Shri Ram Chandra

Another piece that I am performing is Shri Ram Chrandra, a poem by Shri Tulsidas.
Here is the transliteration into English:

॥ Sri Ramachandra kripalu ॥

Shri Ramacandra kripalu bhaju, mana, harana bhava bhaya darunam ।

navakanja-lochana kanja-mukha, kara-kanja pada-kanjarunam ॥1॥

Kandarpa aganita amita chavi, navalnila niraj sundaram ।

patapita manahu tarita ruchi suchi, naumi Janaka-sutavaram ॥2॥

Bhaju Dinabhandu Dinesha danava-daitya-vansha nikandanam ।

Raghunanda anandakanda, Kaushalachanda Dasharatha-nandanam ॥3॥

Sira mukuta kundala tilaka charu, udaru anga vibhushanam ।

ajanu bhuja shara chapadhar, sangrama-jita Khara-Dhushanam ॥4॥

Iti vadati Tulasidasa Shankara, Shesha munimana ranjanam ।

mama hridaya-kanja nivasa kuru, kamadi khaladala ganjanam ॥5॥

and here is a good translation of it:

O mind! Revere the benign Shree Ramachandra, who can remove the fear of rebirths ।

Who has fresh lotus eyes, lotus face and lotus hands, feet like lotus and like the rising sun ॥1॥

His image exceeds myriad Cupids, like a fresh, blue-hued cloud — magnificent ।

His amber-robes appear like lightning, pure, captivating. Revere this groom of Janaka’s daughter ॥2॥

Sing hymns of the brother of destitute, Lord of the daylight, the destroyer of the clan of Danu-Diti demons ।

The progeny of Raghu, limitless 'joy', the moon to Kosala, sing hymns of Dasharatha’s son ॥3॥

His head bears the crown, ear pendants, tilak on forehead, his adorned, shapely limbs are resplendent

Arms extend to the knees, studded with bows-arrows, who won battles against Khara and Dooshana ॥4॥

Thus says Tulsidas, O joy of Shankara, Shesh (Nag), Mind and Sages ।

Reside in the lotus of my heart, O slayer of the vices-troops of Kaama and the like ॥5॥

The poem is about Ram. Each line is performed twice and there are gestures that accompany each. For the first verse, the dancer forms a lotus with hands and gestures to the eyes, face, hands and feet. 

The gestures make the story come alive. I feel like I get to embody Ram and that I get to act like he does. I like making the facial expressions. For the first verse as well, for the first lines, I stand up very tall with a stern face whereas in the last verse, I gesture like I am writing the poem myself. 

Playing with gestures and emotions has been a fun challenge. First I had to be able to understand the Sanksrit before I could learn what how to gesture or make facial expressions. I have loved learning this and love it especially because this poem is very important to many Hindu people. The dance ties me to the religious culture. 

South Indian Taal system

Today in Bharata Natyum we discussed the taal theory, or basic music theory. The first part of the word, "ta" comes from Shiva, it is the concept of rhythm, and the "l" comes from the word "lasya" which is the grace of Parvati.
There are seven taals, each with its own rhythm pattern. Each taal has five variations and each of those have five variations, for a totaly of 135 total taals. The different taals in order are Druvo taal, Matya taal, Rupak tal, Jhampa taal, Triputa taal, Ata taal and eik taal.
The taals are counted with a mixutre of clapping, counting with fingues from pinky to thumb and then blanks. So for example, Druvo taal consists of a clap and counting, followed by a clap and a pause and then followed by two sets of the clap with the counting.
The number of beats between claps is called lagu. In a set, there can be 3,4,5,7 or 9 claps. These are where the variations come in. Each tal can have these five variations and then within those, the time between beats can be a 3,4,5,7, or 9 count.
The most common taal is the adital, which is triput tal with a four count, so chatura triput tal. This is that taal I use for many of the most common compositions, like Shri Ram Achandra. 

Shabdum

This semester, I have started learning Sanskrit literature in Bharata Natyum. One of the pieces with literature is called Shabdum. This pieces consists of four stories of Krishna. Each story is separated with a short interlude of pure dance. The four stories are of Krishna stealing clothes, Krishna stealing milk, Vishnu and Laxmi, then also Krishna's embarrassment because of all of his pranks.

