Blog V

My facebook friend Dr Sachin Ketkar is feeding me with interesting subjects for my blogs.He wants me to comment on an essay provided on “bulletproofmusician.com discussing ‘How many hours a day should you practice? This essay deals with the subject in relation to western music.

I do not profess that I am an authority on the subject but I have spent enough summers in discussing few..Pt Laljee Gokhale,Pt Arvind Mulgaonkar, Pt Bapu Patwardhan,Ustaad Amir Hussein (all tabla players}.Friend Nana Rajyadhyaksha (Ust.Khadim Husein’s student),Pt Laxman Prasad Jaipurwale,Pt Ganpatrao Devaskar,Pt Sharatchandra Arolkar,Captain Joshi,Pune. ( all vocalists).It will be interesting to know, nearly all senior vocalists have fund of knowledge in tabla. In fact many good tabla players have turned into good vocalists/instrumentalists (Pandit Jasraaj,Pt Shivakumar Sharma).

The amount of practice depends mainly on following factors:
1. Inborn talent
2. Parental encouragement
3. Availability of a proper Guru preferably closer to a gharana of your choice at primary level.
4. Availability of a Senior Guru necessarily of a gharana of your choice at an advanced level. This will often involve a GANDABANDHAN ceremony where the Guru agrees to accept you as a student and the student agrees to learn with this Guru and nobody else.

1. Inborn talent We come a across a lot of youngsters (5 to 9 yrs) Who are incredibly talented. In Tabla they understand the language and reproduce the phrases with ease,they understand sidhi and AAD laya.In fact at their age, they are at a 15 yrs stage of an average person.(Uderstand that this observation applises to both sexes).But talent is only half the battle won.Unless it is accompanied by proper guidance and REEYAZ,you will end up as an average player. In fact many average persons who have no special skills can surpass a talented player with guidance and reeyaz. Pandit Kumar Gandharva,Ustaad Zakir Hussein are examples of talent and Riyaaz.(Andre Agassi in tennis) This writer Suresh Mulgaonkar is an example of talent but no Reeyaz.

2. Parental encouragement
Normally,in our society greater stress is given on academic studies. Pursuing any art or sport is tolerated as long as one gets good grades in school. I do not suggest that only arts and sports be nurtured to the detriment of studies,but parents should give sufficient encouragement and show appreciation of the efforts put in by their wards.This will ensure that any time devoted to practice will be more productive.

3. Availability of a proper Guru at primary level:
The Guru should be such that he teaches the language and production of notes ,padhant (recitation,memorizing),basic taals,simple teehais, encouragement to perform in front of an audience etc.If the student has shown inclination towards a particular gharana,it will be good to select a Guru from that gharana.These days Zakir Hussien and Tendulkar have become roll models.So if you like Zakir Hussein, Pick a Guru whose style is from Panjab gharana.
We say ‘haat Kadhne’ in Marathi or’ haath nikalna in hindi’(to mould one’s hand) to describe success of primary training.If you are unfortunate a Guru can spoil the hand in the formative days.It will be difficult to undo. Above teaching needs to be done between the age of 7 to 15 yrs.
At this stage one has to positively determine which Gharana one wishes to pursue.

4. Search for a Guru From the Gharana of your choice:
The Gharanas are:

1. Delhi/Ajrada gharana-exponent Sudhir Saxena
2. Farukabad- Ustaad Thirakwa,Ustaad Amir Hussein and many good exponents from Mumbai pune region.
3. Lucknow-Pandit Sapan Chowdhury and many renowned exponents from Calcutta region
4. Punjab-Zakir Hussein,Yogesh Samshi and many students of Usd Allarakha and Zakir Hussein.
5. Benaras-Samta Prasad and many accomplished artists from Benaras.

Presently the most popular gharana appears to be Punjab to which Zakir Hussein belongs. But in my opinion,a good gharana to follow is Farukhabad.This gharana has accommodated the best of Delhi, Ajrada,and Lucknow Gharanas.
Panjab gharana is mainly derived from pakhvaj style. It was made popular by Ustaad Allarakha. He modified it to suit the requirements of instrumental accompaniment.He was extremely good at calculations (Hisaab).Also Speedy and clear production of phrases is their speciality.Ustd Zakir Husein has gone a step further.He has imbibed good compositions from other Gharanas.For average Indian and Western audiences he plays attractive nontraditional Tabla with a lot of gimmicks (such as playing saregama on Bayan.The performance is full of surprises.But in front of a gathering of tabalchis he plays extremely pure traditional tabla.
The Benaras gharana was mainly developed to accompany dancers and thumri/dadra singers. Their playing is amazingly speedy with not much variations.Their lagginada is exquisite.

The hours of practice:
For a talented student (also pursuing studies) one hour per day is sufficient. Children who do not have talent or liking should not be forced by the parents to learn tabla. At any stage the decision to learn tabla must be made by the student himself. If he shows urge to learn and practice under proper guidance he will succeed. I know students who have started learning at 20 yrs of age, have surpassed talented players.The only reason: passion,a good Guru and Reeyaz. Between the age of 16 and 30 ,3 to 4 hours of reeyaz is necessary.This is a peak period of your learning.You are young,healthy,passionate,competitive and prepared to put in hardwork.If you miss out on this, you will be an average player good enough to help out on social occasions. Many performers of yester years used to practice CHILLA. It is a process where a student stays isolated and practices certain phrases for nearly 24 hrs till his fingers bleed.Thirakwa did it when he was 17 yrs old. Assuming that you have put in the hard work,it is now necessary to keep your body and mind in readiness to perform. Therefore you can put in 2 hrs a day between age of 30 and 55. After 55, one hour a day is sufficient to keep flexibility of your fingers in good shape till say 75 yrs I may mention here that Ustaad Thirakwa gave half hour performance on Mumbai television at 96 yrs .

Some tips on dos and don’ts:

• Practice in front of a mirror.Observe finger movements ,compare with your Guru’s instructions and correct.
• Some teachers ask you to keep a heavy cloth on Dayan and practice.Please avoid it.
• Some teachers will ask you to wear heavy copper rings on the fingers. Avoid it.
• A renowned tabla player, Pt Nana Mulye,whose production of notes on Bayan is exquisite,demonstrated the use all five fingers on the Bayan with nearly equal strength.Ustaad Ghame Khan told him to play a kayda only with fingers on the Bayan.Students can try this.
• Do not use excessive powder on the tabla.Some students think that it is a must. If you do not sweat on the palm it is preferable to use a pinch of powder on the tabla before starting your play but avoid afterwards.It spoils the tabla because the powder enters inter crystalline gaps and deadens the sound.
• The most important suggestion is ,you must spend your spare time in CHINTAN (contemplation).You get time when travelling, waiting for a bus or a Doctor’s appointment. Spend it in mentally reciting a composition,try to improvise,try teehais etc.

These are only ballpark figures.They will vary for individuals. Again I stress that I am not an authority. A student will have to chart his own course with the help of a Guru.

Now a gat:
Teentaal,teeshra,anaghat.

Takita takita Tak dhin tak Tak dhin tak Titakatan
Dhatraka dhikitaKatgadigana Ghenteran Ghenteran
Tak tinagina Taktinagina Taktinatage Titakatan
Dherdherkat dherdherKitatak takdan Dha ss Ta ss (Dha)

The capital letters indicate the beat. Thus we have:
T T T T D K G G T T T T D K D T D total 17 beats
My next blog will be explanation on Rela and Rav with examples.

Suresh Mulgaonkar
Sunnyvale,Cal.
BLOG V