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Theory lab

Music theory tools

Interactive reference tools for harmony, blues, and careful cross-system comparison. These tools run locally and do not use AI.

A chord is a group of notes heard together. An interval is the distance between two notes.

Chord visualizer

Build, hear, and inspect common chords by note and interval.

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Blues library

Transpose the blues scale and a standard 12-bar I-IV-V form.

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Indian-Western overlaps

Compare pitch sets without pretending that a raag is only a scale.

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Taal and Western meter

Count the six taals and see what a time signature can and cannot show.

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Hindustani and Western comparison lessons

Forty comparison topics in ten lessons. Each topic states what the two systems share, where the comparison stops, and which sources support it.

  1. Lesson 1 · Topics 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11

    Sa, tonic and shared pitch sets

    Line up Sa with a Western tonic, compare note names and intervals, and see where raag and scale pitch sets overlap.

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  2. Lesson 2 · Topics 7, 8, 9

    Grammar beyond shared pitches

    Direction, identifying phrases and note emphasis: what a raag has that a pitch set leaves out.

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  3. Lesson 3 · Topics 10, 15, 16

    Tonic return and identity change

    How a raag and a Western piece come home, and what changes when you move to a new raag, mode or key.

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  4. Lesson 4 · Topics 12, 13, 14

    Intonation, ornaments and drone

    Tuning systems, ornaments such as meend and andolan, and the tanpura drone beside Western temperament, ornaments and pedal points.

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  5. Lesson 5 · Topics 20, 22, 25

    Taal and Western meter

    Count the six taals and see what a time signature can and cannot show.

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  6. Lesson 6 · Topics 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27

    Cycle, rhythm and cadence

    Matra, avartan, vibhag and sam; theka and bols; layakari; and the tihai beside Western beat, bar, groove, subdivision and cadence.

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  7. Lesson 7 · Topics 28

    Free and measured time

    Alap before the taal begins, set beside free-time passages in Western music, with named archive programmes.

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  8. Lesson 8 · Topics 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35

    Form and improvisation

    Bandish, sthayi and antara, elaboration, taan, sawal-jawab, nyas and the concert arc beside Western theme, section, variation and cadence.

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  9. Lesson 9 · Topics 36, 37

    Notation and listening practice

    Read Bhatkhande signs beside staff-notation ideas, write one NIOS practice phrase two ways, and practise with the taal counter.

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  10. Lesson 10 · Topics 38, 39, 40

    Gharana, time and emotion

    Gharana, raag time and rasa as context: what the sources say, and why none of them has a direct Western equivalent here.

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