- The reason
(literally, "three 
")
is so called is because it was played in medium to fast tempo, counted
as four beats, not sixteen: most commonly it would be marked by older
musicians as "one, TWO, three, wave", with the two falling
on 
.
The ninth count is not 
in itself; rather it is the third 
which is empty. Since each internal phrase is an anacrusis to the next
metrically strong beat, the
might best be represented as in Figure
7 with its four symmetrical phrases. Further evidence for the validity
of this representation is that, when reciting tabla compositions in
quick tempo, many older musicians begin from count ten with the words:
The 
was immensely important in the development of performance practice in
other genres such as 
and 
and the instrumental 
traditions. (Rebecca Stewart's doctoral work in this regard must surely
be the most important unpublished exploration of the subject. See also
the work of Bonnie Wade (1984), Allyn Miner (1993), and Peter Manuel).
used for the 
(an extension of the 
)
such as 
,
,
and 
,
soon found new and extended applications.
(See Figure
8), which Stewart has characterized as a catch-all term for several
classical and folk rhythms (1974: 96), has superimposed a swinging,
sesquialtera (or hemiola) pattern onto the agogic framework of 
.
Its 
suggests that it is really best understood as four groups of three,
in keeping with many of the melodic structures created for it; as such,
its 
/
structure mirrors that of the 16-count 
.
Argued in this way,
has only one 
of course
has none, because waves in the agogic system of long and short syllables
are not 
per se.
(see Figure
9) has superimposed the popular/folk rhythm from the Northwest Frontier
known in India as 
(but also, sometimes, as the Pakistani-Afghan 
—the
term
is virtually unknown in Pakistan) onto the agogic framework of 
probably in very recent times (compare this with Bhatkhande's version
from the early twentieth century). Because of 
characteristic lilting iambic movement from unstressed to stressed,
and from high pitch to low pitch, the ambiguity of 
becomes an issue (is it notated as a
or a ?;
and if the latter, then why are the subsequent 
conventionally-notated as 2 and 3 instead of 1 and 2?).
- I have tried to show how Hindustani music has undergone a sea change
in temporal thinking, from agogic Sanskritic verse meter to quite different
divisive, qualititive structures marked by fixed patterns that emphasize
pitch and stress. Stewart emphasized the likelihood of links with the
Arabic system through the
drum tradition, and while I would not dismiss this view, I suspect that
ample evidence for a different kind of rhythmic/metrical thinking exists
in folk models drawn from the tabla heartland of the North and Northwest
of the Indian subcontinent. 
is a case in point. Such a principle will come as no surprise to scholars
of Karnatak music, since the common 
are themselves derived from folk sources, quite unlike the primordial
seven 
(Nelson 2000: 144). There will be resistance to this view from those
who would like to think that the tabla and its
are ancient and neatly accounted for by theory; they will likely feel
uncomfortable when challenged with the notion that its rhythms emerged
organically from the songs and dances of a category of women modern
society now brands as disreputable.
A nautch party (detail from a painting by Mihir Chand, Lucknow ca.1780)
- Much more could be said, especially about
like
and
that, I would argue, have adapted (doubled) 2+3 and 3+4 folk-derived
patterns to fit the standard four-
/
format already described for sixteen-count
(and probably also for the twelve-count ).
More could be said also about the modern tendency to drive tempi to
the extremes of the continuum, thereby altering the character of many
of these .
That is a long story that will be the subject of future studies. One
of the casualties for the tabla has been the loss of opportunity to
swing and sway with the medium-tempo grooves of the folk, popular and
semi-classical
genres: rhythmic realizations of the seductive, sensuous and erotic
body and hand movements of the courtesan. Indeed, it mirrors the immense
loss to Hindustani music culture of the courtesan herself.
Canada for an operating grant (#72005981) that helped make it possible for
me to conduct this research.
1. I am aware that there is no universally-accepted version of a
for any
in tabla or 
playing. There are stylistic differences between the various performance
traditions, and tempo has a prominent role to play in how a
is performed. Throughout this paper I will cite what I feel are the most
common versions: they should be recognizable to most performers and scholars.2. I defer here to Harold Powers who recommends the use of "counts" instead of the more commonly-found "beats," since the latter may be more usefully reserved for "metrical pulse". It will become clear that the "beat" does not always correspond precisely to the "count." (Personal communication.)
3. The Bhatkhande Sangit Vidyapith is a prominent affiliating and examining body that also prescribes degree syllabuses and course texts.
4. I am aware that considerable interest in diverse
exists in Pakistani Punjab, perhaps because the
featured prominently in the recent lineages of tabla players in and around
Lahore. Furthermore, Pakistani writers on tabla such as Badr ul-Zaman (1991)
have listed dozens of obscure .
His sources, I suspect, are mainly Indian, and it could be argued that he
is unwittingly assisting with the "Hinduization" of .
Bhatkhande Sangeet Vidyapith. Prospectus & Syllabus,
1981-1983. Lucknow:
Citizen Press, 1981.
Bhatkhande, Vishnu Narayan. Kramik Pustak Malika. Parts 5 & 6. Hathras: Sangit Karyalaya, 1983.
Bor, Joep. "The Voice of the Sarangi: An Illustrated History of Bowing in India." National Centre for the Performing Arts, Quarterly Journal, 15.1, 3 (September & December 1986), 16.4 (March 1987).
Erdman, Joan. "The Empty Beat: 
as a Sign of Time." American Journal of Semiotics, 1, 4, pp.21-45,
1982.
Feldman, Jeffrey. The Tabla Legacy of Taranath Rao: Pranava Tala Prajna. Venice, CA: Digitala, 1995.
Imam, Muhammad Karam. 
(In Urdu.) Lucknow: Hindustani Press, 1925. [The original MS, lost, dated
from the late 1850s or early 1860s.]
Kinnear, Michael. The Gramaphone Company's First
Indian recordings,
1899-1908. Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1994.
Kippen, James. The Tabla of Lucknow: A Cultural Analysis of a Musical Tradition. Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Manuel, Peter. Thumri in historical and Stylistic Perspective. Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 1989.
Miner, Allyn. Sitar and Sarod in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Wilhelmshaven: Florian Noetzel, 1993.
Nelson, David. "Karnatak Tala." Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. New York: Garland, pp. 138-61, 2000.
Ramanathan, N. "The Changing Concept of Tala in North India." Unpublished paper delivered at the International Symposium of the History of North Indian Music 14th to 20th Centuries. Rotterdam, 1997.
Shankar, Ravi. My Music My Life. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, 1969.
Sharma, Bhagwat Sharan. 
(In Hindi. 7th edition, ed. Lakshminarayan Garg.) Hathras: Sangeet Karyalaya,
1981.
Stewart, Rebecca. "The Tabla in Perspective." Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation: University of California, Los Angeles, 1974.
Wade, Bonnie. Khyal. Cambridge University Press, 1984.
(In Urdu.) Lahore: 
1991.