The Music of Hindostan c14.6

c14.6

TONE-QUALITY. Under a multitude of names there are two main types of drum. The *mṛdāṅga* played at both ends with the hands (or if with sticks, called *dhol*); and the pair of drums, *tabla*, the right hand *daina* and the left hand *bayan*. Both kinds are tuned in the ordinary way by braces (*dīwal*), between which and the wall of the drum (*chattu*) tuning blocks (*gaṭṭa*) are wedged. In the mṛdāṅga the driving in of these wedges sharpens both ends simultaneously. When, as in the better class music, it is desired to have both drumheads (warka) in tune with each other, another device is adopted. A mixture of flour (āṭa) and water is worked on to the middle of the larger drumhead to lower the tone to the desired amount. The two heads are commonly tuned an octave apart. The plaster also adds to the resonance, and seems to be valued for that reason. It is therefore retained in the tabla, although it was not necessary here for the tuning, because each drum has only one head, and the braces do all that is wanted. On the mṛdāṅga the plaster is fresh made whenever the drum is used; on the tabla it is applied once for all, and has frequently been mixed with iron filings to add to the resonance, and is then black. It is called siyahi (blackness) or āk (eye); the rim of the drum-wall over which the skin is passed is called kanar, and the drumhead, which is visible between that and the ak, is known as warka (lit. leaf of a book). On the left drum the ‘eye’ is in the middle; on the right it is eccentric, in the ‘north-west’ corner, lying under the tip of the forefinger.¹ The different tone qualities are obtained by striking with the full hand, or the several fingers at different places, and by damping or releasing. They are distinguished by names (bol). The tabla are generally tuned in unison, occasionally at a Fifth from each other; but there is no idea whatever of ‘dominant-tonic’ in this tuning. The alternation of sound between the two drums is incessant and instantaneous, so that the two notes merge; and they are obviously there for the same reason as they are upon the drone strings of the vīṇā or tambura, only as an enrichment of the tone. The note of the drum is also altered by way of ‘grace’. There is a special hour-glass-shaped drum, especially in South India, small enough to be held in the hand, which can then squeeze the braces and sharpen the note. On the tabla too there is a special stroke (called ghe) which can be made with either hand; after a blow from the full hand the ball of the thumb is slid forward across the drumhead. This raises the pitch slightly and produces a sound like a galosh leaving the mud, curious, and by no means unattractive.