North Indian Classical Music (NICM) provides a structured context to examine how improvisational and memory-based skills are developed through oral transmission. While improvisation is central to NICM performance, there is limited research on the pedagogical strategies that support its acquisition, particularly in relation to cognitive processes such as memory, pattern recognition, and schema development. This study analysed audio-visual recordings and fieldnotes from music lessons in both music schools and guru-śiṣya paramparā settings in India. Lessons were coded thematically with attention to instructional techniques, learner responses, and cognitive strategies including repetition, segmentation, and variation. Students were rarely asked to improvise spontaneously. Instead, learning focused on imitation and memorisation of modelled material, with inexact replication often leading to creative recomposition. Teachers used structured sequences of palṭās and tāns to support phrase construction, pitch accuracy, and intensification strategies. These techniques scaffolded both domain-specific (musical) and domain-general (cognitive) skills. Findings suggest that improvisational competence in NICM is developed through memorisation, structured variation, and implicit learning. The study contributes to understanding how oral traditions support cognitive development in music and highlights the need for further interdisciplinary research on learning and memory in non-notated musical systems.
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