Post by WarrenSPost by Vivek DatarDhannanjay explains this nicely. But frankly you really need a guru. It
is difficult to get these things through textual explanation. At the
least, attending a lot of classical music concerts helps.
-Vivek
Post by naniwadekarPost by DNA1) In Teen Taal (16 Beats) From which beat the composition/bandish/
alaap etc. starts ? i.e. should I start from Taali or Khali which beat
#. ( I am using Radel DigiTaalmala)
Several instrumental compositions start from the 12th beat. But there
is no rule which ties the start of composition(s) with a fixed beat of
teentaal or any other taal. Different compositions start from
different beats. OTOH, it can be taken as a rule by a beginner-level
student that it is the tabla which starts playing from the sam of the
composition. An accomplished tabla performer may occasionally start
the sangat with a flourish of a few beats/strokes played over 3-4
maatraas before landing on the first sam.
The gait of the composition makes it clear where the sam lies but if
and when it is not clear to the tabla player, the performer signals it
with gestures. The first 2-3 beats are often deliberately done to
convey the tempo to the percussionist and to bring him (and the
listeners) in sync with the composition.
- dn
There are two different issues at play here.
One is to understand the internal structure of the tala.
To do this it is very useful for a vocalist to practice theka
recitation. Note the relationships of the tabla bols to the tongue
and laryngeal position.
All important right hand strokes use unvoiced dental "t" sounds: ta,
tin, tun tet. Na is the anusvar of that tongue position. Recite "ta
tin tin ta" over and over; experience the difference in overtone
structure between the "a" vowel and the "in" phoneme as each is
triggered by the "t" tongue attack.
All important left hand strokes use the velar consonants. Ge and
Kat. Ge is a voiced velar that is sustained on an "e" vowel, Kat
begins with an unvoiced velar and ends with a retroflex "T" stop.
Recite "Ge Ge Ge Ge Kat Kat Kat Kat" over and over, experiencing the
difference between the voiced sustained and the unvoiced stopped
velars.
But what of strokes that use both hands? Discover for yourself that
it is impossible to say "Ta" and "Ge" simultaneously. Try it; your
tongue won't be able to do it.
So how to speak the syllables for these strokes? Simple. Change the
unvoiced dentals of the right hand to voiced dentals: ta + ge = dha;
tin + ge = dhin, etc. Recite "Dha Dhin Dhin Dha" and feel that there
is sonic activity taking place in two places in your vocal mechanism.
Your vocal chords are making a steady stream of impulses (basically
"uh uh uh uh uh uh" since shaping vowels is done by the mouth), and
your tongue is articulating lightly between your teeth ("ta tin tin
ta" etc.). The front of your mouth is the high drum, your throat is
the low drum.
Now recite theka for a long time, and experience the rise and fall of
impulses in your throat and mouth as you move through the cycle. Pay
particular attention to the return of your vocal chords on the 14th
matra, emphasize "dhin dhin Dha DHA" — that's the sam.
In order to understand the relationship between the bandish and the
theka, it is very useful to recite theka while listening to vocal
recordings. In this you want to have standard professional
accompanists; attempting to recite theka while Zakir is embellishing
is much more difficult. On many older recordings, tabla is very low
in the mix. I often tell my students to listen to someone like Veena
Sahasrabuddhe as her recordings are generally mixed very well and the
tabla players are people like Omkar Gulwady, who keep beautifully
flowing theka without much finger-chatter.
Listen to many different bandishes while you recite. Observe the many
different ways they have of coming to the sam and maintaining a
relationship with it.
A useful exercise is (once you know where the sam is located on a
particular bandish) to sing one line of the chiz, then recite theka
*from the point in the cycle where the song begins*. Thus, an 8-beat
mukhda would start on khali; one would sing the song text once, then
recite, starting at khali: "Jabse tumhi sanga LAagali / Dha tin tin ta
ta dhin dhin dha DHA dhin dhin dha dha dhin dhin dha / Jabse tumhi
sanga laagali / Dha tin tin ta ta dhin dhin dha DHA, etc., etc." A
five-beat mukhda, on the other hand, might yield something like
"Bolana LAAgi koyaliyaa / ta ta dhin dhin dha DHA dhin dhin dha dha
dhin dhin dha dha tin tin / bolana LAAgi koyaliya / ta ta dhin dhin
dha DHA, etc., etc."
Practice these approaches assiduously and enthusiastically and you
will gain many interesting rhythmic insights.
Warren- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
only one. The teentaal theka should ideally be recited as Na Din Din