# Rāga and śruti

A rāga is much more than a scale. It also says which notes are used going up and which going down, which notes are important, which phrases are typical and how each note is ornamented. Some rāgas are linked to a time of day or a season. Indian musicians tune each note by listening against the drone of the tanpura, and the old theory describes 22 small steps in the octave, called śruti. Time is organised in rhythmic cycles called tāla.

Connects to:
- [Pentatonic and diatonic](https://mapideas.org/i/mu_scales)
- [Rhythm and polyrhythm](https://mapideas.org/i/mu_rhythm)

Sources:
- [Wikipedia: Raga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raga)
- [What is music? Module 6, other worlds of scale](https://sofiagallego.com/what-is-music/)

Source: https://mapideas.org/i/mu_raga · open on the map: https://mapideas.org/#mu_raga