Sravana (and the amazing Indian drum: The Tabla!)
Hi everyone! For this Song of the Week blog, I fell down a rabbit hole about the incredible Indian drum, the Tabla. Before we follow the rabbit together, let me give you some background on the song “Sravana” from The Dolphin Collection.
The song is based on a traditional melody from Southern India. “Śrāvaṇa” or “Shraavana” or “श्रावण” in Sanskrit is the fifth month of the Hindu calendar. It is very important because it signifies the coming of the monsoons and is considered one of the holiest months of the year, filled with holidays.
Quick shout-out to our TMC center in Mumbai, Musical Bonding! Rob and I visited the center in 2012, and I still remember being floored by the enthusiasm of all of the parents and grandparents. It was AMAZING.
Tabla Drums
The drums you hear on the “Sravana” recording are Tablas. Tabla is actually not one, but two drums of slightly different sizes played together to produce different sounds. And by different sounds, I mean A LOT of different sounds. Check out what a pro sounds like playing Tabla:
The first thing that stood out to me (besides how fast his hands moved) was the sounds he chanted before starting to play. I learned that Tablas can produce so many different sounds that musicians created an entire alphabet or “bols” of syllables to describe the different hand strokes for the drum. Syllables like “Ta”, “Gha” and “Na” describe different ways that you strike the drums to create distinct sounds. Take a look:
For Tabla musicians, it’s common practice to chant or sing the rhythmic patterns you want to play before you actually play them on the drum. If any of our Music Class Keyboard students are reading this, you’ll recognize that this is the exact same way we teach our students to play piano by ear. First, you sing the pattern you want to play, and then you try to play it. This technique teaches children to hear musically and be able to correct themselves if they play a note they weren’t intending to. There are a surprising number of people who learned how to technically play an instrument, but do not know how to hear pitches and rhythms accurately. If you found yourself in band or in a piano lesson plunking out what you were reading on the page but not being able to tell if it sounded right, this could be you!
This is also what we are building with The Music Class “bum bums”, the tonal and rhythm patterns we practice with all TMC students, including infants. Listening to pitches and rhythms and being able to accurately sing them back is an essential step for anyone who wants to play an instrument one day. Of course, we don't expect infants to be able to accurately repeat patterns, but by starting in infancy, they are much more likely to be able to reach independent musical accuracy at 4-6 years old!
Let’s end with an amazing video of an 11-year-old girl absolutely smashing her rhythm patterns and Tabla playing. Please enjoy, then go practice patterns with your kids and enjoy singing and dancing along to the Tabla in Sravana!