Tabla Bol
Tabla Bol or Tabla Syllables is an collection of Tabla phrases. We discussed just a few basic syllables right now. But, soon we will update all the possible phrases. We have added a written description (Tabla notes) and a short easy to understandable video tutorial for every bol. You can learn about basic techniques with the help of these videos and notes.
These lessons are specially designed for the freshers of Tabla World. You can take benefit from the Tabla notes we have uploaded till today. Please also do check the short-listed pages at the end of this page.
-Important Note-
Before learning Tabla notes please check the following Image. We use three words in our videos regarding the placement of the fingers - Kinaar, Maidan, & Syahi. Please remember this when reading the tabla notes.
To play this phrase We should set our ring finger at the edge of the syahi of the right-hand drum. Middle finger high from the syahi. With the Index finger when we hit the kinaar It sounds "Ta or "Na'.
| Points to remember: |
| 1. Keep your ring finger at the edge of the syahi. |
| 2. Hit with just the first block of the finger, not with full finger. |
| 3. Don’t Touch middle finger down. Keep it high. |
| 4. Use full hand movement. |
To play this phrase or bol We should set our ring finger at the edge of the syahi of the right-hand drum. Middle finger high from the syahi. With the Index finger when we hit the Maidan area It sounds "Tin'. The sound depends on the timing. You should hit as quickly as you can. Just touch and go.
| Points to remember: |
| 1. Maintain your index finger high after hitting the phrase. |
| 2. Keep ring finger aligned with syahi edge to control the extra resonance. |
| 3. Use a lightweight hit. |
We should set our ring finger at the edge of the tabla (approximate idea) of the right-hand drum. Middle finger high from the syahi. With the Index finger when we hit the edge of the syahi It sounds "Tu' (For placement watch the video given below). The sound depends on the timing. You should hit as quickly as you can. Just touch and go.
| Points to remember: |
| 1. Maintain your index finger high after hitting the phrase. |
| 2. Keep ring finger at the edge of the tabla as it should not disturb or control the resonance. |
| 3. Use a lightweight hit. |
For Tit we should hit the center of the syahi two times with the middle and index finger respectively. These both hits are block hits, which means no resonance this time. The middle finger should hit first and then index, but in some cases, we have to use reverse Tit. This depends on the requirement of the composition.
| Points to remember: |
| 1. Maintain your other finger high while first is hitting the phrase. One finger at a time. |
| 2. Keep ring finger at the edge of the syahi as it will give you proper balance. |
| 3. While practicing use heavy pressure and light when performing. |
| 4. There is one more Tit from Purab ang. They play “Ti” with the middle and ring finger and “t” with the index. |
This is the easiest phrase or Bol we have on Bayan (Bass Drum). For this, we should set our wrist at the edge of the syahi. Keep your fingers straight and joined and hit a flat hit on kinaar.
| Points to remember: |
| 1. Keep all the fingers joined and straight. |
| 2. It is a block hit. |
| 3. While performing (mostly in Light music) we change the placement pattern sometimes to adjust the tonal effect of the bol. |
| 4. There are no special instructions but as per the requirement of the composition, We should adjust the pressure sometimes. |
For Kat We should keep our hand straight and hit a flat block hit on the bayan. It is block hits, which means no resonance this time. It is a single hit bol but in some cases, we have to use double-hit Kat, It totally depends on composition excution.
[NOTE: Right now we are just discussing single hit Kat.]
| Points to remember: |
| 1. Maintain your fingers aligned and straight while first is hitting the phrase. |
| 2. Maintain some height from bayan and then play. |
| 3. In some compositions it works like double hit phrase. |
| 4. We can adjust the placement (in light music) to change the tonal effect of the bol. |
Ghe is a bass hit on bayan. It is a resonating hit. We should place the wrist on the edge of the syahi and maintain our middle and ring fingers curved. Then we have to hit the tip of the fingers on the maidan area quickly (For movement please watch the video given below). It is a single hit bol but in some cases, we have to use different hand movements like slide, bounce, etc. It totally depends on composition execution.
