The Music of Hindostan c6.147

c6.147

It was now the *Kadars'* turn. One played the *kuzhal*.² He had great trouble in getting his reed to speak the tonic (C) properly, and cut several before he was satisfied; the *Malya* dancer did not fail to note his distress. It is curious how hard it was to arrive at the scale of this instrument. The player had no notion of playing a single note by itself, he invariably played a grace with it, showing how inseparable grace is from even the simplest phrase. It was achieved at last by my holding down his fingers in succession. A phrase which frequently occurred in his playing was: