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Lesson 9: Kaherva Tala
As we enter our world of rhythms, we will encompass
one of the most popular, versatile, and admired talas
of various genres of music. This is the tala bearing
of eight matras. The reason why eight matras is considered to be one of the preferred rhythms is
because counting in “fours” or “eights” are easy to clap and follow. The
sixteen matra tintal might
not go to well with the mass public, as tintal is
primarily used in classical music. However, eight matra
talas will continue to be popular as long as there is
some iota of interest in music, whether one composes music or one listens to
it.
Since eight matras talas are quite popular, we will spend many weeks of
lessons in examining these cycles. There are many eight matra
talas that exist, but the two key eight matra talas that will be studied
here are kaherva tala
(Lesson 9) and bhajani tala
(Lesson 11).
THEKA:
Kaherva Tala is a tala of eight matras divided 4+4. For this rhythmic cycle, based on
musical tradition, the thekas definition will vary.
For the nature of the music (kirtan) presented in
this course, the theka for kaherva
tala is as follows.
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dhā |
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Practice the theka of kaherva using the bol or vibhag method. Your theka should
sound like the following like sound clip 9 – 1.
✇AUDIO CLIP 9 – 1: Kaherva Tala Theka Practice
KARTAL USE:
As mentioned in Lesson 6 with the elementary kirtan rhythm, this also uses the common “three-strike” kartal rhythm. See the cycle below and the strokes the kartal below that
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Here is an audio file of how kartals
fit here. Practice playing kaherva tala.
✇AUDIO CLIP
9 – 2: Kaherva Tala with Kartals
Let’s sing Hare Krishna with Kaherva
Tala. Again, this is very simple. Please try to sing
along while playing the mridanga. Ultimately, when
you play mridanga, you’ll end up singing whether you
chose to lead the kirtan or sing in response. While
accompaniment has not been formally studied, know that the sam
(matra 1) falls on the word “krsna”
(the first Krsna in the mahamantra).
✇AUDIO CLIP
9 – 3: Kaherva Tala
Practice with Mahamantra
PRAKARS
Kaherva tala has so many prakars,
that it is impractical to list them all. We will cover five new prakars of kaherva tala. Remember, prakars are
variations of the theka. To study the prakars, please click on one of the tabs below.
VIDEOS:
VIDEO CLIP 9 – 2:
PRACTICE
UPDATED: July 10, 2011