The first story is of how Krishna stole clothing from a group of maidens. This story has four variations in the telling. The first two narrate, the third is the perspective of the maiden and the third is Krishna stealing the clothes. I like pretending to be him; I like hoping around with my flute (just a hand gesture) and I like pretending to be the maiden as she creeps into the river. I like using the facial expressions seeing as it is not something I have ever done in class.

The second story is of how Krishna threw a rock at pots that contained milk. This story has two variations in gesture. They take the same point of view, both are fun.

The third is about how Krishna teases women. There is a cow herder woman, and she is teased by Vishnu. She scolds Vishnu (Krishna is an avatar of Vishnu) for teasing her. This story also has two variations from the same point of view.

The fourth is about how Krishna thinks that they world is laughing at him, so he hides in a cave in Kerala. The story has one variation, and ends with a prayer to the gods.

Each story is separated by a small section of dance. The count is an eight count and the same pattern starts and ends the piece.

This type of dance is so strange and new to me. I have never had to act. The facial expressions sometimes feel very ridiculous, but it is very fun. I have learned how to better control my face and my hand gestures. Precision is required to properly tell these stories. 

Parts of a Tabla

There are two drums in a pair of tablas. The right hand drum is the Bayan, it is bigger and used for embellishment and the smaller, left hand drum, is the dayan and is the main drum. The dayan is made of a conical piece of teak wood and rosewood and is hollowed out. The bottom third of the drum is solid and the top two thirds are hollow. The hollow space allows vibration to be made. The tuning range is controlled bu the ghatta, which are the small wooded cylinders on the sides; there are seven on the dayan. The bayan has a much deeper sound. It is made of copper or brass (which is less expensive).

The head consists of three rings, the chati, loa (Maidan) and syahi (out to in). The head itself is constructed from goat or cow skin. The chati is overlaid on the main head and it is used to suppress excess vibrations. This skin is bound to the top with the use of a leather braid that also connects the ghatta. The straps that connect from the head to the bottom are made of a plant fiber, animal leather or anything malleable. This is the part that is hit for tuning. The syahi is made of a paste  of starch mixed with a black powder. This piece is crucial to the sound and the vibration of the drum. It is responsible for the pitch and for it resonates.

Tabla Gharanas

A gharana is a system of music in which social organization links gurus and their apprentices. Each gharana has its own musical ideology and they can differ greatly from one another or no. In tabla, there are six gharanas, the Delhi gharana, Ajrara, Lucknow, Banaras, Punjab and Farukhabad. I am studying the Delhi gharana, which is the oldest of the gharanas. The gharana was established in the early 18th century by Siddar Khan. The second oldest is the Benaras gharana founded in the late 18th century. The next oldest is the Ajrara, which was established in the early 19th century in Meerut. Next comes Lucknow, Farukhabad and Punjab which all came about in the 19th century.

Each gharana has its own characteristics. The Dehli gharana features an open sound. Some of the gharanas use a more closed sound. The Delhi gharana was the first to have rules for improvisation. The gharana features many sets of Kaydas, which are set patterns with variation. So if the base of the kayda is da da terekete, there will be 11 or more variations that play off the set of four lines. Each kayda also has a teyhay, which is a line with three other lines that are repeated. The whole teyhay is played three times to end the kayda. The creator on the gharana, Ustad Siddhar Khan, first played the Pakhwaj before he started playing tabla. He composed many pieces for the tabla, and also was responsible for improving techniques, like the glides (Dugga) and playing in the most outer right (the chatti). The gharana is famous for solo playing. 

Getting to know you

This is once again a post that relates to Tabla and Bharata Natyum.

One of the best things about taking a tutorial is the ability to get to know your instructors on a personal basis. This semester, I have had the opportunity to get to know two different and wonderful Indian families. My Bharata Natyum comes from Maharashtra originally. She started taking dance when she was older and met her husband in her Bharata Natyum class. The marriage was part love and part arranged. Her husband's mother was also a dancer, and even though she is quite old now, she still loves to watch me dance. I can see how much she loves dance. Today, I met my teacher's older sister. Interacting with the family has given me a lot of insight into how arts are transferred from generation to generation. Mala Ji's daughters both studied Bharata Natyum and one of them is a professional teacher. The arts are clearly important to the family both culturally and historically. Dance brought the family together.

