Most musical instruments are easy and fun to learn because you can start getting the sounds right away. But for many people Tabla and bamboo flutes are the hardest to start. These instruments are fun to play once you know how to get the sounds out, but in the begginning, they takes patience and hard work. Tabla cannot be played without learning the real strokes and sounds. You can not just start banging the heads and hope that something beatiful will come out, it won’t. And there is no magical way to learn the sounds in one session either. After a lot of hard work and determination, eventually the fun is awaiting.

Tabla has ten main sounds (boles). All other boles are combination of these sounds. These ten sounds are divided into three basic categories:
Dayan’s (right side’s) sounds:
1. na or ta
2. tin or ti
3. din or thun
4. tu
5. te
6. re
Bayna’s (left side’s) sounds:
7. Ge or Ghe (pronounced gay and ghay)
8. ke (pronounced kay)
Sounds played with both hands at the same time:
9. dha ( ‘ge’ plus ‘na’ or #7+#1)
10. dhin (‘ghe’ plus ‘tin’ or #7+#2)

Here are the techniques. Please don’t skip to the next sound until you learn correct the hand positions of one sound. Soon there will be video instructions.

Dayan’s Sounds:
1. ‘Na’ or ‘Ta’: put your third finger on the edge of Sihaee (ink) and hit the Chanti (edge) with your index finger. The middle finger should not touch anything. The index finger hits and bounces off right away (just hovering above the head, don’t pick you hand up). This is the most used sound and is the tuned sound too, so work hard on this one. Do not move your third and fourth fingers. This is a bad habit that will be hard to get rid of. Keep your thumb close to your index finger when playing. Keep your hand loose and wrist lifted up. Your elbow and your wrist should be parallel. This way your hand will not tire easily.

Think of the tabla head as a light metal lid of a pot. If you hit the lid with you finger and let it bounce off, the lid will ring. If the finger stays on the lid, the sound will be muted. The same rule applies here. By trying this experiment on a metal lid, you may also see that it is easier to get the ringing sound if hand and fingers are loose. The bouncing happens with the laws of Newton, rather than you pulling the finger away from the Tabla. You do not need to hit Tabla very hard to get this sound, if you are getting a ‘tik’ sound, you are hitting too hard and your hand is stiff. Read this paragraph a few times while trying to play. If you got this sound, half of your battle is over. Why is this sound called Na and Ta? These are the names of the same sound used by different schools of Tabla.

2. ‘Tin’ or ‘Ti’: third finger stays on the Siahee, the index finger hits the ‘Luv’ (the middle part between ‘Sihaee’ and ‘Chanti’). Again, it bounces right off the head to let it ring. Whenever this sound comes by itself, it is always called ‘Tin’. But when it is followed by ‘Na,’ then it is written as ‘ti.’ So when you see ‘tina,’ play and pronounce it as Tin+Na (two sounds).
3. ‘Din or ‘Thun’: when all four fingers together hit the Sihaee and are picked up right way, that is the ‘Din ‘ or ‘Thun’ sound.
4. Tu: this is achieved by hitting the Sihaee by index finger. It is an open sound too.
5. Te: when second, third and fourth fingers hit the Sihaee and stay there, that is the ‘Te’ sound. Staying means that this is a ‘muted sound.’ The fingers do not let the head ring.
6. Re: when hitting the Sihaee with the index finger. it is also a muted sound and it often follows ‘Te’.

Bayan Sounds:
7. ‘Ge’ or ‘Ghe’: this is a Bayan’s sound. When hitting the ink part of Bayan with index finger’s tip and it rings, that is ‘ge’, if hit by the middle finger that is called ‘Ghe’. When playing these sounds back part of your left hand should be resting right on the head and pressure of palm will give the Bayan sounds their distinguish bend. Hitting the head by bending your fingers on 90-digree angle makes these sounds. Also, Ghe is supposed to be played with a little more pressure than Ge.
8. Ke: when hitting the Bayan with all four fingers flat, that is ‘ke’. It is a muted sound.
9. Dha: ‘ge’ plus ‘Ta’ or ‘Na’ is ‘Dha’.
10. Dhin: ‘ghe’ plus ‘tin’ is ‘Dhin’. Sometimes this sound is also written as ‘Dhi’. In those cases it is folloed by the ‘Na’ sound. So when you see ‘dhina’ play and read ‘Dhin+Na’.

