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Home , Taal (instrument)

Introduction

3 IVampsEX. have 3 always loved and admired and3 its great interpreters.3 Listening to great masters such as gurus Pt. Suresh Talwalkar and Pt. Zakir Hussainœ makes you wonder if you ever will be ableœ to grasp the depth of it. Many years ago I acknowledged that I as a œ œ >œ œ œ œ œ >œ œ westVampsã œern composerare improvisedœ and percussion sectionsœ player betweenœ œ never composed will be able sections. to playœ the properly,œ œbut since I fell in love∑ with the Ektaal,œ I decided to reflect ¿ on it and try to transfer the ektaal‐feeling on ¿ to western instruments andœ sounds. The instruments ¿ I have chosen ¿for this piece is westThe ernvamps modern should instruments always withbe improvisations only a fraction ofplayed soundcreating soft and possibilitiesin the style compared of ektaal towith the theIndian hi‐ hattablas. playing The intensions on 1‐5‐9 ‐of11th Ektaal beat. Reflections is therefore NOT an attempt to sound like tablas and real Indian music, but to make a crossover between Indian and western The vamps are to be repeated as you like. A specific fill will occur on the 8th beat when eyou decid to move on to the next music and to give all non‐tabla players an opportunity to enjoy this beautiful . section. Ektaal is one of Indias most popular taals. TAAlHere isare a re5 ‐examplesoccuring rhythmetic of vamp‐ improvisationsframework of certain with number elements of beats from divided the piece, in a butparticular it will way. be more Some fun taals for contain you to only come a few up beats with whilesomething others yourselfhave more performing than a hundred. the piece: In ektaal there is 12 MATRAS (beats) which is put together into 6 VIBHAGAS (groups) of 2 beats. To keep track of the taal, the vibhagas has different meanings (accentuations). The Indian musician learn ʺkeeping taalʺ by clapping hands, a clap representing an accented vibhaga (SUM and TALI) and a wave of the hand representing yan ʺempt ʺ vibhaga (KHALI) not accentuated. These accentuations, by counting vibhagas, are not necessarily to be heard in Indian music, but is a tool to help you keep track of the taal. I however have decided to let these vibhagas be heard and played on the hi‐hat at some points. The Indian musician learns the many different sounds and beats on the tablas by pronouncing the sound it produces. This is called BOLES and is often heard solo or simultaneously with the playing. YouEX. 4 should try to pronounce the ektaal boles as you think it would sound on tablas. This will you give an idea of how to phrase the taal. If you are reallyœ into it, you might even be able to create your own ʺwestern‐bolesʺ taken from theœ sounds of your western instruments for œ >œ œ œ >œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ thisã piece.œ œ You shouldœ feelœ free to try that out œand maybe use it in the ad.lib vamp sections.œ œ œ œ ¿ ¿ ¿ œ ¿ Above all, Ektaal Reflections should be played with a good groovy and virtuostic feeling and some good sense of humor. Have fun! EX. 5 3 œ > œ œ > œ Sørenã œ Monrad œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ Ektaal (12 beats)

12 34 56 78 910 11 12 DHIN DHIN DHAGE TI RI KITA TUN NA KA TA DHAGE TI RI KITA DHIN NA BOLES . ã. X O 3 O 5 6 SUM. KHALI TALI KHALI TALI TALI VIBHAGA

Required Instruments Suggested setup EX. 1 œ > œ 2 Snare drumsœ (without snares tunedœ œ approx.œ œ œ1/3rdœ apart). œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 4ã Octobansœ (1+2 very low with identical pitch, 3+4 very high with identical pitch). œ œ Hi‐hat ¿ (with small to be played with foot ¿only). ¿ ¿ Sticks: snare sticks (throughout the piece).

EX. 2 Notational Symbolsœ > œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ãsnareœ drum octobans hi-hat dead stroke (d.s.) rim shot (r.s.) œ ¿ ¿ ¿ œ ¿ œ X œ œ - 12œ 243 ã œ1 œ œ open¿¿ closed > œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ∑ ‰ j œ œ œ photo:œ Morten HøiteŒ Hansen Stickã œ on stick: œ œ left hand ¿ stick pressed with tip of stick against drumhead ¿ to alter the pitch, right hand stick beats ¿ on left hand stick. ¿ The section should start with the highest possible pressure on the head on each drum to produce a falling pitch. In the repeated section on octo 1 (before 13) the pitch should go up and down ad lib.

Reverse roll (rev): place the stick close to the drumhead close to the rim farthest away from you, put maximum pressure in the buzz and draw the stick across the head towards yourself in a fast movement. Introduction I have always loved and admired Indian classical music and its great interpreters . Listening to great masters such as tabla gurus Pt. Suresh Talwalkar and Pt. Zakir Hussain makes you wonder if you ever will be able to grasp the depth of it. Many years ago I acknowledged that I as a western composer and percussion player never will be able to play the tablas properly, but since I fell in love with the Ektaal, I decided to reflect on it and try to transfer the ektaal‐feeling on to western instruments and sounds. The instruments I have chosen for this piece is western modern instruments with only a fraction of soundcreating possibilities compared to the Indian tablas. The intensions of Ektaal Reflections is therefore NOT an attempt to sound like tablas and real Indian music, but to make a crossover between Indian and western music and to give all non ‐tabla players an opportunity to enjoy this beautiful taal.

