Tabla

             The tabla it is a importent part of music.tabla is a charming and endearing Indian musical instrument. Indian masters have made it popular the world over and western musicians regularly use it to add variety and an exotic flavour to their music. DESIblitz reveals the interesting story behind the evolution and popularity of the tabla.
By Arjun Mandaiker.

     The History of the Tabla

      The tabla’s charm has attracted the attention of scholars and music lovers around the globe.
Like most other Indian musical instruments, there are many interesting myths and legends about the origin of the tabla. Many authors cite the 13th century Sufi poet/musician Amir Khusrau as the inventor of this instrument.

      But there is no clear evidence, in the form of writings or paintings, to confirm the above claim without doubt. Another person credited with inventing the tabla is Sidar Khan Dhari, a court musician in the Delhi durbar in the 18th century.

      Most likely no single person was totally responsible for creating the tabla and diverse influences led to the development of its physical structure and musical repertoire.

     These artistes also developed their personal sophisticated solo repertoires in private musical gatherings. This aspect along with the teacher-student tradition paved the way for the creation of the tabla gharana lineages.

      There are two tabla drums used to create music. The smaller drum is termed dayan and is made of wood. It is played with the right hand. The larger deeper-pitched drum is made of metal and is known as bayan. Both drums have goat or cow skin covering. They have a black middle spot made of iron fillings, soot and gum which produces a characteristic bell-like sound when drummed

  Tintal

       Tintal it is a most importent and popular tala. Tintal has sixteen (16) beats[2] in four equal divisions (vibhag). The period between every two beats is equal. The first beat out of 16 beats is called sam and the 9th beat is called khali ('empty'). To count the Teental, the audience claps on the first beat, claps on the 5th beat, then waves on the 9th beat and lastly again claps on the 13th beat; these three claps (Hindi tin 'three' + tāl 'clap') give the rhythm its name.

                          The Theka for Tintal

dha dhin dhin dha | dha dhin dhin dha |
x 2
na tin tin ta | ta dhin dhin dha |
o 3
This can also be shown using the following figure[2]

Taal signs X 2 0 3
Maatra 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Bols dha dhin dhin dha dha dhin dhin dha dha tin tin ta ta dhin dhin dha.

                                                     (Source : Parts of Tabla image taken from google)