Hello! I'm Kuljit Bhamra. What i'd like to get to in this video is:
I've heard it said many times from people who are teaching tabla that it "must be played
properly". Let's have a look at this phrase "tabla must be played properly". What what
does that mean? Properly - my memory of the word properly is when i was a young child,
sitting in the gurdwara for example or the sikh temple, and i'd be fidgeting around
with my brother and my mother would say to me "sit properly!" What i then did was like ..
So i don't know - i went what's what's 'properly'? Now when it comes to playing an instrument,
yes, there is a technique for getting the sounds out of that instrument,
but i think when people talk about Tabla and playing it properly, i don't think they're
talking about that. I think they're talking about playing in a traditional classical
manner. Now here's a funny thing. If you if you go to a music shop and say you wanted to
learn to play the guitar.. So, you'd go to a shop, and you see all these guitars..
First of all, there wouldn't be a sign on the guitar that said "ONLY PLAY THIS
PROPERLY"! Now what does that mean 'properly'? Does it mean is it flamenco? Is it pop, is it jazz?
Jimi Hendrix used to play the guitar with his teeth! So, is that 'proper'? Some people put the
guitar on their laps flat down and played with a bottleneck - in a slidey way - is that 'proper'? So,
it's funny how when you buy tabla, it has to be played properly - like in a traditionally classical
way! There's no room or scope or encouragement for people to play it in perhaps another way in a way
that they would prefer. Now, i have a couple of musician friends in the UK who are very famous:
one is a sitar player and he has a sitar that has a flat back - it's not a domed pumpkin - and it
has a shoulder strap and he has electrified it and he plays sitar, and he plays amazing music, and i
love his music and many people do! There's also another colleague of mine who plays the sarod.
Again, he plays the sarod standing up like a guitarist, with a shoulder strap. Now is that
the 'proper' way? Well here's my opinion, and you can see where i'm going with this: I think
that if you're enjoying yourself and you're making music that you enjoy and that even people enjoy,
then it doesn't matter if you're playing it the proper way. The tabla itself is already
an unusual instrument to play because of the gestures that are required to play it - this
takes a bit of time to learn - and if we are over-prescriptive with our students
which i think a lot of us are, the less students we're going to have.
And if we say that you have to learn to say the Bols first before you play it,
then i think you're going to lose 80 percent of potential students at the front door.
So, if you're still with me watching this video you may be wondering what my rambling on
is leading to.. you know, i love the tabla drum and i love the sound of the tabla drum
and i know many people who would love to learn to play the tabla and are very keen
to learn to play the tabla but they have been put off by the over-prescriptive nature of teachers.
I'm generalizing, but that's what i've seen and that's what they tell me.
So what do we do? I think in my opinion, we can 'loosen up' a little bit and be less prescriptive
about the right way and the proper way of doing things. And that will enable more people to
play these beautiful drums, and also it will enable the tabla community to grow worldwide - which is
what i want, and i want to hear these sounds being used in all different types of music: jazz, rock,
electronic music - and not always played in a 'proper' classical traditional manner.
Thank you very much for watching and i look forward to seeing you soon.