Tips To Improve Solo Tabla Playing

These days, percussion instruments also are becoming popular in the musical world. Therefore, in the Tabla solo playing, the Tabla-player becomes the pilot artist. Such types of performances have some essential rules for the soloist Tabla-player, which he/she must be aware of. These can be termed as the Tips for Solo Tabla Playing.

Those, who are alien with Indian classical music, think that solo Tabla playing means something unusual of drum playing. On this background, though there are certain rules to any form of Indian classical music, yet the possibility of creativeness too is great.

• The first and the important in Tabla Playing Tips for solo playing is the foundation. All solo Tabla-players should remember that every Tabla solo has a base of a particular taal, e.g. A complete solo performance may be founded on Ektal of twelve Matraas or the complete melody can be rooted in twelve beats. Therefore, all spontaneous pieces played by a solo Tabla-player must fit through the twelve beat sets.
• The creativeness means the artist’s natural act to fit into a fixed musical sequence. At the outset, the soloist may use a preparatory Tabla piece to begin the solo performance. Then, he/she may determine on some well-known beats (Theka). Thus starts his/her main solo playing.
• In Tabla Practice Tips, the subsequent stage is also based on spur-of-the-moment performance. It involves making associated pieces of music through the Qaida. This produces pleasant density playing and also generates a fine tension and release effects.
• Listeners can’t tell whether the musical pieces played by the Tabla soloists are original or used before. Many a time, the solo artists play a fixed symphony from some previous performances. Nevertheless, before playing it, the soloist should essentially speak the Bols out. This is nothing but mentioning its original source. Sometimes, pieces of music (also called as Gat) are interchanging of one dissimilar cycle in the current fixed cycle, e.g. if the Tabla solo is in Rupak Taal, there could be a Jhaptal masterpiece fitting in the Rupak Taal sequence.
• Rela means a stream of Bols and is frequently the most thrilling part. This is the ending section of the Tabla solo, which resembles the Qaida, but it storms the Bols in a relating manner. After the last impressive Tihai, the Tabla solo comes to an end.
• For Those Involved in Tabla Solo Performance, following can be considered as Tips for Solo Tabla Playing: In the most uncomplicated condition, only the Tabla player performs. On the other hand, a sarangi player or a harmonium player present playing a Lehra (a very easy tune which takes accurately one cycle to complete) can also be seen. The piece of music is planned in such a way that the Tabla player knows his/her position in the cycle. The accompanying Sarangi or Harmonium player has utterly no liberty to vary tunes, producing sub-tunes or adding something more. A single independence he/she has is prior to the table entry and that too with a very short beginning and after the tabla closure to give an excellent end.
• When there are no accompanying instruments, on occasion an additional person claps on all the talis and signal on all the Khalis. This is to assist the Tabla player to mark time precisely.
• Solo Tabla-player needs practice, mainly if the cycle is an unusual number like nine beat Matta Tala or eleven beat Chartal Ki Sawari tala. The off-sync should never take place. Keep in mind, Indian classical music gives liberty for creativeness within its own restrictions. This limit is following the sequence of twelve beats, pursuing all of the rules of the Qaida, quoting and playing appropriately all non-original pieces of music.
• Hope you find this article useful, If yes share it on Facebook and Google plus. You can also subscribe to our Email newsletter, for more such articles.