These are all the basic boles (sounds) of Tabla. Then there are some bigger boles that are created by joining two or more boles together. Some combined boles are explained below:
Combination Boles (sounds):
Combination boles are not played at the same time, but one after another. Here are a few examples of these combined boles. These boles will be used in Taals. When you read a Taal and have any doubt about any bole (sound), please refer to this list:
Tina: When ‘Tin’ and ‘Na’ come back to back, they are pronounced together as ‘Tinna’. Here written as ‘Tina’.
Dhina: Same as ‘Tina’ this is the combination of ‘Dhin and Na’ together. Pronounce it as ‘Dhinna’.
Tuk: ‘Ta’ and ‘kay’ make ‘Tuk’.
Kit: It is a combination of ‘Kay’ and ‘te’. Mostly it follows ‘Tir’ or ‘tit’ described below or is followed by ‘Tuk.’
Tirkit: This is a very common Bole. It is a combination of four boles back to back:
Te, re, kay, te,
Kuta: It is combination of ‘kay’ and ‘Ta’. Pronounce it as ‘Kattaa’.
Dhit: When Right hand plays ‘Tit (Tir or Te+re)’ and left hand adds ‘ghe’ with it. It becomes ‘dhit’.
Gadi: Combination of ‘Ge’ and an open Dayan sound ‘din’ or ‘di’.
Gan: ‘Gan’ mostly follows ‘Gadi’. If these both boles are played in one beat then they will be written like ‘Gadigan.’ ‘Gan’ is combination of ‘ge’ and ‘Na.’
Truk: ‘Truk’ is combination of ‘te’, ‘re’ and ‘kay’. It is always played together quickly otherwise it almost sounds like ‘tirkit’
Det: it is combination of ‘din’ and ‘ta’. It is pronounced like ‘they-ta’ with a very soft ‘T’.
Nug: This is a combination of ‘Na’ and ‘ge’.

Sangtar’s music blog:: Basic Theory
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Tuning Tabla is an art. Unfortunately everybody who wants to play it, must learn to tune. Tabla can’t be or should not be played without tuning. Why not?
Firstly, without being in tune all around the circle, it does not have the nice ring. Even If one point is out of tune, the ‘openness’ of the sound is lost.
Secondly, Tabla’s &’ Na’ & and ‘Tin’ (most used sounds) always ring on a certain frequency, and if that frequency is not in tune with your other instruments (or the scale of your song), then just like any other out of tune instrument it will not blend in. So let’s see how to tune it.
When we talk about tuning Tabla, almost all the time we mean tuning Dayan’s (right side’s) ‘Na’ sound. The open sounds (tu, din etc.) of Dayan are tuned in some special situations only. One of them is playing multiple Dayans only to play a melody line on Tablas, also known as ‘Tabla Trung’.
I will discuss how to play ‘Na’ on a Tabla in the ‘tabla sounds’ post (probably next). Every player has his/her own way to tune a Tabla, but in the end it comes down to achieving a perfect tuning all around. If you tune your Tabla the proper way, you can enjoy it for years. If you do not know how to do it right, the life of the head will be reduced to days or sometimes even hours. So please read through this post a couple of times before tempering with yours.

Tabla is tuned with a special hammer. Although any small hammer can be used, but this thing is specially made for this task. It has a blunt head to tune it, a sharp head to fix it and the other side is designed to get the rawhide belt over the wooden blocks. This special hammer is a very cheap tool and it is mostly sold with a new Tabla. A new one can be bought for a buck or two.
A Dahina is mostly tuned to the keynote, which is called ‘Sa’ in Indian music. Tablas don’t have very wide scales, so sometimes it is very hard to tune it to the keynote. The second preference is ‘Pa’(the fifth). If the composition you are playing Tabla with is such a Raga, which doesn’t use ‘Pa’ (the fifth), then it can also be tune to ‘Ma’ (the fourth). Some folk and popular style players tune it to ‘Ga’ (the third) to accommodate wide range of songs without changing Dayans. A Tabla tuned on ‘Ga’ (the third) does not blend well into the music, but it can be used to create a special sound in non-classical music. Most players keep more than one Dayans with variable head sizes with them.

