Tabla
There are various stories behind origin of tabla, one of them is that in the 13th century Amir Khusrau attended a competition for pakhawaj drummers. A prominent player who was jealous broke his drum in half before the contest, after this Amir repaired the two halves separately creating the two-drum set known as tabla and he returned to the competition years later triumphantly winning the contest.
The tabla is a popular South Asian percussion instrument used in the classical, religious and popular music of the north India. The Indian tabla is a two-piece percussion instrument. Most North Indian classical music, namely khyal and light music used tabla as principal rhythmic accompaniment. It is originated from the two-faced drum called 'mridangam' which is used in South Indian music and the 'pakhawaj' used in the north Indian music dhrupad and dhamar. The origin of the name 'The Tabla', to the Arabic word tabi, a generic term meaning drum. The construction of the instrument is similar to kettle-drums. The first image of an instrument similar to the tabla can be traced only to 1808.
Tabla has two drums, both together are called the tabla. But now its plural, tablas has become universally accepted word. The smaller one having higher pitch drum is the 'Dayan' called as tabla, the larger one which is bass toned drum is the 'Bayan' called as dagga. The wood used for the Dayan is a strong fibre with capacity, to hold sound within itself. The lighter the Dayan is usually cheaper drum. The same is usually for Bayan which is made out of brass, clay, wood or other metals. The tabla drum head or skin is called the pudi, the outer ring of the head is called the kinar, the inner or main skin is called the maidan or sur and the black circle in the center is commonly known as the syahi or gob. The leather wrapped ring around the top head is called the gajra or pagri, the leather straps are called vaadi or chot, the wooden blocks are called gattha and small leather ring around the bottom is called pendi. The cloth rings the tabla rest on are called birhas or chumbal.
The ideal sitting position is cross legged, yoga style, keeping your back and spine straight. The tabla are usually positioned evenly in front, tilted slightly away from the body and towards each other. Some players as per their arm length, position the smaller Dayan more in the center. The arm from the elbow to the fingertips needs to be somewhat straight. Keep the fingers together placing the tip of the middle finger on the middle of the gab. When learning to play tablas it is a common problem to let your hand curve to the right or left, the hand should remain straight at the wrist as in a salute.
Tabla Editor
- Kayada Help by Ketan.Tabla Editor is aimed at helping tabla players in composing variations of Kayadas or new Parans. You need to first enter value for 'Matre' per line and 'Khanda Matre'. For a Kayada in Teental, it would be 8 Matre per line and Khand on 4, 8 Matre. The numbers in Khand field are comma separated. As you go on clicking on Akhsaras, your composition will appear in the space above. Samoohas:
Samoohas are groups of 'aksharas' which may appear as a group frequently in your composition. You should adjust 'Matre' of a group when you create one.
e.g. ti R ki T can be a samooh with 2 matre. Creation of samoohas is advisible while composing variations of a Kayada. Frequently used phrases can be created as samoohas. Clicking on a samooha ads it to your composition. This speeds up your typing/writing. To save your composition, copy, paste the composition in a text file. More features will soon be added. Your feedback is valuable.