Hi all,
Well it struck me as brilliance but it may not appeal to everyone here! Almost 10 years ago I travelled to India (my ethnic background) for a three month holiday and while I was there, I took some lessons on the Dholok. I had a charming teacher who taught me a few 'talas' as they are called - which are essentially - different drum beats. They can be repeated and varied indefinitely, as is the nature of Indian music. I'm no expert on these though - I have some rough notes tucked away somewhere of the exact names for each of these 'talas' and how they should each be articulated - but I thought instead of all these melodic/harmonic exercises - perhaps someone could provide a drum beat and someone could compose a melody to accompany it! Now, I know this is a terribly poor version of what the dholok sounds like - i.e. its a woodblock (go figure
) *however* I think I've captured the essential beat of some of these 'talas'. So now its time to compose a melody to accompany it!
Percussion Game No 1#
Compose a melody to accompany the following percussion beats. You may:
1) Use strictly one beat and slightly vary it in order to suit your piece
2) Use a combination of the beat and the roll (I have provided only one 'roll'* here)
3) Use a different percussive instrument to suit your taste/piece
4) Use multiple instruments, including multiple percussive instruments
5) Vary the
entire tempo of the beat , but
not at various points
within the piece. This is a central feature of Indian music (I stand to be corrected though...)
*A 'Roll', as I was told, is a single bar pause or two bar pause where only the percussive instrument is heard before the 'tala' repeats itself.
Well, lets see how it catches on. Kudos to Mark for stimulating interest in this section among other members of the forum; and to Frantz because I know he is going to be the first person to post
Best of luck composing guys. I have an exam tommorow! Wish me luck!
Regards
Pravin
P.S
I think these particular talas may fall flat on their face....but the concept itself is grand! Pardon my pride
NB: I forgot to save the instrument as 'woodblock'. It will therefore be a piano sound. Please change the instrument to a woodblock or other percussive instrument before you begin!