Origin | The first lesson

Music, Rhythm and Avanaddha Vadya

Welcome to TablaWiki. It is my humble attempt to give back whatever I have learnt in the field of tabla so far. If anyone is benefited out of this attempt, I would be really happy.

Sarangadev's renowned book Sangeeta Ratnakara mentioned - 

"Geetang Vadyang tatha Nhrytyam Trayang Sangeetam Uchyote" - which means song, instrument or dance are nothing but sangeet or music. 

The basic elements of music are melody, harmony and rhythm. Tabla falls in rhythm music. Then Indian music instruments are divided into four categories, namely Tata vadya(string instruments), Sushira vadya(wind instruments), Avanaddha vadya(membrane covered) and Ghana vadya(solid percussion instrument). Tabla is a an avanaddha vadya where the open end is covered with skin surface, which is slapped to produce sound. 

The science of tabla sound is really interesting. The placement of different parts of your palm, finger with different shape, force, duration, impulse time create mesmerising melodies and rhythms.

Origin

The history of tabla is very old. You can read more about it in history and origin. In a nutshell, some people think that the origin of tabla is from moghuls, but some researchers say its India's indigenous instrument. There are mentions of tabla like instruments along with Mridangam in pre fifth century india's temples. Many researchers think that Amir Khusro, the 13th century iconic musician, poet and scholar who is the father of Sufi music, invented tabla considering his immense contribution to Indian music at that time. He is known to have invented many other musical instruments during that time as well. However, till now, no one is agreed upon single theory of tabla origin.

Tabla
picture courtesy: https://www.pinterest.com/hanahhaydari/music/

Lesson

The tabla theory lessons are going to be very brief considering that a lot of materials are already available in the internet. Having said that, the tutor will try to give the right direction to the learners. Now if you do not have a pair of tabla, its high time you should buy one. How to choose one, the tutor will guide you.

Components 

It is very important to know each component of tabla. It has two basic parts, the dayan(right) part and that bayan(left) part considering a right handed person. The dayan gives treble sound whereas the bayan gives bass. Without the skin and other parts, both dayan and bayan are just like hollow containers with one side open. The dayan is typically made of wood whereas bayan is made of either clay or steel most commonly. The layers of skins(leather) are lied on the open side precisely inline with gajara(refer picture) and tied with baddhi(braces made out of leather). Syahi is a round black coloured layer made out of flour, water and iron fillings. It is nicely described in the wiki. Gatta is a wooden cylindrical part in dayan for tightening or loosening the baddhi so that pitch of the playing surface can be adjusted. Gadi is the ring at the bottom where each tabla sits. For fine tuning, along with the gatta, gajara is also used by hammering it down for higher pitch and hammering up for lower pitch. Maidan is the base skin where syahi is fixed. Another layer of skin is seen towards the edge near the gajra, which is called chanti.

Basic strokes and bols

Right hand: tha/na, thi/thin, the/thi/thit, te/re, thu/thun, din

Left hand: ka/ke/ki/kat, ga/ge/gi

Combined: dha(ga+tha), dhin(ga+thin)

Apart from the above, there are other bols which are played often. They are - dhe, dhik, kran, thik, ne, rha etc. These are not independent bols but combination of two or more bols. Just an FYI, the bols may be little different in different geographical locations and different gharanas.  

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