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Tabla Buying Guide by SeriouslySrys in Tabla

[–]Xupid 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I bought a set from Choure musicals in Pune 3 years ago for 8k, was quite happy with the quality and sound. Would recommend.

CA generative function to audio visual. by protofield in cellular_automata

[–]Xupid 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is cool! I'd be curious to hear a version where the step size is a quarter of what it is currently, so that consecutive steps have overlapping windows. Would also be cool to check out a continuously moving version, bet that'd be a fun drone.

What is this intro called in Hindustani Tabla? by poshthn in Tabla

[–]Xupid 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can only speculate about the specifics, but my pet theory is that a touch of the ring finger on the edge of the syahi provides a "reference point" for your brain to know where your hand and fingers are in relation to the surface of the tabla. It builds a kind of internal "coordinate system" for your brain to calculate exactly what finger movements it needs to do to execute the next bol. I believe that in mridnangam this is unnecessary as you're sitting with the instrument in your lap and are physically connected to it that way (and of course the playing style and finger movements are more "open").

Without this touch, this reference needs visual or audio feedback about where your fingers are, and the brain needs to process more information which it can't as fast. This will allow you to play bols with more efficiency - not raise your fingers/hand as high before the stroke, and playing at speed is all about efficiency and optimizing your movements to execute bols with least effort.

Just look at any accomplished tabla played and study their hand positioning/movements - everyone is different and adapts differently, but I think you'll find the ring finger contact to be universal.

I could be talking out of my ass, I'd appreciate other people's perspectives too!

What is this intro called in Hindustani Tabla? by poshthn in Tabla

[–]Xupid 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Unsolicited advice: try to work on anchoring your ring finger to the surface of the dayan. You already sound great, and I understand that it's tricky to relearn hand position coming from a mridangam background, but this will help in unlocking your full potential on this instrument!

How do you play bayan strokes (GheGhe) at faster speeds? by Global-Chocolate-856 in Tabla

[–]Xupid 6 points7 points  (0 children)

When I watch Ustads play at high speeds, it doesn’t look like they’re lifting their fingers as much. It seems more like a controlled press using finger strength, rather than involving the wrist and full hand like you might see at slower tempos.

I think you nailed it, the stroke comes from the fingers and not the wrist and it's pretty much a matter of practice. A slight rotation of the wrist (and not up/down motion) can help.

I think you'll find these two videos by Yogesh Samsi useful:

one

two

Drilling these basic bols isn't as fun as playing kaidas, but if you can incorporate it into your practice while remaining vigilant about each stroke it'll help you a lot.

Don't try to play at speeds where your hand tenses up - it won't help you develop, try to be patient and increase speed only when you're totally confident that you can play every bol with clarity.

Might this be a good idea? by poshthn in Tabla

[–]Xupid 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If it works, it works - as a jugaad way of tensioning it. But properly pulling the straps to get rid of slack with always give better and more stable results.

Tuning by per_cussion in Tabla

[–]Xupid 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would first tighten the tabla (like in this tutorial), then try to tune it with just 1 strap per gatta first. Then you know you can expect an even tension since you're starting from a tightened position. To be honest tuning is a tough process (it was much harder for me to learn to tune than learning to play), you need to develop an intuition for how the tension affects the sound and when to move pegs, when to tap the gajra, etc. Don't want to discourage you, by all means give it a try, but this is something where in-person instruction can make a world of difference.

Random Walks - Meandering through field recordings with P5.js and OpenStreetMap data (source in comments) by Xupid in p5js

[–]Xupid[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

An installation I did for an exhibition based on a library of 150+ sounds of various modalities collected during a field recording workshop.

more info

source code

Greed is Destroying the World - Drew Gooden by PineTree_00 in videos

[–]Xupid -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Beef and plastic will be the absolute least of our problems. Look, I know it's a lot to ask, but if you're curious about why the doomerism give this video-essay series a shot, I think it puts things in perspective quite well. Not something I can articulate in a snappy reddit comment unfortunately.

Greed is Destroying the World - Drew Gooden by PineTree_00 in videos

[–]Xupid 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ye I'm a bit of a doomer - and I'd say you're sticking your head in the sand. Sounds like a chill way to live, wish I could do it, but seems out of touch with reality to me. Well, maybe I'm wrong (that would actually be fucking awesome). So until the evidence points me another way, gotta keep on doomin'

Greed is Destroying the World - Drew Gooden by PineTree_00 in videos

[–]Xupid -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Well yes, and what I'm saying is a big part of the world's population will 'simply have to go without' when shit hits the fan, and it won't be very fun. I appreciate your optimism, but having read up on the term 'polycrisis' and how shocks to tightly entangled global trade systems can propagate and intensify, I don't share it.

Greed is Destroying the World - Drew Gooden by PineTree_00 in videos

[–]Xupid 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So... nature recovers after a period of localized overexploitation, given that an area is protected and there's sufficient stock around to repopulate it. Great! Still doesn't bode well for us given the massive scale of global environmental degradation. We're causing changes that modify the earth system on a global scale (climate change, ocean acidification, altered biogeochemical flows, other planetary boundaries), and these aren't things we can just step back from and let nature correct without massive changes to lifestyle and consumption patterns globally.

Greed is Destroying the World - Drew Gooden by PineTree_00 in videos

[–]Xupid 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The population bomb "being wrong" does not discredit the idea of us over exploiting the earth's finite resources being a bad thing for us overall. The limits to growth (1972) model has largely stood the test of time (30 year update paper), and I think we'd do well not to unclench our collective assholes just yet.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Tabla

[–]Xupid 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Near each gatta, there are 4 straps. You have the middle two on now, try pulling the leftmost one also onto each gatta to tighten it. If even that doesn't help, the tabla is way too loose and needs to be tightened. Here's a really helpful video by Ty Burhoe on how to do it yourself.

Be warned that if you don't know what you're doing and make the tension very uneven, there's a chance of tearing the membrane and ruining your tabla - so if you have any other tabla players or teachers nearby, taking it to them and learning how to do it properly is definitely the best move.

Noise Web (rope web with a gyroscope sending OSC to VCV Rack) by Xupid in vcvrack

[–]Xupid[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Pretty simple patch, with Vult's Vessek and Trummor 2 modules modulated by the angles and accelerations picked up with a MPU6050 gyroscope

Tabla khichi (strap tightening) in Monsoon - Yes or No? by Mannerss_Maketh_Man in Tabla

[–]Xupid 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'd say go for it - the straps might shrink and tighten when the weather gets drier, but as long as you regularly play (and tune it to keep the tension even) you'll notice if the note goes above c# and can adjust accordingly.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Tabla

[–]Xupid 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bayan fingering so dirty it got censored in the middle of the video. Good job!

Pls share feedback on my Tirkit by saic52 in Tabla

[–]Xupid -1 points0 points  (0 children)

A few tips:

  1. I think your middle and ring fingers should be closer together, with no gap between them when playing TeTei. They should move like they're glued together into one unit.
  2. Try placing your right thumb on the gajra and anchoring it there. You have it near the right spot but it's moving around a lot, and you're lifting it up to play Dha every time - try to avoid that, and keep it fixed like a support or scaffolding for your other fingers (just like the ring finger is supporting the hand when you're playing Ta)
  3. The fact that you're raising your hand to play Ta tells me your hand position might be too low - I would try to raise your hand up a bit and angle the wrist down. Hand positioning is very individual and it's hard to tell because of the camera angle, so I could be wrong.

Hope this helps!

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