Digitala is a site devoted to the study of tabla (the hand drums of north India), the application of Indian rhythms to western music, and to related issues in psychology such as information processing and neuroscience.
“How many beats in Digitala?”
Digitala is pleased to present our first eBook (available from Apple Books, $24.99 )
Can you take a few notes or a musical theme, speed it up and slow it down, or rearrange its parts into new rhythms, and build to an exciting conclusion, all the while keeping a firm grip on the tempo and meter? This is what the classical musicians of India do, and you can do it too in jazz, rock or any music that maintains meters of fixed length, such as a 4-bar phrases of 4/4 time.
If you would like a free 25-page “Sample Book” of excerpts of Rhythmic Improvisation—and you have an Apple device and the Books App—click here.
The best rhythms grow by their own nature, seemingly oblivious to the meter, only to return to the expected accent structure. The effect is a rise and fall of musical arousal, called a “rhythmic resolution”. To the audience, a musician with this knowledge can zig-zag wildly over the meter and then return without losing track of the beat. Two such musicians may seem to improvise in telepathic unison. And if you think that rhythmic mastery is limited to drummers, think again: any musician or dancer can apply these methods to their improvisation.
The text is particularly innovative in its presentation of polyrhythms as speed changes within a fixed tempo, using mechanical gears as a model. The final chapter is devoted to the tihai, an Indian rhythmic structure that serves as a natural ending and a final example of a rhythmic resolution.
These are the lessons of Harihar Rao, who is well-known for his personal approach to teaching Indian rhythm to jazz and rock musicians, such as first teaching the rhythms by chanting them as number strings while clapping the meter, and only later substituting the traditional syllables for the numbers, allowing faster articulation. Harihar is also revered for his seminal contribution to East-West fusion music.
The lessons have been adapted to the eBook format by Jeffrey M. Feldman, a longtime student and associate of Harihar Rao. For easy steps, each lesson is accompanied by an audio-visual animation that shows the moment-to-moment relation between each syllable and the clapping of the meter. (available from Apple Books, $24.99 )
Books on tabla from Digitala…
The Tabla Legacy of Taranath Rao is a comprehensive overview of the art of tabla, adopted from the manuscript of the longtime performer and teacher in India and at the California Institute of the Arts. Purchase includes free access to online videos performed by Pt. Sadanand Naimpalli, a senior disciple and of India’s most respected tabla virtuosos.
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OUT OF PRINT
Learning Tabla with Alla Rakha is a step-by-step introduction to a single tabla solo in the Punjab style as taught by Alla Rakha, the tabla maestro best known for his many tours and recordings with Ravi Shankar. Purchase includes free access to online videos...