Sam: Vocal form in the Vedic Period ( 5000 B.C. to 2000 B.C)

There were two types of music in the vedic period. 1. Loukik (Folk) Music 2. Vedic (Sacred) Music. Loukik music was for entertainment purpose. Gatha, Raibhi and Narashansi were the vocal forms in the folk music. Very little information is available about these forms. 'Sam' was the vedic music. Though it was sacred music, a deep thought of music can be seen in it.

Special Features of Samgayan

1. Sam has a definite structure. It consists of five parts. Viz: Prastav, Udgeeth, Pratihar, Upadrava and Nidhan. It shows that tradition of dividing a musical composition into different parts for musical purpose existed from Vedic period.
2. Samas are set to different meters. Each line of sama consists of groups of specific number of letters. (e.g. Gayatra: 8-8-8. Three groups, each group of eight letters) Thus, 'Khandas' exist in the same in the form of groups of letters. When the lines of equal time intervals are repeate, 'Avartanas' are created in sama. This the 'Taal' in Hindustani music arises from the meters in the sam.
3. In the 'Upadrava' of the sam, the sam is sung with variations and Avrittis (repititions). "To set up a framework with the help of swara, pad and laya and then make variations in it." This is the basic principle used in the modern vocal forms. The origin of the principle is in the Samgayan.
4. 'To make use of meaningless syllables for Aalap" is a characteristic of samgayan. These syllables are known as 'Stobha'. Thus the tradition of using meaningless syllables for musical purpose exists from Vedic period.