Hello! I'm Kuljit Bhamra and in this episode I'd like to talk about tuning the tabla drum. Now what
happens mostly is that the tabla is tuned, but most of the tuning is done on the smaller drum
which is tuned to a particular note. That note is usually the tonic key of the raga or the song,
or it is a pitch that you've chosen yourself for any particular reason.
This particular drum is tuned to an F..
When it comes to tuning, I'm going to suggest that there are two categories of tuning.
There is a tuning which is required to create a predominant PITCH of the
drum - like the one I just spoke about, but when it comes to the larger drum,
we don't normally tune this to a pitch. If you watch tabla players tune their drums, they spend
a lot of time on the smaller drum, but with the bigger drum, they'll give it a tap around the rim
and what that does is it restores the drum head to the preferred tension so that it makes a good
SOUND. The difference between tuning this drum and tuning the smaller drum is this one
is not always tuned to a pitch. Now, if i play this drum right now - which i will do,
you will hear
that it's SOUNDING 'good'
it also is sounding in a particular PITCH. Now, it's a low pitch and you
may not be able to discern exactly what the pitch is, but it is a note that you could sing - so ..
it happens to be an F. I'd just like to point out that given that this drum is tuned to a note and
this drum is now also tuned to a note; if we were to choose the wrong two notes there's a
danger of our tabla sounding discordant - or not harmonious - so I think it's really important
that we are aware of the PITCH of this lower drum (the bayan). Now as i mentioned earlier,
this is tuned to an F and this drum is also tuned to an F. So when I play them together,
they should work well. So let me just play them.
Try and listen to this note because it's very easy for our ears to be pulled towards the higher note.
.. bad singing but you know - approximately - and
in my mind that is a harmonious chord - because they're the same notes. NowIi've
got a drum here that I've prepared earlier, and i've i've tuned it in a way that it is
going to be discordant. So this should be an E or thereabouts. So if i play this E with the F
bayan (the larger drum), it will have a different effect. Let's just try and do that..
so there's
and then together (obviously I can't sing a chord!)
So, hopefully you can hear the difference between those two, and you can realise the
importance of tuning the bayan (the larger drum). Thank you very much for watching
and I hope that was useful to you. I look forward to seeing you again soon.