[abdullahkhalids]

Very cool. I play the tabla, and perhaps a tabla variant of this would be useful. For this, I imagine, we will need

- Tabla sounds for both bayan and dayan

- Better handling of taal and timing. Initially double or quadruple time but later polyrhythmic structure.

Tabla would also benefit from annotations, say for labeling the tihai, etc.

[mrniket]

Indeed! I've been building a digital tabla notebook for Bhatkhande notation. I've made it as a plugin for Obsidian currently. You can write any text as bols as it's just plain text.

The plugin is here: https://github.com/mrniket/palta-obsidian-plugin. If you want to see it in use, here is my notebook: https://niket.london

[shark8me]

This is neat! Where do you type in the bols ? In Obsidian, using plain text?

[mrniket]

Thanks :)

Yes, via code blocks. So once you install the plugin, you can type something like:

  ```palta
  taal: teental
  ---
  DhiGe Dhina TiriKit Dhina
  DhaGe NaDhi GeDhi NaNa
  TiKe Tina TiriKit Tina
  DhaGe NaDhi GeDhi NaNa
  ```

and it will render it in the correct format. It uses a web component behind it, so if you wanted to use it directly to render the above, it would be:

  <palta-note taal="teental">
    DhiGe Dhina TiriKit Dhina
    DhaGe NaDhi GeDhi NaNa
    TiKe Tina TiriKit Tina
    DhaGe NaDhi GeDhi NaNa
  </palta-note>

[shark8me]

Fwiw, there's a repository with specifications for Ragas and Talas here : https://github.com/Studio-kalavati/sargam-spec/blob/master/s...

[abdullahkhalids]

This is very cool. Thank you very much for sharing.

[shark8me]

That's an interesting use-case. There are 37 buttons in the keyboard (for 12 svaras, 3 octaves, plus 1). How many might be needed for the Tabla? Is there a 'universal' set of Tabla Bols ?

[abdullahkhalids]

I know that there has been a lot of work done in India for writing down Tabla. I am Pakistani, and I can't read hindi in devanagari script, so I am not familiar with this work. Here is my understanding.

In tabla a bol is equal to hitting one or both drums at a given moment.

The dayan (the smaller one) roughly has a set of standard 'hits'. At least 8. But the same hit can be done with different fingers, which has different effects. I am also not sure how to classify dhir dhir, which is played by striking/rubbing the palm of the hand across the surface back and forth.

The bayan is much more complicated. Technically, there are only two types of hits on it, either an open handed hit with the finger tips or a closed handed hit with the palm. But, in practice there are many more, because by pressing with the base of the hand/wrist on the surface while striking, one can change the note (frequency) being played.

Anyway, I think combining two drums, there are maybe 16 simple bols you can play. You miss out quite a lot by trying to write it down in a simple way because of the aforementioned modulation. But perhaps simple compositions or tukrai can be written down.

[shark8me]

That's cool! I'm a big fan of Ustad Tari Khan's tabla style.

So what language would you write a composition in? Urdu, or English?

I'm somewhat familiar with the bols since I learnt the Tabla a long time ago. 16 sounds a manageable number. Of course, putting together the audio samples to play a piece and making it sound non-robotic would be another challenge.

But another question is: would you find such a tool useful? There's a similar trend with Raga music, because recording is so easy now, few seem to want to take the trouble to write down notes. Would you, as a Tabla practitioner want to write down a composition? <and do similar tools exist already?>

[abdullahkhalids]

I would not use a written down version over a memorized version because it misses all the nuances of the piece. But a playable tool for Tabla would be useful for learning, for instance, polyrhythmic practice. As someone who started learning Tabla (and music) in my 30s, I don't even have the neurons in my brain for that kind of stuff. Just listening and playing along will be a huge aid in the absence of a live teacher.

[shark8me]

Could you share an audio/video or written example of this? If I understood correctly, you'd like the composition to be played first in 1x speed, and later in 2x or other speed (multiple times) so that it lands on the Sam.

[abdullahkhalids]

> If I understood correctly, you'd like the composition to be played first in 1x speed, and later in 2x or other speed (multiple times) so that it lands on the Sam.

Yes, that is correct. But doubling the speed is kind of trivial.

I need to think about this a bit more to see what's useful. I see that you have linked your github, so if you don't mind I will use that to contact you.