Ragas of Bilawal बिलावल

Your hand reaches for Ga before you decide to sing it. In Durga leave that key alone, and Ni too, both ways. Deshkar uses Ga where this card uses Ma; here Ma is vadi, with Sa as samvadi. Stop the ascent briefly on Re and hear Ma, then sing across the gap without the keys. Listen for an extra sung step, not only for the landing.

Coming down, the hand wants to keep going. At Dha, Alhaiya Bilawal sends it back up to komal Ni first; shuddha Ni has already sounded above, and Ma, absent ascending, returns below. Devagiri Bilawal shares this descent but not the straight ascent. Dha is vadi. Hold the first descending Dha until you hear komal Ni above it, then finish the bend, shortening the hold each time until the turn stays clear without it.

A perfectly respectable Pa can spoil this one, slipping in between Ma and Dha, though Bhinna Shadja omits both Pa and Re. Durga shares its Ma vadi but omits Ga and Ni instead. Record the ascent in note names and listen only to the gap above Ma. If a syllable has appeared there, try again with Dha already in your ear before leaving Ma, and check the landing on the keys afterwards.

Take your first breath before the lower Ni, not after it, and carry it through Sa to Ga, Bihag's vadi. The ascent omits Re and Dha; both return in a descent that uses shuddha Ma and tivra Ma. Shyam Kalyan has the same notes but omits Ga and Dha ascending. Once the opening is secure, check the descending return to Pa after tivra Ma, and do not let the hand hurry past it.

Same keys as Bhupali, a different note to attend to. Deshkar lists Dha as vadi and Ga as samvadi, reversing Bhupali's pair over identical lines without Ma or Ni. On one pass, give Dha an extra count wherever it occurs, at the same volume. Then repeat at an even pace and notice whether Dha still has a definite pitch before you move on to upper Sa or Pa.

You get the descent right, turn round, and Re comes along uninvited. Mand needs it descending, not ascending. Hemant has the same notes but also omits Pa ascending; Mand keeps Pa, its samvadi, with Sa as vadi. Cover the descending line and sing the ascent from Sa to Ga, then stop and check Ga. When you uncover the return, let Re back in without carrying it into the next climb.

“Back to Re” belongs in pencil beside this ascent. After the lower Ni, Devagiri Bilawal turns back from Ga to Re before climbing again, still without Ma. Alhaiya Bilawal has the same descent, both forms of Ni included, but neither the lower opening nor the turn. Sa is vadi, Pa samvadi. Sing the two Ga around that Re at one pitch, and check the second against the key so the renewed climb does not pull it up.

After a climb spent avoiding Pa, it is easy to forget it coming down. Hemant omits Re ascending too, and restores both on the return. Mand has the same notes and descent but keeps Pa ascending, and names Sa as vadi where Hemant names Ma. Start from upper Sa, stop at the first descending Pa and check it, then go on to Ma. Sing the ascent separately, crossing the gap above Ma without the Pa you have just rehearsed.

Halfway down, memory may try to finish Bihag for you. Very helpful of it. Bihagda shares Bihag's lower Ni opening and its ascent without Re or Dha, but its descent keeps Re out, uses both forms of Ni and has no tivra Ma. Ga is vadi in both. Number the three Pa in Bihagda's descent and point to each while singing, the last above all, so the hand cannot skip a turn it recognises.