Let’s go through the process of tuning a Dayan step by step:

1. First, make sure that your heads have warmed up or cooled down to the room temperature. Then play the ‘Na’ sound (instructions coming up) all around the head and establish an approximate note, or as it is said in Indian music, determine that on which note your Dayan approximately ‘speaks’ on.
2. Then create the sound of the desired note on a tuner or keyboard, on which the Dayan is supposed to be tuned on.
3. If the difference between Dayan’s approximate speaking (ringing) note and the desired note is too big, then consider tuning it to the fifth or the fourth depending on the tonic chord. Don’t make your Tabla go higher or lower than two tones unless it was really loose or really tight for some special reasons (new head etc.).
4. If your Dayan is sharper than the desired note then go to point 9.
5. If your Dayan sounds flat than the desired note, then figure out that how flat is it?
6. If the difference is more than a semitone then hit the wooden blocks down and bring the head closer to the desired note. When hitting the blocks, use ‘opposite side approach’. That means that all eight blocks should be tighten in the 1st-5th, 2nd-6th… order.
7. When it is closer to the note then hit the crown with hammer and achieve the right tuning. This should also be done the ‘opposite side’ way. Dayan’s crown has 16 holes. The spaces between two holes are called ‘Ghars’ (houses). So tune all the houses in 1-9, 2-10, 3-11… order.
8. When Dayan needs very little, a few cents adjustment, do it starting from one side tuning it to the exact note in a circular motion. Hit the crown upwards or downwards with the hammer as required with very light strokes. When hitting the crown, make sure that you don’t hit the rawhide belt as it will break right away. All strokes should be made in the middle of the holes.
9. If your Dayan is sharper than the desired note, then there are two ways to bring it down. If the difference is more than a semitone then bring the wooden pieces a little up by hitting them or just sliding them upwards.
10. Then hit the crown upwards while checking the response of the head. Do this using the ‘opposite side’ approach too, going in 1-9, 2-10, 3-11…order.
11. When it is close to the desired note then tune it as shown in point 7 and 8.

Normally a Bayan (the left part) is not tuned to any note. It is just tighten until sounds pleasant by hitting the crown. But some players do tune it to the bass keynote (lower ‘Sa’ or bass fifth (lower ‘Pa’). Some players don’t use an ‘inked’ Bayan. They use wheat dough to get the bass sound. If you have this kind of Bayan, then don’t tighten it before using the dough. It sounds very high without the dough. The other thing to remember about dough Bayans is that the dough should be fully scratch off after every use. Otherwise it is bad for the head. Store your dough Bayan in a mice free zone because if they found it, they will shred it. The dough Bayans are commonly used in the Quwali style playing and are known as ‘Dhamas’.

Khichee (pulling):
A time will come, when all your wooden blocks will be all the way down and the head tuning is still not high enough. That is the time for Khichee (pulling the raw-hide belt). Over time the belt expands and gets loose. If you need to pull the rawhide belt then here is the procedure to do it:

1. Take all the wooden pieces out of the rawhide belt.
2. Locate the starting knot in the bottom.
3. Put your Dayan in your feet and start pulling the belt.
4. In the end you have to untie the end knot and re-tie it.
5. It is good to use gloves especially if you are playing right after.
6. Now use your special Tabla hammer to slide the belt over the wooden pieces.
7. Make sure you do it evenly. Normally taking two strips over a block then leaving two and then taking two over the next block will do it.
8. Make sure you put your blocks evenly otherwise the head will slide to a side.
9. A head slid to a side is not a good thing. If it is new head it might be acceptable to a degree, but if you re-pull an old head and it slides to a side, it will rip from its original groove over the wood. Don’t be afraid though, unless you use a ridiculous amount of force or two people start to pull the belt, it is very hard to slide the head to the side if it was installed properly once,
10. To pull the belt of the left side (Bayan) is a little easier than the right side. If you succeed doing it to the right side, you don’t need any more information to do it to the left side.

