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    Tabla: A Performer's Perspective
    Tabla: A Performer's Perspective
    Tabla: A Performer's Perspective
    Ebook109 pages1 hour

    Tabla: A Performer's Perspective

    By Aneesh Pradhan

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    About this ebook

    With its ability to play a significant role in traditional and new musical forms, the tabla has captured the imagination of both musicians and music lovers.
    Tabla player Aneesh Pradhan provides a general overview of the instrument and the performance practice associated with it.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateApr 8, 2011
    ISBN9781617924248
    Tabla: A Performer's Perspective

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      Book preview

      Tabla - Aneesh Pradhan

      TABLA: A PERFORMER’S PERSPECTIVE

      Aneesh Pradhan

      Copyright and Publishing 2011: Aneesh Pradhan

      ISBN: 9781617924248

      To performers, composers and teachers, who have enriched the tradition and have inspired me to pursue my study of music

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      PREFACE

      INTRODUCTION

      SANGAT: The art of accompaniment

      GHARANA: Styles of tabla playing and solo repertoire

      EXTENDING BOUNDARIES: Experiments in solo and accompaniment

      LOOKING BEYOND: Theatre, film and other systems of music

      EPILOGUE

      SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

      SELECT DISCOGRAPHY

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      This book would not have seen the light of day had it not been for the support and encouragement that I received from several individuals. I am deeply indebted to my guru and illustrious tabla maestro Nikhil Ghosh, who accepted me as a disciple and taught me the intricacies of different styles of tabla playing. I have also benefitted immensely from the information that I have been able to imbibe by observing senior musicians and by interacting with my contemporaries.

      My parents Kisan and Vasant Pradhan made every possible effort to ensure that I continued my pursuit of music in an unhindered manner. Their contribution to my study and artistic career is immense and I am grateful to them for that. My sisters Nishita Mhatre and Deepti Pradhan have also helped me in this journey.

      To have a fellow artiste as a life partner is a boon. I am grateful to my wife Shubha Mudgal, with whom I have been able to share a fulfilling intellectual and artistic environment. I have had the good fortune of collaborating with her on many an occasion, in her role as a vocalist, composer and curator.

      My students Sudev Sheth and Ashish Agarwal were kind enough to compile the discography that goes with this book. Sudev Sheth was very patient with my requirements, and painstakingly formatted the discography to match the themes that are discussed in the book. 

      Noted tabla teacher and scholar Arvind Mulgaonkar, tabla player Asif Ali, Dinesh Ghate (Editor and Publisher of Swar Aalaap), and my gurubhai Gert M. Wegner for readily allowed me to use photographs from their collection. I am grateful to them for their generosity.

      PREFACE

      Writing on a subject that one is passionate about is equally a pleasurable and an onerous task. Articulating concepts related to musical practice is, without doubt, a rewarding experience, and yet the anxiety of being able to do justice to a subject of such magnitude is palpable in the same measure. 

      There are several questions that have stayed with me since the time I began to learn music.  Some of these pertain to history; others are of a musicological nature, and there are those that relate to performance practice. Over the years, I have come to realize that not all of these questions have simple answers. Many of them have led me to other convoluted and engaging questions.  Take for instance a standard question that meets one in every classroom context. ‘Where and when did x, y, or z, Indian musical instrument originate?’ There is no simple answer to this question.  The origin and evolution of an instrument is almost never the work of a single individual. A series of events over decades or even centuries may have given shape to an instrument and steered its evolution and development to the form we are now familiar with.  The oral tradition in India makes it even more difficult to locate ‘inventors’ of instruments. 

      I can therefore conclude that I now have more questions than I began with, perhaps not the best submission in the preface of a book that hopes to share information!  But truly, this is the most exciting part of studying a tradition, particularly one that goes back many centuries, has incorporated various influences and has changed with the times. 

      This book focuses on the concept of Indian rhythm, particularly as manifested in North Indian art music, more popularly known as Hindustani music.  According to the traditional Indian classification system, musical instruments are grouped in four categories, namely, sushir (wind blown), tat (chordophones), avanaddha (membranophones) and ghana (idiophones).  Of these, the avanaddha category, which consists of a plethora of drums, is more relevant to our understanding of Indian rhythm.

      Indian rhythm and percussive instruments have attracted musicians and music-lovers across cultures and continents. Indian drums are now heard and seen in virtually every situation—in traditional music, cross-cultural music projects, or even in Hollywood soundtracks. Not only does this indicate the capacity of these instruments to adapt to diverse musical situations, but it also speaks volumes about the artistry of the percussionists. The attention that Indian percussion instruments have received in the past few decades has been most heartening, as they have otherwise largely enjoyed secondary status when accompanying various types of traditional Indian music. There are several reasons for the earlier status and the current rise in popularity, but these are beyond the scope of this book.   

      There are certain common features that typify the avanaddha family. Indian drums are made of shells that are either partially or completely hollow. The open-ends of these shells are covered with skin, which is tied or screwed on to the shell.  In case of frame drums, the skin is stretched across a wooden or metal frame.  The sound of the instrument is produced in conventional musical performance by striking the skin with sticks or hands, or a combination of these, and in some cases even by stamping on the skin. The most striking feature that distinguishes many Indian drums from those in other parts of the world, is the circular black layer permanently affixed on the skin. 

      Specific terms describe various parts of the instruments. Other terms have also been

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