| Themes > Arts > Music > Musical Instruments > Musical Instruments of South Asia > Tabla | ||
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Without
the ability to make highly resonant, precisely tunable drums, an instrument
such as the tabla would never have been thought possible. The bass
drum baya, which is integral to the tabla set and used solely
for expressing rhythm, is not a part of the tabla. The number of
tablas used depends on the melody to be played. Each tabla
is tuned to the particular notes of the scale in question, and they are
set up in ascending order in a semi-circle in front of the artist, the
bass notes to the left and the treble notes to the right. The lowest-pitched drum is tuned to the perfect fourth below the tonic and has a diameter of 16 cm. The highest-pitched drum has a diameter of 11 cm and can be tuned as high as the perfect fith above the tonic, one octave higher. Thus, the range of the tabla is exactly two octaves. |
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