repeated to create a rhythmic loop.

MORCHANG KEHERWA TIHAI

A period of repeating the Keherwa rhythm can be punctuated or ended with a rhythmic phrase known as a “Tihai”. A Tihai is three equal repetitions of a rhythmic pattern. Here is an example of a Morchang Tihai, with the syllables modified to produce the best sound: 

Ee Yu Khu Khu 

Ahu Khu Khu 

Dha

The phrase is repeated three times:

There are many syllabic patterns for both the rhythm (Tal) and the Tihai. A performance involves combining the different elements: