Accent: A note or stroke played a little stronger than the ones around it. In the bell charts, > marks an accent. More in: Cymbal & Bell Patterns for Kirtan, Percussionist Aptitudes for Kirtan Accompaniment.

Accidental: A sharp, flat, or natural written in front of a single note, rather than in the key signature. It lasts to the end of that bar. Where Is There Love has an accidental in its second lyric section. More in: Reading Notes.

Accompaniment: The instruments that support the leader’s voice and harmonium. In SRF kirtan these are mainly cymbals, bells, tabla, and the tamboura. More in: Percussionist Aptitudes for Kirtan Accompaniment.

Alternative Song Form: A second way to arrange a chant’s lines, given on a few chant pages. God of Beauty has a standard form of 6 bars and an alternative form of 8 bars. Use one form or the other in a given rendition, so the group can follow. More in: How to Read a Song Form.

Asymmetric feel: When the sections of a form are not all the same length, or a line repeats a different number of times when it comes back. In Today My Mind Has Dived, A is sung twice at the beginning but only once when it returns. More in: How to Read a Song Form, Meter and Feel for Kirtan Players.

Bar (measure): A small group of beats. The time signature sets how many beats are in each bar, and bar lines divide the music into bars on the page. A chant page might say, “The form is 24 bars in 6/8.” More in: Reading Rhythm.

Beam: The thick line that joins eighth notes or sixteenth notes into groups. It makes the music easier to read; it does not change how long the notes last. More in: Reading Rhythm.

Beat (pulse): The steady pulse of the music, the one you could tap your foot to. In 4/4, the beats of each bar are counted 1, 2, 3, 4. More in: Reading Rhythm, Meter and Feel for Kirtan Players.

Bellows: The folding air chamber at the back of the harmonium, pumped with the left hand. On a harmonium, the volume comes from the pumping, not from how hard you press the keys. More in: Harmonium for Beginners.

Bhajan: A traditional Indian devotional chant. The bhajans on this site are ones that have been used in SRF settings, learned from SRF recordings.

BPM (beats per minute): How fast the beat goes. At 60 BPM there is one beat every second; at 120 BPM, two. Chant pages and videos show a BPM, and the player at the top of a chant page lets you slow it down while you learn. More in: Reading Rhythm.

Call-and-response: A style in which a leader sings a line and the group sings it back. This site mentions it as one of the forms found in kirtan more widely, outside SRF. More in: Kirtan Leader Devotee Foundation.

Chord: Two or more notes sounded at the same time. A three-note chord is called a triad. On the harmonium, a leader may play a three-note chord under the melody, with the melody and the chord both in the right hand. Videos marked “chords” or “melody then chords,” such as those on Door of My Heart, show this. More in: Choosing Chords for Harmonium, Growing as a Chant Leader, Harmonium & Vocal Aptitudes for Leading Kirtan.

Chorus, verse, and pre-chorus: Some longer chants have verses with changing words and a chorus that returns. A pre-chorus leads into the chorus. In What Lightning Flash, the chorus can be sung on its own. A line that keeps returning is also called a refrain. More in: Meter and Feel for Kirtan Players.

Chromatic notes: Notes from outside the chant’s key, usually marked with an accidental. They take care to sing in tune. Dawn Chant and Cloud-Colored Christ both have chromatic notes in the melody. More in: Reading Notes.

Circle of fifths: A chart that arranges all the major keys in a circle. Keys next to each other share all but one note, so moving a chant to a neighboring key is a small change. More in: Key Signatures & Major Scales.

Counter-rhythm: A rhythm that fills the spaces between melody notes instead of landing on them. Thumb tapping on a drone note can add a gentle counter-rhythm to a chant. More in: Growing as a Chant Leader.

Counting: Saying the beats out loud or in your mind to keep a steady pulse: “1, 2, 3, 4” for beats, “1 & 2 &” for eighth notes, and “1 e & a” for sixteenth notes. More in: Reading Rhythm.

Coupler: A harmonium feature that sounds the note an octave away along with the key you press, for a fuller sound. More in: Choosing a Key for a Chant.

Difficulty: Each chant on the Chants page has a difficulty from 1 (easiest) to 5. Door of My Heart is a 1; They Have Heard Thy Name is a 5. Beginners are encouraged to start with level 1 chants. More in: Harmonium for Beginners.

Dotted note: A dot after a note adds half of that note’s length. A dotted quarter note lasts one and a half beats. More in: Reading Rhythm.

Double feel (double-time): A way for percussion to play its pattern as if the tempo were twice as fast, so a slow chant still feels alive while the melody stays unhurried. More in: Meter and Feel for Kirtan Players, Percussionist Aptitudes for Kirtan Accompaniment.

Downbeat: The first beat of a bar. In Blue Lotus Feet, the syllable “Di-” is a pickup, and “vine” lands on the downbeat. More in: Reading Rhythm.

Drone (drone note): A note held steadily under the melody, usually the home note of the key or the note a fifth above it. The leader can hold a drone on the harmonium, and the tamboura plays one too. On Door of My Heart, “Using B as a primary drone note makes the chant in Em.” More in: Growing as a Chant Leader, Choosing a Key for a Chant.

Dynamics: Changes in loudness: getting louder or softer. On the harmonium, dynamics come from the bellows. A common ending is to repeat a line while growing quieter, without slowing down. More in: Learning a New Chant, Harmonium & Vocal Aptitudes for Leading Kirtan.

Eighth note: see Note values.

Eighth-note feel: A Rhythm label for chants in 3/4 where the pulse falls evenly on each quarter note, as in Opal Flame and They Have Heard Thy Name. Compare triplet feel. More in: Meter and Feel for Kirtan Players.

Ending (of a chant): How a chant comes to a close. A common way is to repeat a line several times, get quieter while keeping the tempo, then slow down on the last few words. The Notes on many chant pages suggest a good ending. More in: Learning a New Chant, How to Read a Song Form.

Endings, first and second: Two different closing bars for a repeated passage. Take the first ending the first time through; on the repeat, skip it and take the second ending. O Thou Blue Sky has them in its opening section. More in: Reading Rhythm, How to Read a Song Form.

Feel: How the beats are grouped and felt, beyond the time signature itself. Examples on this site are straight, triplet feel, eighth-note feel, double feel, and free feel. More in: Meter and Feel for Kirtan Players.

Fermata: A sign (an arc over a dot) above a note, meaning hold this note longer than written. Do Not Dry the Ocean of My Love has a melody video played without the fermatas, as well as one that follows the sheet music. More in: Reading Rhythm.

Fill: A short percussion flourish between phrases. Fills belong in steady stretches of the chant, not at the meter changes. More in: Percussionist Aptitudes for Kirtan Accompaniment, Meter and Feel for Kirtan Players.

Fingering and hand position: Which fingers play which keys, and where the hand rests on the keyboard. The videos on chant pages show fingerings that work well, and some chants ask you to move the hand smoothly between two positions. More in: Harmonium for Beginners.

Flat (♭): A sign that lowers a note by a half step. D♭ is the black key just to the left of D. More in: Reading Notes.

Free time (free tempo): Sung without a steady beat, so the words and the leader set the pace. Free-time chants have no percussion accompaniment. A chant with a free feel, like He Who Knows, may still be sung in time, but slowly. More in: How to Read a Song Form.

Groove: The settled rhythmic feel that the percussion locks into once a chant is underway. More in: Percussionist Aptitudes for Kirtan Accompaniment.

Half note: see Note values.

Half step and whole step: A half step is the distance from one key to the very next key, black or white. A whole step is two half steps, such as C to D. More in: Reading Notes, Key Signatures & Major Scales.

Harmonium: A keyboard instrument with metal reeds, sounded by pumping the bellows. It is the main instrument for leading chants on this site. More in: Harmonium for Beginners.

