Editor’s note: We’ve enjoyed hearing Sukhmani play the tabla for years. She is both a talented player and a talented teacher of the Art of Tabla. She’ll be teaching a Basics of Tabla course starting January 16, 2022, and you won’t want to miss it!
The art of tabla is a centuries old, rich, and mystical tradition. It has been enjoyed since the 18th century by millions of people, reverberating through the courts of kings and emperors, gracing the greatest stages in the world, grounding the prayers and poems of many spiritual traditions, and echoing through rugged loudspeakers from house concerts in the village alleyways of Northern India.
I have been captured by the sound of this instrument since before I can remember. I would watch the tabla player in awe at the Gurdwara (Sikh place of worship) or at Indian music concerts, wondering what it would be like to recreate the sounds. The tones, flare, and depth of the tabla are truly like no other, and it’s clear that I’m not the only one who believes so! When I meet my students for their first lesson, I ask them what made them want to learn how to play the tabla. More often than not, I hear about an experience of seeing a concert in which a musician was playing the tabla, and a comment along the lines of, “I had never heard anything make that sound before, and I HAD to know what it was!” This was my exact experience as a child hearing the tabla for the first time, and I see it happen to people over and over again; once the sound gets you, it really gets you!
I’ve been thinking a lot about why this happens, and what is so special about the sound of the tabla. Listening to those deep, winding tones of the bass drum grounds you in a meditative way, while the intricate, dancing, high song of the treble drum elevates your mood and soul into a state of bliss, all the while pulling at the heartstrings, and blowing the mind away. How can one instrument do all of that?
I don’t think it’s magic, but I do believe that the tabla is a perfect representation of the Naad, or “the essence of all sound.” The frequency of the two drums vibrates in such a way that it’s almost as though the universe itself is speaking to you. The tabla can sound like a voice, like the elements, and subconsciously, even like another instrument; I was once practicing in the basement of a friend’s house, and as she descended the stairs she looked at me sitting at my tabla in shock, and exclaimed “I thought you were playing my Piano!”
The act of playing and practicing the tabla only takes this idea further, in that it is not just a full body experience, but an experience that encapsulates the essence of your entire BEING; it requires participation from your mind, body, personality, and soul. It requires strength and relaxation, logic and emotion, determination and patience, discipline and playfulness…It is special because it encapsulates the synergy of opposites into a perfect whole.
Teaching online tabla courses has been in my imagination for the past few years, inspired by my time traveling and playing music, coming across many people who are moved by the instrument and want to learn, but did not have a teacher in their area. I have loved every second of creating an online community of tabla players and lovers across the world, and I find that we all have this fascination and appreciation of the Naad at the core of our love for the instrument. If you have had a similar experience with the sound of the tabla, and if you feel moved to do so, I encourage you to dive into the Naad and learn how to play!
Join Sukhmani for personal, one-to-one Tabla lessons.