Ektaal is one of Indias most popular taals or talas. TALA is a re‐occuring rhythmetic framework of certain number of beats divided in a particular way. Some talas contain only a few beats while others have more than a hundred. In ektaal there is 12 MATRAS (beats) which is put together into 6 VIBHAGAS (groups) of 2 beats. Indian musicians feel “beat” called ZARB, by counting vibhagas. To keep track of the tala, the vibhagas has different meanings (accentuations). In ektaal these are: SUM which always will be the first beat in the first vibhaga, the 2ndvibhaga is KHALI is “empty” (not accentuated), the 3rdvibhaga isTALI accentuated, the 4th is KHALI, 5th and 6th is TALI. The musician learns to “keeping tal” by clapping hands, a clap representing an accented vibhaga (sum and tali) and a wave of the hand representing an “empty” vibhaga (khali). These accentuations by counting vibhagas is not necessarily to be heard in Indian music, but is a tool to help you keep track of the tala. I have decided to let these be played on the hi‐hat at some points. The Indian musician will learn the many different sounds and beats on the tablas by pronouncing the sound . This is called THEKA or BOLES and is often heard solo or simultaneously with the playing. You should try to pronounce the ektaaltheka boles as you think it wouldsound on the tablas. Then listen to your instruments fors thi piece and make your own “western theka‐ boles”. If you are really into it, it might even be possible to do this in the piece, perhaps in the ad. Lib. Vamps sections. Above all, Ektaal Reflections should be played with a good groovy and virtuostic feeling and some good sense of humor.

Søren Monrad Ektaal (12 beats)

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Prestudies

octo 4 Basic Ektaal on instruments ( ) RL R L 12 6 sn. dr. 2 octo 3 4 RL2 RRLLRL RL RR RL œ œ œ œ . œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ . œ hi-hat œ œ octo 2 ¿ sn. dr. 1 ¿ ¿ octo 1 ¿ Triplet variation 3 3 3 3 3 3 œ > œ œ œ œ > œ . œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ¿œ ¿ œ ¿œ ¿

3 3 3 3 3 3 œ œ œ > œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ . ¿ œ ¿ ¿ œ ¿ Double varation œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ . œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ . ¿ ¿ œ ¿ ¿ œ

Vamps

Vamps are improvised sections between composed sections.

The vamps should always be improvisations played soft and in the style of ektaal with the hi‐hat playing on 1‐5‐9‐11th beat. The vamps are to be repeated as you like. A specific fill will occur on the 8th beat when you decide to move on to the next section.

Here are 5 examples of vamp‐improvisations with elements from the piece, but it will be more fun for you to come up with something yourself performing the piece:

EX. 1 œ œ œ œ >œ œ œ œ œ œ ã œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ¿ ¿ ¿ œ ¿

EX. 2 œ œ >œ œ œ œ œ œ ã œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ¿ ¿ ¿ œ ¿

œ > œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ∑ ‰ j œ œ œ œ Œ ã œ¿ ¿ ¿ œ ¿œ 3 EX. 3 3 3 œ œ œ >œ œ œ œ œ œ >œ œ ã œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ∑ œ ¿ ¿ œ ¿ ¿

EX. 4 œ > œ > œ œ œ œ ã œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ¿ ¿ ¿ œ ¿

EX. 5 3 œ œ œ œ >œ œ œ >œ œ œ œ ã œ œ œ œ œ Œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿

Notational Symbols

octobans hi-hat dead stroke (d.s.) rim shot œ X œ œ - 12œ 243 ã 1 œ œ open¿¿ closed Dedicated to Casper Facius Ektaal reflections 12( 6) music for percussion soloist 4 2 Søren Monrad 2012 (2) (1) q = 100snare drum (2) > > > > æ æ æ æ æ æ œ ã ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ œ. œ œ octobansœ ƒsnare drum (1) > > > > U ã ˙ œ. œ œ œ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ 1 æ æ œ æ æ æ æ q = 200 > > > > ˙æ ˙æ ˙ ˙ ˙æ ˙æ ã æ æ ƒ > > > ã œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ RRLLsim. > extremely pressed rolls with audible rhythm 3 3 3 3 3 3 > > > > œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œæ œæ œæ œæ œæ œ œæ œ œæ œ œæ ã æRLRæ æ æLRLæ æ sim.æ æ æ æ f rolls, gradually opens (less pressure) until 2 > > > ã œ œ œ œ œæ œæ œæ œæ œ œæ œ œæ æ æ æ æ > æ æ F > > > œæ œæ œæ œæ œ œ œ œ œ œæ œ œæ ã æ æ æ æ æ æ > octobans 2 P (4) (3) œ œ œ œ ã . œ Œ Œ Œ ∑ Œ Œ . ¿ hi-hat ¿ (closed) ¿ ¿ p (3) œ œ œ œ ã . œ Œ ŒŒ ∑ Œ œ . ¿ ¿ ¿ œ ¿ œ > œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ã . œ Œ œ œ ∑ œ œ œ . ¿ ¿ ¿ œ ¿ œ > œ œ œ ã . œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ . ¿ ¿ ¿ œ ¿ VAMP I* ad lib. rep ad lib. ã . . ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ *) seep note Copyright © 2012 Edition Svitzer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. 4

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