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Course · Tabla
Tabla is the heartbeat of Hindustani music: two drums, ten fingers, and a language of syllables — dha, dhin, na, tin — that students learn to speak before they play. It trains rhythm, memory and focus in a way few instruments can, which is why tabla students so often surprise their maths teachers.
Our classes are one-to-one and live. Your child's guru hears every stroke, corrects hand position in the moment, and moves exactly at your child's pace — something no app or recorded course can do.
The journey
Every student moves through the same four stages — at their own pace, with their own guru. Here is what each one actually means.
The first weeks are about sitting right, striking right, and falling in love with the sound. Students learn the names of the drums, the first bols, and how to clap a 16-beat cycle — the same cycle on our logo.
Now the syllables become sentences. Students keep a steady theka, learn their first kaidas, and begin the call-and-answer of recitation and playing that defines tabla training.
The hands are trained; now they get fast and articulate. Relas, tukdas and tihais enter the repertoire, new taals join teentaal, and students learn layakari — playing at double and quadruple speed against the cycle.
Advanced students work like young professionals: gharana repertoire, peshkar, improvising within a kaida's rules, and building stage solos. The guru's job shifts from teaching strokes to shaping a musician.
Inside a class
Every class follows the same quiet structure — the same one a student would get sitting across from the guru in person.
Hands warm up on the theka while the guru listens to last week's practice assignment.
The heart of the class: a new bol, kaida or variation, taught phrase by phrase, recited before it is played.
The student plays, the guru corrects in the moment — hand shape, tone, timing — until it sits right.
Exactly what to practise this week, written down and sent to the parent. No guesswork between classes.
Getting set up
Less than you'd think. Nothing on this list is needed for the free trial.
Needed from the first regular class — not for the trial. We guide every family on renting or buying a student pair in their country, usually ₹6,000–10,000 or about $120 abroad.
A floor seat or low cushion in a room where 45 minutes of drumming won't be interrupted (neighbours generally forgive tabla).
Placed so the guru can see both hands and the drum heads — we help you find the angle in the first class.
“Parents ask me how long until their child plays something beautiful. I tell them: the first dha, played correctly, is already beautiful. Everything after that is riyaaz.”
The trial is a real 40-minute class with a guru — free, on your clock, no instrument needed.