[NOTE: Right now we are just discussing basic Ghe sound.]
| Points to remember: |
| 1. Maintain your middle and ring fingers aligned and curved. |
| 2. Maintain some height from bayan and then play. Height also allows you to build some pressure |
| 3. In some compositions When we play "Ghe Ghe Ghe Ghe" in continuation. We play it as alternate hit middle+ring and then index. |
| 4. We can adjust the tonal effect of the bol by adjusting the hand pressure and movement. |
Ge is another bass hit on bayan. It is also a resonating hit. We should place the wrist on the edge of the syahi and maintain our index fingers curved. Then we have to hit the tip of the finger on the maidan area quickly (For movement please watch the video given below). Mostly used in DhaGe, DhaGENa, Gena, etc, combinations.
[NOTE: When we play multiple Ghe sounds we consider this as Ghe as when we need speed. Then Playing with alternate fingers will help us to gain speed easily.]
| Points to remember: |
| 1. Maintain your index finger aligned and curved. Hit hard in starting as this finger has less weight than others. |
| 2. Maintain some height from bayan and then play. Height also allows you to build some pressure |
| 3. In some compositions When we play "Ghe Ghe Ghe Ghe" in continuation. We play it as alternate hit middle+ring and then index. Then consider it as Ghe. |
| 4. We can adjust the tonal effect of the bol by adjusting the hand pressure and movement. |
Dha is a combined sound. It is a resonating hit. We have to use two Tabla pharses to produce this sound.
Ghe - We should place the wrist on the edge of the syahi and maintain our Ring and Middle fingers curved. Then we have to hit the tip of the finger on the maidan area quickly (For movement please watch the video given below).
Mostly used in DhaGe, DhaGENa, Gena, etc, combinations.
[NOTE: When we play multiple Dha sounds we use alternate fingers on bayan to gain speed easily. But still it is Dha.]
| Points to remember: |
| 1. Use alternate hits on bayan when performing multiple Dha sounds. |
| 2. Maintain some height from bayan and then play. Height also allows you to build some pressure |
| 3. We can adjust the tonal effect of the bol by adjusting the hand pressure and movement. |
Dhin is a combined sound. It is a resonating hit. We have to use two Tabla pharses to produce this sound.
Ghe - We should place the wrist on the edge of the syahi and maintain our Ring and Middle fingers curved. Then we have to hit the tip of the finger on the maidan area quickly (For movement please watch the video given below).
The second Hit is Tin on the maidan area of tabla with the index finger. It is also a resonating hit. When we perform these two hits at once, It produce Dhin.
| Points to remember: |
| 1. Control extra resonance of Tin with the help of ring finger. |
| 2. Maintain some height from bayan and then play. Height also allows you to build some pressure |
| 3. We can adjust the tonal effect of the bol by adjusting the hand pressure and movement. |
This is a combined phrase consist of four Tabla bols. TI / T / KI / T.
TI - When we hit a block note in the center of the syahi of Tabla with the middle finger, It is 'TI'.
T - After 'TI', we hit another block note in the center of the syahi of Tabla with the index finger, It is T.
KI - Ki we play on bayan. We should rest the wrist on the edge of the syahi. Fingers should be straight and aligned. Then the sound produced with a flat hit is KI. Also known as KA / KE / KI,
T - This last fourth we play in the center of the syahi with ring finger. It is also a block hit.
[NOTE: Purab Baaj Titkit (Type 2) is different than this. They use middle and ring fingers to play the first and last hit - "Ti - - T".
"- T Ki -" same as discussed above]
| Points to remember: |
| 1. There is no resonance used in this phrase as all hits are blocked. |
| 2. We mostly use Type 1 Titkit in higher tempos. |
| 3. There are two ways to play titkit. Select the correct as required by the composition. |