Bayan playing is an essential component of tabla, often ignored by many tabla players. A reader of this site requested some tips on Bayan playing, I’ve recorded a short video sharing my thoughts on it. Please see link below.

Tips on Bayan Playing

Hi all. The Major Traditions of North Indian Tabla Drumming was a series of recordings made around 1971 by an American ethnomusicologist Robert Gottlieb, who recorded the leading players of the 6 major tabla gharanas at that time. He also wrote an accompanying book as well as a series of transcriptions. The books are hard to get (I have a copy) but worth reading mainly for his commentaries on the different gharanas and their characteristics.

Some of these recordings have been floating around YouTube for quite a while, however I’ve now compiled them into a single playlist, reflecting the order of the original 6 recordings. These are very valuable recordings of some of the great ustads of the past. Some of them are very rare e.g. we have barely any tabla solo recordings of Ustad Inam Ali Khan (Delhi), Ustad Keramatullah Khan (Farrukabad) or Ustad Wajid Husan Khan (Lucknow).

The Major Traditions of North Indian Tabla Drumming

Greetings to all readers of this blog. A few of you have reached out to me in recent times. Some people have had questions about what type of tabla to buy. Some had questions about posture or injuries. Others had questions about gurus, where to find a guru etc. It’s great to connect with fellow tabla players, no matter where you are in your journey.

It has been a long time since I posted anything on this blog. I was somewhat caught up in my own things. But more than that I sort of felt that I had nothing else particularly new or important to say, so I left it as is, although it was pleasing to see that people have continued to read the content I posted and some people have found it useful.

I have been through some ups and downs in my musical journey. I think anyone who goes on this journey, or indeed any journey, inevitably hits some roadblocks, or some bumps in the roads, or perhaps may come to a crossroad. I somewhat came to a crossroad in the past couple of years. Prior to that, I had been extremely “gung ho” about performing tabla on the stage. Whether as a solo player or as an accompanist. However, I came to a point where I no longer found that interesting, or satisfying. It started to feel repetitive. It has its place, but I somewhat felt that I needed to move away from all that.

For the past one year or so I have completely stopped performing or playing in public. The surprising thing is that I don’t miss it at all. Not only do I not miss it, this has in fact been a very fruitful period for me musically. I feel that I can now fully commit to engaging with the instrument, without being distracted.

I’ll write another blog post soon about some insights I have gleaned during this period. Thanks for reading.

Sharing a few tips for doing tabla riyaz, written by RS Ananda Murthy. 

How to do Riyaz?

by R. S. Ananda Murthy (rsamurti@gmail.com)

1. Try to do riyaz in a very private place where you are alone. Do not let others to come or observe your riyaz.

2. Your attitude towards your instrument has a great impact on the effectiveness of your riyaz. Do not try to conquer your instrument. Try to seek your instrument with love and respect. Riyaz is actually meditation with lot of love, respect and perseverance. Single word for all this is bhakti. So, cultivate this bhakti towards your instrument. Flow of knowledge is analogous to flow of current. Just like current that flows from higher potential point to a lower potential point, knowledge flows into you if you are humble and at a lower level than the source of knowledge. Therefore, in our tradition, we respect our Gurus and we always place them at a higher pedestal. Remember source of knowledge can be any where. It can be even a person unknown to us. This is very true in todays’s digital age.

3. Set your metronome to a comfortable tempo such that you will be able to play clearly each syllable or akshara at single speed and also at double speed. The base tempo could vary from person to person. Therefore, you need to adjust it for your self. Over a period of time, try to increase your base speed.

4. Take any basic or advanced exercise. This can be to strengthen right hand, left hand, or to develop co-ordination of both hands. Write it down. First recite it along with the metronome at single speed and also double speed. Repeat this several times. Preferably repeat this for about 10 minutes. Keeping 10 minutes duration for each exercise has been found to be very effective by many achievers.

5. You may repeat your 10 minute sessions with small breaks in between for any length of time depending upon your convenience. Try to cover all aspects of playing of your instrument during each day of your riyaz. This may be difficult if you have a very busy schedule. But still try to do this as much as possible.

6. You may try to keep a diary of your riyaz sessions to monitor your progress over a period of time.

7. When you are practicing, observe your self for any stiffness or strain in your hands, shoulders (this is very important), or in any part of your body. Strain or stiffness in the body is unique to each person. Therefore, you need to observe yourself and keep your body relaxed throughout your riyaz. While doing riyaz also observe your breath. Ensure that you are not holding your breath and that you are breathing normally in a relaxed way.

8. Note that the goals of your riyaz in the order of priority are to achieve — clarity, stamina, and speed. If you try to develop stamina – i.e., the ability to play with clarity for longer duration – speed will automatically come.

Last weekend I had the good fortune to accompany a renowned maestro of the sarangi Pandit Bharat Bhushan Goswami-ji at his Melbourne concert.

Sharing below links to the video recordings of the concert.

First half:

The first half featured bada and chhota khayals in raga Puriya Kalyan, followed by a light piece (I believe it was a Dadra, not to be confused with Dadra taal of tabla).

Second half:

The second half featured a traditional Thumri of Benares, followed by a folk item known as a Chaiti. I’ve had very little experience playing with light classical genres so this was a learning experience for me! I had to learn the Jat Theka for this performance which is used for Thumri accompaniment. It is essentially a variation of slow Teentaal.

It was a wonderful experience to accompany such an august and senior musician. Panditji plays sarangi in the Benares style. His repertoire includes core classical material (khayal) as well as light classical genres such as thumri, dadra, chaiti and others. His mastery of the instrument and the various genres of classical music were evident.