Harmony: Notes sounded together with the melody to support it, such as chords and drones. Harmony is something you can add once the melody is secure. More in: Choosing Chords for Harmonium, Growing as a Chant Leader.

In time: Sung with a steady beat that percussion can follow. Most chants on this site are in time, and in-time chants are generally best for group singing. More in: How to Read a Song Form.

Interval: The distance between two notes, counted in half steps and whole steps. When you transpose a chant, the intervals stay the same, so the tune keeps its shape. More in: Choosing a Key for a Chant, Reading Notes.

Introduction: How the leader starts a chant: often by playing the first line once without singing, so everyone hears the melody and the tempo. Percussion players listen to the introduction to find the tempo and feel. More in: Learning a New Chant.

Inversion: A chord with its notes stacked in a different order, so that a note other than the root is at the bottom. G–C–E is an inversion of the C chord C–E–G. On the harmonium, inversions help a chord fit under the right hand, close to the melody. More in: Choosing Chords for Harmonium.

Keharwa: A basic eight-beat tabla pattern, used with its variations for many in-time chants. More in: Percussionist Aptitudes for Kirtan Accompaniment.

Key: The home note and scale a chant is built on, such as C major or E minor. Polestar of My Life is generally played in C, so it uses no black keys. More in: Choosing a Key for a Chant, Key Signatures & Major Scales.

Key center: The note the melody feels at home on. Some chants move between two key centers: in Ever New Joy, the melody needs to be learned in both. More in: Key Signatures & Major Scales.

Key signature: The sharps or flats written at the start of each line of music. They tell you which notes are sharp or flat all through the chant. More in: Reading Notes, Key Signatures & Major Scales.

Kirtan: Devotional chanting together, usually led by a singer at the harmonium with percussion accompaniment. More in: Harmonium & Vocal Aptitudes for Leading Kirtan.

Ledger lines: Short extra lines above or below the staff, for notes that sit outside it. Middle C sits on the first ledger line below the treble staff. More in: Reading Notes.

Legato: Smooth and connected: keep each key down until the next one is pressed. This is the usual way to play a chant melody on the harmonium. Chords should be legato too: hold the notes two chords share and move the other fingers to nearby keys, without lifting the hand. Compare staccato. More in: Harmonium for Beginners, Choosing Chords for Harmonium.

Loop (sub-form loop): Staying with part of the form for a while instead of going back to the top each time. In Dawn Chant, you could loop lines C and D after the full form has been sung several times. More in: How to Read a Song Form.

Major and minor: The two most common kinds of key. On the Chants page, “Em” means E minor and “D” means D major. Some chants move between the two, such as one listed as “A minor/major.” More in: Key Signatures & Major Scales.

Measure: see Bar.

Melody: Notes sounded one after another: the tune you sing. Videos marked “melody only” play just the tune, with no chords or drones. More in: Reading Notes, Learning a New Chant.

Meter: The pattern of beats in each bar, shown by the time signature. “In 3/4” and “in 6/8” describe the meter. More in: Meter and Feel for Kirtan Players, Reading Rhythm.

Meter line: The short line just under the Song Form. It gives the meter, the number of bars in one full form, and any pickup or unusual feel, for example “The form is 12 bars in 4/4.” More in: How to Read a Song Form.

Metronome: A device or app that clicks a steady beat at a chosen BPM. Most of the videos on this site are played with a metronome, which helps you keep a consistent pulse. More in: Harmonium & Vocal Aptitudes for Leading Kirtan.

Middle C: The C near the middle of the keyboard, and the first ledger line below the treble staff. Many chants sit around middle C and the notes just above it. More in: Reading Notes.

MIDI player: The player at the top of many chant pages. It plays the melody, lights up each key as it sounds, and lets you change the BPM or transpose. You can also download the MIDI file. More in: Learning a New Chant.

Minor: see Major and minor.