My Tabla Guru, Gyan Ji, also comes from a line of tabla players. His father taught him, and even though his son is only 1, he is already playing around on the tabla. Gyan Ji's wife is a professional singer and also teaches classical singing. I celebrated Saraswati Puja with them. Both of them invited students to their house and did puja. I was evident to me that arts and teaching are something that they both value. They are another example of how arts are generational. I expect that Gopu, the adorable one year old, will become an excellent tabla player, just like his father.

What is great about interacting with these two families is not only the knowledge, but the personal relationships I have formed. I was invited to see my tabla guru perform a solo for all of his older students. I was the youngest by maybe 5 or 10 years, but they were still welcoming and were excited that I was just starting to play. Unlike the students who have been studying tabla for some time, I did not know all of the compositions that he played, but I was able to understand the solo. I have become part of a musical community. I have more friends here and more personal relationships. This aspect of the tutorial is as important to me as the actual skill or art form. I will be sad to leave my teachers, but know that I will connect with them though the virtual world for years to come. I hope to continue my tabla study on my own once I get to the U.S, but it will never compare to learning and interacting with such a family.   

Tabla and Bharata Natyum Second Semester Introduction

I have been playing Tabla for two weeks now, and I absolutely love it. I love the rhythms and sounds. I practice at least an hour everyday and go to class most days. My teacher's house is warm and friendly. Often, his one year old son comes out and starts causing banging on all of the drums, but it is adorable so I do not mind. Like Bharata Natyum, I have been using and learning "bols," the words that correspond to sound and rhythm patterns. Even though I have only been learning for a short time, I feel like I have learned so much. My host family and teacher say so at least. The tell me that my sound is getting better. I can tell too; I actually like the sound coming and the patterns now come much more easily. The muscle memory is quite amazing.

Practicing is meditative in that I will play the variation for around ten minutes. Playing the same thing over and over is not as frustrating as I thought it might be. It can get really frustrating when I do it so well at home, and then freeze during class, but the playing itself is great. I always practice around 4pm when I am feeling most tired from the day. At the end of the hour, I am never tired; I am so excited by the music.

I have started listening to more classical Indian music and it has brought peace to my room and my environs. I can hear the tabla masters and understand what kinds of patterns they are doing. I can hear that we are doing many of the same ones, but they play much faster and their sounds and more consistent. That is okay with me because two weeks ago, I could not even get a basic note to resonate.

I love my drums, I have three. Two smaller ones (diyina) and a big one (bahina). One of the small ones is a higher pitch drum. My first teacher bought it for me because it would be good for my small hands. I had to switch teachers for a strange circumstance that I will not get into, but the second teacher, whom I like much more, said that the small drum was a mistake. I agree with him; the smaller drum did not let my hands get stronger or more precise.

I have started Bharata Natyum after a month long break. It was very hard at first, my legs had forgotten how to half sit and I had forgotten some of the combinations, but they came back. I find the class frustrating sometimes. I basically am told for two hours that my hands, feet and everything else are wrong all of the time. I have yet to be told one good thing about my dancing from my teacher. I do not expect constant admiration, but I would like to hear that I did a variation particularly well or something.

I am learning how to tell stories by way of gesture. I have learned how to tell the story of how Krishna stole clothes from some maidens when they were bathing. I like the gesture work; it has allowed me to work on my eye, face, neck and hand expression. We are also working on harder pure dance combinations, which are fun. I have also learned more of the single hand expressions and what the hand expressions can be uses to gesture. Can you believe that one hand gesture can be used to gesture things like, a horse, cutting, darkness, forest, kindness, valor, heat and much more? I have learned twelve ways to use a flat hand with all fingers joined (patak). There are somewhere around 40 ways. There is a Sanskrit chant ( a shloka) that has them all, and I have been learning that.

It feels great to get myself so involved with the arts again. I missed the month without dancing and adding the drums has just made it better.