Sangtar’s music blog:: Basic Theory
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General:
Skinned drums have been popular in India from ancient times. Some of these are played with sticks and other are played with hand. It is said that god Shiva dug a pit in the ground and skinned it with the devil’s skin and played it. That was world’s first skinned drum. This of course could be a myth, but the point is that these drums are older than to find their true origin.
Some old paintings have been found of a drum which sort of looks like a Baya (left) side of a Tabla, but the modern Tabla is not that old. Most scholars and researchers now agree that a Sufi poet and musician Amir Khusro made Tabla in the time of Emperor Alaudin Khilji (1296 – 1316 AD). He cut the Murdung (or Pukhavaj, an ancient rhythmic instrument, still popular in the southern music) in the middle and put the two pieces side by side. Later developments were made from that design. Some people say that word Tabla, evolved from Middle Eastern word ‘Tubbel’ drum. This much is sure that today Tabla is the most famous Indian drum in and out side of India.

Main Parts:
Tabla has two parts, which are simply known as the left and the right drum. The names are only correct if you are right handed. If you are left-handed, then you will be playing left side with your right hand. the good thing about Tabla is that no adjustment is necessary to change hands, just switch the drums around.
Both the left and the right parts have many other names too. You can pick any pair you would like to or you can mix and match.
1. Dayan (right) and Bayan (left)
2. Tabla and Dugga
3. Tabla and Duggi
4. Puda and Dhama
5. Jodi (the pair)

First two names are very famous everywhere. Some popular music players (non-classical) use the word Duggi for the Bayan (left). Some Quwali style players and villagers in Punjab, call them ‘Puda’ and ‘Dhama’. And religious Sikh singers mostly use the name ‘Jodi’. Generally speaking, if you say that I play Tabla, then this automatically means the both parts. But when we discuss the sounds of Tabla, then Tabla means the right side (Dayan or the higher, treble drum). To make things a little less confusing let’s settle on the names for this blog:

Tabla means both sides (the left and the right)
Dayan (right) means the right side or the smaller treble drum
Bayan (left) means the left side or the bigger bass drum

Dayan (the right side, treble drum):
The right side is the sharper side of Tabla. It is made of wood that gives it a distinguished sound. It is available in many sizes, depending on where you want to tune it. The Tabla heads are made from goatskin. A prepared skin is called ‘Pudi’. That is why sometimes ‘Dayan’ is also known as ‘Puda’. A Pudi’s edge has a crown which has 16 holes. A rawhide belt goes through these holes and 8 wooden blocks are inserted under the belt. Dayan is tuned by these wooden pieces.

It is always tuned before playing. Most players tune it to the keynote (especially classical and semi classical players), although in folk and pop music if the Key is too high or low for the available Dayan (the right side), then it is often tuned on the fifth or the fourth. It is very rare to tune it to the third and it is not recommended, unless you have no other option. The term ‘tuning Tabla’ mostly means tuning the right side’s (Dayan’s) edge (chanti), that sound is called ‘Na’ or ‘Ta’. So if you have a Tabla, don’t tune it until you really know how to create this ‘Na’ sound. The open sounds of Dayan (tu or din), are mostly semitone to a tone higher than the ‘Na’ sound.

Dayan’s top is divided in three parts:
1. The out side circle is called ‘Chanti’
2. The first circle inside it is called ‘Luv’ and
3.. the black part in the middle is called ‘Siaahi’ (ink)

Please pay attention to the picture and see where these parts are. All the sounds are made by hitting the different parts of Tabla with different kind of strokes. If a Tabla is recklessly hit or tuned, it may take hours to fix it back. It is a very delicate instrument. Although it is moderately loud instrument, but it is the technique not the force, that makes a Tabla sound good.

Bayan (Left side):
Left side is the bass side. It used to be made of clay, but now most of them are made of copper. In Punjab (Northern State of India (The Punjab School of tabla has produced most world renowned tabla players), some of them are also made of wood. A heavy brass Bayan (left) also sounds good, I have a very good sounding 5lb. brass Bayan. Normally the Bayan is not tuned to any specific note. But some very advance players, who have really good control over their palm-pressure, tune it too a certain note. If tuned, then it is generally tuned to the bass keynote. Many notes can be played by altering the pressure of palm on it. It also has the same three sections (chanti, luv, siaahi). Bayan’s Siaahi (ink) is on to a side. Most Bayans (left side) are 10″ in size. Bayan’s ‘Pudi’ (skin) has a crown too. Difference here is that the Bayan does not have wooden pieces under the hide belt (unless it is meant to be tuned).

Next time we will talk about tuning a tabla.

Sangtar’s music blog:: Basic Theory
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