m hand to drum HAND DRUM TECHNIQUES ‘This month walte going ta begin looting at the basles on North Indian hola technique, The dhotk is a double ended wooden dum with bass ‘on ore end and treble on the other. For a more detalled description of he instrument itt! take a look at August's Aython where | cover North Taian drums in more detail “The fret thing we ned ta look at ie the playing position. Siting cross- legged on the floor ean be uncartorteble i you're nat used toi, but | can ‘assure you you do get accustomed to It in the end, Sit cross-iegged on lhe Hleor wrth the drum in Font of you wth the tele head on your sight. (Reverse al ofthis if you'e lett handed.) Move your right leg forwards slighty, allowing enough of a gap forthe drum tft hetiean the hae of your right foot anu the shin of your lt lag. The drum should rost on the inside of your right leg which should (unless you're a contortionist) be facing upwards. The bass ond of the drum should be resting on the for While the treble end should be raised from the floor by your leg to an angie of about 4 deqraat. The trae and should be silahtly proud to your righ, alloweig your right hand to get lo the front of the hoad easily. Roferto Fig. 1 and read through these instructions a few tines to be sure cl De postion ond fat on head Prato: James Carasty “The frst slroke we are yoiny lo look al i the "Ge! slroke. This is playo with the lat hand on the bass end of fe drum. Its dificult to explain his ‘stroke without nenstralion, but the photos should make it clear Fast lay your hand fit on the head asin Fig. 2. Now, with the underside of the vist remaining ly contact with the head, ‘cup your hand as il you were holding a snooker ball. Then split your fingers into two striking units, unt one consisthng of the ite, ing and ‘nidals finger, and unit two boing the fet finger alone. Then, with the ‘west remaining n contact with the head, strike with these two units, one after the other If we look at Fig. 9 we can ena the three finger unit siting, while inFig. 4 we can see the one finger unl srk, (ne Faportant thing to bear in mind is that. because of the langth of the fingors, the muddle ingore the man twol m9 the power of te throe fingor unit both because ofits muscle power and also is length. Many dhclak players, would only use the striking anit and not the ane fingered unit. “This wo rit abiking methed is derived trom tabla tochnique. Having caid that, for the purposes of this article we will only be using this three Fingered strking uni asin Fig 3 ‘The sound of the ‘Ge’ stroke should be a resonant bass tone, not muted too much by the wrist reaing an the head. We will look at the influence of Ue wrist in the ereation ofthe glssardo infleeions of the bass tone fr a later acl. The next note wo wil look a is the ‘Ke! stoke, also on the bass end. This is the closed note forthe base sido of the drum. I is excouted by laying the hand flat on the head as in Fig. 2. and, with the wrist remaining contact with the head, pivoting the hand upwards from the wrist and strking the drum with all four fingers. The result should be @ dosed, ‘slapping’ type sound, Notice how ia Fig. ? all the fingers are slighty apart es they strike the Head. I would not be totaly incorroct to play this stoke with all four fingers held together. | rersonally prefer the sound with the fingers slightly apart, as well as finding it more relaxed. Now we can move on tothe treble need and is strokes. As wilh the basss head the ard is split nto two striking unite, namely the thyes fingered land one Hingered snigng unis, The division a! fingers isthe same as. with the let hand, out unlika the lef hard, the wis does not rest onthe Uru rev do the fingors got bent. I we look at Fig. 5 and 6 we can s9@ the positon for striking with our hyo unis on the Heble head. With thes units Sad eat ees ae fone ean ald in tha middle of the head lor a clased, non-resonant ‘sound (asin Fig. 5 erid 6). Forts stroke the fingers strike sharply playing inta the drum will the fingate staying on for & mil ‘second after sirking These will be caled the "Te and thoTo 1’ steake roepactivaly. Alternatively fone can move ane's hand nul as neat to the tlm as possible for a more riaging and resonant sound For this the lingers would not remain on the head after impact Frm gong to se He terms Nat {or these strokes ~ it will be tha simplast way to convey the wh ring finger damping © ey and ‘Na 3!information far the purpose of these articles, avoiding any ambiguous terms used for cain nates in the cortex! of cerlan phrases intabla, playingthe 'Na 1" stioke made more complex by helding Hawn the rng and litle fingers While striking, This creates a particular narmonic which does nil eome out stranaly on dholak and therofore is. not an important part ofthe technique. The sour of the Na 1" and 2! strokes vhould bs high pitched and clear, with each striking unit moving away from the head quickly alter ihe sok allowing the head to resonate Now. to recap, we have six stroke: ‘Ga’, ‘Ke’, "Te 1", "To 3’, ‘Na 1” tnd Ne 9) Nose month we wil yo on fo lool at coma patterns involving these strokes. It is very important Io gol the sound of these strokes and the hand rrovemenis well grained before we go on to look at any rhythmic structures, To inish off 1 give a brief run down on tuning, The smal, high pitched head ehould be cranked! up to a high fansien similar Lo that of a high bongo. It should be sharp arid cultng, almosi woodblock tke. The bass head. on the the other hand, shouldnt be loo highly tuned. It should be less than halfthe tension of the small head, alowing the bass end to sing out The emal heart should alvays be sickened af after a performance. Noadless to say. turing a drum wih bolt tensioning ts « lot easier than turing one wih rape tensioners rurning between the two heads ‘That's all for this manth. Work hard on the strokes and get ready for sama rhythms next issue © Peter Lockett 1996