of Tablas and Sitars part 2 of 3

After Sandip, locked eyes with a student for the third time, I started to suspect that these glances might not be so random. I think that when he felt that someone was paying less than full attention, he would hone in on them and bring them back into the performance with his hypnotic stare. Not only was this guy the master of the sitar, he was the master of crowd control. If only I had this kind of control in my classroom.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Mike the music teacher slowly lifting his camera to get a picture. Was that a twitch or did Sandip just nod in Mike’s direction giving him permission to take a picture? Mike quietly squeezed off two pictures and then slowly lowered his camera.

I wanted to close my eyes and allow myself to get lost in the music but I couldn’t take my eyes off of Sandip. There was something visceral –almost dangerous- in his performance.

Sandip set aside his sitar and took out his two tabla drums. In very measured and precise language he explained the tabla to the students. Then he led them through some of the basic rhythms he would be playing.

Deet, tikka, tikka, deet.

Tikka, tikka, deet, deet.

Then he started in. It was mesmerizing. For those of us who grew up on western rhythms where a 6/8 is a complex time signature, Indian rhythms are layered and complex and beguiling. It was awesome. I was ten feet from this master musician listening to rhythms that I could only dream of. The students were equally captivated.