Originally Posted By: Jim Fogle
Excellent reply. I'm enjoying this conversation very much.

Drumming has rudiments. Rudiments are the essential patterns of drumming broken down into the most elemental, basic components. Drummers learn rudiments to gain skill and learn technique.

From your description I'm relating Thekas to rudiments because they seem to be the most elemental form of tabla playing. So I can understand how having loops of Thekas at different tempos would greatly broaden the appeal of Band-in-a-Box.


Hi Jim,
Exactly - Thekas are the most elemental form of tabla playing, partly because they provide a theoretical 'blueprint' for how to play a particular taal (or tal or tala - transliteration is not precise, so you see various English spellings of these, and other terms in Indian Classical Music).

Of course, what a specific tabla player will play might vary from the exact form of the theka, but is still rooted in the theka, much as we would probably recognize 'When The Saints (Come Marching In)' whether it was presented in a jazz format, or a more straightforward pop format.

You are a much quicker study than I was (and am).

So, having loops would certainly provide people with the authentic basic version of a particular tala which every tabla player learns and would recognize, despite the fact that the different gharanas/schools of tabla playing might vary the thekas slightly -- Rupak Tal will still be recognized as Rupak Tal.

Now, I am going to contradict myself a little (if one can say that there are degrees of contradiction). Sometimes, what an individual tablist will play when playing a particular tala will not resemble the theka in terms of the specific parts of the tabla that they strike at a particular time; however, the underlying, sacrosanct structure or 'skeleton' of the tal will still be evident to those acquainted with those structures.

As a Westerner who has had to work hard at understanding even the minute amount that I do understand about Hindustani Classical Music, I find that it is a lot of fun to sit at an HCM concert and to figure out what tal is being played (the performers usually tell you before they start playing, but it can still take a while to work out what the hell is going on!).

I have also been thinking that MIDI representations of tabla bols (beats) might be good in terms of being able to edit, but Real Tracks in the form of loops are essential, in my opinion.

Thanks for encouraging this conversation - I, too, am really enjoying it.

"If The Beatles or the 60's had a message, it was 'Learn to swim'. And once you've learned - swim!"
John Lennon