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Choosing the Right Scale: A Beginner's Guide to Sur

Finding your Sa (Home Note) is the first step in your musical journey. Singing in the wrong scale can lead to vocal nodules and permanent damage.

Understanding Harmonium Scales

In Indian music, we use terms like "Kali" (Black keys) and "Safed" (White keys) to identify scales.

Scale Name Harmonium Key Best For
C# Kali 1 Standard Male Range
A / A# Kali 5 / Safed 6 Deep Bass Male Voices
G / G# Kali 4 / Safed 5 Standard Female Range
D / D# Kali 2 High Tenor Male Voices

How to Find Your Sa

1. Open our Tanpura Tool.
2. Select a scale from the dropdown.
3. Try to sing Nimn Pa (P..) comfortably. If you cannot reach it without your voice breaking, the scale might be too high.
4. Try to sing Madhya Pa (P). If you feel like you are shouting, the scale might be too high.

Rule of Thumb: Your "Sa" should be a note that you can sing for 30 seconds straight without any shaking or breathlessness.

Why We Added Lower Scales

We recently added B (Safed 7) and A# (Kali 5) to our tool. Many modern singers have deeper ranges, and these scales allow them to practice Mandra Saptak riyaz without straining their vocal cords.

Test Your Scale Now