Mixed meter (odd meter): A chant whose time signature changes as it goes. The Rhythm labels “Odd/varying meter” and “Mixed 4/4 & 6/4” mark these. Dawn Chant moves from 4/4 to 6/4 and back. More in: Meter and Feel for Kirtan Players, Reading Rhythm.

Natural (♮): A sign that cancels a sharp or flat and returns the note to its plain pitch, usually a white key. More in: Reading Notes.

Note values: How long each note lasts. In 4/4, a whole note lasts four beats, a half note two, a quarter note one, an eighth note half a beat, and a sixteenth note a quarter of a beat. More in: Reading Rhythm.

Octave: From one note up to the next note with the same name, such as C to the next C. The two sound alike, one higher and one lower. More in: Reading Notes.

Open and muted strokes: The two basic cymbal sounds. An open stroke rings; a muted (closed) stroke is stopped short. The cymbal charts mark them o and –. More in: Cymbal & Bell Patterns for Kirtan.

Phrase: A short musical sentence, often one line of words sung in one breath. More in: Learning a New Chant.

Pickup: A short lead-in before the first full bar. O Thou Blue Sky begins with a one-beat pickup, and in I Will Sing Thy Name, “I will” is a pickup into “sing” on beat 1. More in: Reading Rhythm, How to Read a Song Form.

Pitch: How high or low a note sounds. Long held notes take some vocal skill to keep on pitch. More in: Reading Notes.

Pre-chorus: see Chorus, verse, and pre-chorus.

Prime marks (A′, B″, B‴): A letter with a prime is a close variation of that line, not a new one. I Am Om has B, B′, B″, and B‴: the same melody shape with different words. More in: How to Read a Song Form.

Pulse: see Beat.

Quarter note: see Note values.

Range (vocal range): The span from the lowest to the highest note of a chant. A comfortable group range runs from about middle C up to about the D or E above the next C. I Am the Sky has a wide range. More in: Choosing a Key for a Chant.

Reeds and stops: A harmonium has sets of metal reeds that make its sound. Opening more stops sounds more sets of reeds at once, often an octave apart. More in: Choosing a Key for a Chant.

Refrain: see Chorus, verse, and pre-chorus.

Register: A higher or lower part of the range. Ever New Joy repeats a short phrase in two registers, and Om Kali has a lower and a higher section.

Relative minor: The minor key that shares a key signature with a major key. A minor is the relative minor of C major. More in: Key Signatures & Major Scales.

Repeat sign: Two dots beside a double bar line. A passage between repeat signs is sung or played again. More in: Reading Rhythm.

Resolve: To move from a note or chord that feels unsettled to one that feels at rest. In I Am the Bubble, Make Me the Sea, one part is outside the key center and then resolves nicely to the next line. More in: Learning a New Chant.

Rest: A silence of a set length. Each note value has a matching rest. More in: Reading Rhythm.

Rhythm: The pattern of long and short sounds against the beat. On chant pages, the Rhythm label in the Details panel groups chants by meter and feel, such as “Straight 4/4” or “Free time.” More in: Reading Rhythm, Meter and Feel for Kirtan Players.

Scale (major scale): A set of notes going up step by step to the octave. A major scale follows the pattern whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. C major uses only the white keys. More in: Key Signatures & Major Scales.

Scale-changer (transposer): A harmonium feature that shifts the keyboard, so you can keep the same fingering while the instrument sounds in a different key. More in: Choosing a Key for a Chant.

Section letters (A, B, C): The Song Form names each line or group of lines with a letter, in the order they are sung. A letter that returns is sung to the same melody. More in: How to Read a Song Form.

Sharp (♯): A sign that raises a note by a half step. C♯ is the black key just to the right of C. More in: Reading Notes.

Sixteenth note: see Note values.

Song Form: The map of a chant on its page: which lines are sung, in what order, and how many times. One pass through the lettered lines is one full form; in kirtan it is usually sung several times. More in: How to Read a Song Form.