Further information about Goswami-ji can be found on his website:

http://bharatbhushansarangi.com/

Ustad Shaukat Hussain was an excellent and well-known tabla player from Pakistan, known as a guru-bhai of Ustad Alla Rakha and as the guru / ustad of Ustad Tari Khan. He was also the guru of UK-based tabla player Shahbaz Husain.

Some years ago I came across a well-written essay by Pakistani journalist Ally Adnan sharing memories of Ustad Shaukat Hussain. I am sharing the essay here in PDF form for those interested:

Memories of Ustad Shaukat Hussain Khan by Ally Adnan

Prof. Sudhir Varma was the head of the faculty of percussion at Bhatkande College of Music, Lucknow and was the student of Ustad Ahmedjan Thirakwa for 15 years. He has written a book “The Art of Tabla Playing”. It contains information about the general basics of tabla, however also contains a number of compositions given in different taals.

I am sharing a PDF copy of the book here for those interested:

The Art of Tabla Playing by Prof. Sudhir K Varma

Prof. Varma is the person seen sharing memories of Ustad Ahmedjan Thirakwa in the YouTube video provided in my previous post: The 3 Types of Tabla players according to Utd Ahmedjan Thirakwa.

The below video clip of my guru Pt Abhijit Banerjee illustrates a good example of ideal posture and technique for tabla playing:

The angle of the video clearly shows that Panditji’s left shoulder is doing a lot of the work when playing the bayan. This is an important point. Many beginners struggle to get good volume and tone out of their bayan. One of the reasons for this is the incorrect assumption that tabla is played with fingers and hands alone – this is not true. 

Fingers and hands alone do not have much strength and power. For good tabla playing the ideal technique is to use the muscles of the back and shoulders to generate most of the power, which is transmitted by the fingers and hands to the drum. 

If one watches and observes Panditji’s movements closely one can see his shoulders (and ultimately the muscles of the upper and lower back) are generating most of the force and power. By contrast, the fingers and hands are relatively relaxed. 

One can also note the overall solidity and steadiness of his seated posture. There is very little extraneous movement when he plays – only the arms and shoulders are moving. This is another core principle of good tabla playing – efficiency. Making the minimum movements required to play the strokes, while generating maximum power by use of the shoulders and back. 

(Would like to acknowledge my guru-bhai Farid for posting the above video to YouTube)

Great instructional video by Ty Burhoe showing how to take the slack out of your drum: 

Learning how to perform these basic maintenance tasks is essential for any tabla player. 

Some time ago I came across a video on YouTube of a Professor Sudhir Varma and a few of his companions reminiscing about Ustad Ahmedjan Thirakwa. The video contains several interesting and amusing anecdotes about the life and character of Thirakwa-saheb, unfortunately it is all in Hindi and there are no sub-titles. 

However, one of the interesting tidbits from this video is the description of 3 types of tabla players by Ustad Ahmedjan Thirakwa. To paraphrase the quote: 

“When I was a young man, there used to be tabla players. However, nowadays there seem to be three types: Tabliya (tabla players), Hatheliya and Hisabiya!” 

This is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek observation by Ustadji. What he means by this is that in the modern era, in addition to Tabliya (tabla players), there are also: 

• Hatheliya (“hard hitters”) – those who hit the tabla extremely hard, play at excessive volume and/or at excessive speed 
• Hisabiya (“calculators”) – those who are obsessed with mathematical calculation, complex tihais and the like 

What is interesting about this is that Ustadji feels that the latter two categories are detrimental developments in the art of tabla playing. Playing with excessive force and volume is frowned upon by him, as is overzealous mathematical calculation. 

I was personally quite surprised to learn that the older generation of tabla players were, apparently, not enamoured with mathematical complexity, as this is nowadays a commonplace feature of tabla playing, perhaps most notably exemplified by Ustad Alla Rakha and his sons and disciples. 

Reflecting on this, my conclusion is that Thirakwa-saheb and his contemporaries felt that the “effect” of good tabla playing upon the listener is ultimately subtle, which is more important than dazzling listeners with ear-splitting volume or mind-boggling mathematical calculation. It can be noted that one doesn’t hear long and complex tihais, which are often pre-rehearsed, in Thirakwa-saheb’s tabla. 

I think there is probably a useful parallel to be drawn with Hindustani vocal or instrumental music. Here also we see many performers attempting to dazzle audiences with long and drawn out taans, arriving at the sam in spectacular fashion, or in some cases singing at excessively loud volume etc. Yet the important thing is (or should be) the effect on the listener, which is generally achieved through gradual and careful elaboration of the raga, staying in sur etc. 

Thirakwa-saheb was well-known to be steeped in not only tabla but also in vocal music, one can often hear him singing along to the lehra in his tabla solo recordings. Therefore one can expect that he brought the ethos of raga and vocal music into his tabla playing: gradual and careful elaboration, staying in sur and creating a subtly enchanting effect upon the listener, rather than attempting to overpower them with forceful playing. 

That said, it’s perhaps also worth pointing out the flip side: in the modern, commercial era without the benefit of state or royal sponsorship, musicians (including classical musicians) have had to cater to the tastes of the mass audience out of necessity. No one has done this better than Zakir Hussain, who greatly popularised tabla playing and brought it to the attention of the masses. So we must give credit where credit is due. 

For those of us (I include myself in this category) who are interested in looking beyond just mass appeal, however, it can be helpful to look to the stalwarts of the older generation such as Thirakwa-saheb for inspiration and guidance on the traditional form and essence of classical tabla playing.