Travel Day 863 – Kolkata, INDIA
Today was finally my first Tabla class with my teacher in India and while I didn’t quite know what to expect, I was soon to find out what it was all about…
Freshly tuned Tablas in Kolkata, India
Actually it wasn’t about much, at least it wasn’t today. I arrived at 9am at the class and was told to practice what I had been working on before. So I sat until about 2pm, doing nothing but practicing the same thing over and over again. Only once my teacher gave me a correction and told me how to change my finger setting, while he was practicing himself for an evening concert…
While it was great to be around my teacher and listen to his practice, it still was a very welcoming distraction that two craftsmen showed up and started fixing up all the Tablas that were around. There were actually quite a few Tablas in the house and it was simply amazing for me to see how they skillfully pulled the skins with hands and feet. In seemingly seconds they managed to fix up and tune each instrument to the perfect pitch, even my set and it sounded better than it ever did before…
Evening Concert in Ballygunge, Kolkata
Once I was done with my practice, I had just enough time for lunch and a little rest before I had to jump back on the subway to find the concert location in the far south of Kolkata. Luckily I had left early enough, because it took me about two hours in the end to reach the venue in Ballygunge and about three hours to get back. It was obviously my own fault that I managed to get lost on the way home, but still the concert was worth all of the effort…
This was actually the first concert of my teacher that I saw in India and even if I didn’t understand all the conversations later on, it was still an amazing experience for me and yet another great day in India… : )
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