Staccato: Short and detached, with small gaps between the notes. Avoid it when playing a chant melody on the harmonium. Compare legato. More in: Harmonium for Beginners.

Staff (treble staff): The five lines and four spaces that music is written on. Each line and space is a different note. More in: Reading Notes.

Starting note: The first note of the melody. Finding it on the harmonium is one of the first steps in learning a chant. More in: Learning a New Chant.

Straight 4/4 (straight eighths): A steady four-beat feel, with the beat divided evenly in two. “Straight 4/4” is the Rhythm label for most chants in 4/4. More in: Meter and Feel for Kirtan Players.

Strokes, down and up: On the bells, the direction of each stroke. The bell charts mark them ↓ and ↑. More in: Cymbal & Bell Patterns for Kirtan.

Sub-form loop: see Loop.

Tabla: A pair of Indian hand drums, often played in kirtan. More in: Percussionist Aptitudes for Kirtan Accompaniment.

Tamboura (tambura, tampura): An Indian string instrument, or an app, that sounds a steady drone. The Tamboura Key on each chant page, such as “Em (E, B),” gives the key and the two notes to tune to when the chant is played in its written key. If you move the chant to another key, move the tamboura too. More in: Choosing a Key for a Chant, Learning a New Chant.

Tapping (drone tapping): Re-striking a drone note in rhythm, often with the thumb, so the harmonium itself carries a pulse. Videos for Radha Krishna Govinda and Jai Guru, Jai Ma show it. Tapping should stay in time and support the chant. More in: Growing as a Chant Leader, Harmonium & Vocal Aptitudes for Leading Kirtan.

Tempo: How fast the chant goes, often given in BPM. A leader may speed up to build energy, then slow down again to end, as the Notes suggest for Who Is in My Temple and Om Kali. More in: Learning a New Chant, Harmonium & Vocal Aptitudes for Leading Kirtan.

Thumb tapping: see Tapping.

Tie: A curved line joining two notes of the same pitch. Play or sing the first note and hold it through both; don’t strike the second. More in: Reading Rhythm.

Time signature: The two numbers at the start of a chant, and wherever the meter changes. The top number is how many beats are in each bar. The bottom number is the kind of note that gets one beat: 4 means a quarter note, 8 means an eighth note. So 3/4 has three quarter-note beats in each bar, and 6/8 has six eighth-note beats, often felt as two groups of three. More in: Reading Rhythm, Meter and Feel for Kirtan Players.

Transpose: To move every note of a chant up or down by the same amount, so it sounds in a new key with the same tune. The Transpose control on the player at the top of a chant page does this. More in: Choosing a Key for a Chant.

Treble clef: The curly G-shaped sign at the start of the staff. Its curl wraps around the line for G. More in: Reading Notes.

Triad: see Chord.

Trill: A quick, repeated alternation between two neighboring notes, or a quick shimmer of strokes on the bells. More in: Percussionist Aptitudes for Kirtan Accompaniment.

Triplet feel: Three even notes in each beat. The Rhythm label “3/4 triplet feel” marks chants that are felt like 6/8, with the pulse on beats 1 and 4, such as Who Is in My Temple. Compare eighth-note feel. More in: Meter and Feel for Kirtan Players.

Variation: A changed version of a line or pattern: a melody variation in the words or notes, a line marked with a prime, or a passage the book marks “Optional Variation,” as in What Lightning Flash. More in: How to Read a Song Form.

Verse: see Chorus, verse, and pre-chorus.

Voicing: The particular way a chord’s notes are arranged under the hand: which notes are played, in what order, and how close together. On the harmonium, a good voicing keeps the melody on top and fits within one right hand. More in: Choosing Chords for Harmonium.

Whole note: see Note values.

Whole step: see Half step and whole step.

x2 (x4, x8): Sing that line twice (or four or eight times) before going on. A line with no mark is sung once. x2 marks repeats inside the form only, not repeats of the whole chant. More in: How to Read a Song Form.