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Background
I've
been hooked on Indian percussion since first hearing tabla during my Bachelor
of Music college years. Learning the language of tabla has been a deeply
satisfying and musically rewarding experience, transferring a wealth of new
ideas to my compositions, and to my other instruments.
I commenced tabla at New
England Conservatory (Boston) in January 1994, studying intensively with
Jerry
Leake for 2 years. I also received additional tuition in tabla, tala, and raga from
Warren Senders (voice), Abby Rabinovitz (flute), and Harriotte Hurie (voice)
from 1993.
In 1996
and 1999 I studied in Pune, India with my guru-ji Sri
Bharat
Jangam. In 2005-2006 I studied again at New
England Conservatory with sitarist Peter
Row.
You can view a Quicktime Movie of me. I am playing some tukra and chakradar tihai, with a lehara in drut tintal played by the sarangi.
You can also listen to an excerpt of a live classical performance I recorded with sitarist Josh Feinberg in February, 2006. This is Rag Misra Khammaj, in rupak tal. This was performed as students at New England Conservatory, and Josh had only been learning for a couple of years! [Note: it is a 7.5 MB MP3, so be patient, please!]
Performances
I enjoy performing
on tabla in Classical and fusion contexts. I
have
had
the honor of performing on tabla with David
Trasoff
(sarode), Gulfam
Sabri (santoor), Aloke
Dasgupta (sitar), Rahim
Zullah (voice), Paul
Livingstone (sitar), David
Philipson (bansuri), Mohammad Omranifar (tar),
Peru Frances (voice), Fred Siciliano (sarode), Shen
Flindell (tabla), Soumya
Chakraverty (sarode), Josh Feinberg (sitar), and in Japan with the Satoko
Fujii Orchestra. I also perform on tabla and bass in my band Loops.
About
My Tabla Teaching
I sincerely
enjoy passing on my enthusiasm for tabla on to others, and invite you to
find out a little about
my tabla teaching.
What
to Look for in a Tabla
For beginning tabla players, I have written down some thoughts to help with
the purchase of tabla. Download the PDF of "What
to look for in a tabla".
Lehara /
Nagma
Lehara (or nagma) refers to the repeating melody played
by a melodic instrument when a tabla solo is being performed. The lehara
melody serves as a "melodic metronome" which delineates the tal (
time cycle) and keeps the laya ( tempo).
The lehara is traditionally played
by the sarangi (bowed string instrument), but any
instrument
can serve
this
function.
I have recorded some lehara onto a CD as a practice aid. You can contact
me if you would like a copy of this.
I have also uploaded some lehara MP3's that loop automatically on your computer.
Turn it up and practice!
Please note that you should tune your drums to the lehara. I have categorized
my lehara by key (Sa) and tempo (laya), in beats per minute.
This is just the beginning - many more samples are on their way, as is a
new CD set I am making - so check back soon!
Vilambit Tintal Lehara in C, 40 b.p.m.
(click here to
download MP3)
(Rag: Chandrakauns)
Madhya Tintal
Lehara in C, 80 b.p.m.
(click here to
download MP3)
(Rag: Chandrakauns)
Keherwa tal Lehara in C, 145 b.p.m. (click here to download MP3)
Sitar Khani tal Lehara in C, 120 b.p.m. (click here to download MP3)
Sitar Khani tal Lehara in C, 160 b.p.m. (click here to download MP3)
Jhaptal Lehara in C, 90 b.p.m. (click here to download MP3)
For those
that read western notation or Indian sargam, I have notated some
sample lehara melodies to apply to your instrument/s. These cover cycles
from 6 to 16 matras in
length. Choose your format:
Lehara PDF
Lehara
Sibelius file
Lehara
graphics files (TIFF) Page 1; Page 2
DrumPro
Magazine Article
An
article I wrote for this magazine is available for download for free here. It
contains insightful interviews with tabla players Jerry Leake, Ty Burhoe
and Benjy Wertheimer.
Recordings
There are a number of different
recordings featuring my tabla playing. You can listen to some MP3's online. Some
are found on my recordings page. Some
are also found on the Hindusthani and Azari pages on the Sensound
Music web site.
My
teacher's photos
I have
taken some close-up photos of Shri Bharat Jangam's hands for technical
observation.
Tampura
(Tamboura) Drones
For tuning
purposes, it helps to play with a drone. Here are drones that work well for daya pitched
in C or F (C tampura) and D or G (D tampura). They automatically loop!
C tampura
(click here to
download MP3)
D tampura (click here to download MP3)
Bol
Pronunciation Guide
For
guidance on how to pronounce bols, I have a Bol
Pronunciation Guide available for download, in PDF format.
Links
You will
find some interesting links for tabla and Indian music on my links
page.