Enigmatic Permutations

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Though Swapan's style encouraged me to be independent, he also watched me very carefully to make sure that I was learning at my maximum pace. Swapan's lesson consists of an oral transmission of the composition, which the student must memorize in manageable segments, and then play back in its entirety. During my lesson, he gaged the compositions and the speed in which I was to learn these compositions at a level just beyond my ability. A few key elements of his teaching process gave him this flexibility: difficulty of the composition, size of the fragments, speed of moving on to new fragments, and tempo of the composition. The lesson is demanding, for if the student does not process a piece of the composition, he or she may not proceed. The style of his teaching enabled me to be able to hear a concert or recording in the language of the fragments that Swapan uses. After hearing the music, I developed the ability to remember certain phrases and play them when I would practice.

Often, tabla players use certain shortcuts in for fast phrases. Without these, the strokes are too complex to be able to be played too fast. Swapan explains his discovery of one of these shortcuts, a substitution of the easier "gere" bol for the more difficult "dhere" bol:

When we were learning, we were not told to play, "tere kite taka gere dhere dhere kite taka." And so I was thinking at that point, "Why, my can teacher play these things so fast. How come I can not play that. I am practicing more than him now," and I was young and I was playing really fast. I could not get to that speed. I said, "Is there something else I should know?" And then finally one day, he played, "tere kite taka gere dhere dhere kite taka," and I said, "What is that?" Because at that speed it is hard to tell. You feel like you are playing, "tere kite taka dhere dhere dhere kite taka," but it's not. "Tere kite taka gere dhere dhere kite taka." Finally he told me, and once he told me, it's like a toy. But the idea of those guys, the older generation, is that, "Why shall I tell you, right from the beginning, the shortcut?" Because they don't believe in shortcuts. Because look, if you practice that way, "tere kite taka dhere dhere dhere kite taka," it's solid, right? You get a solid thing in your hand. And now, just a little technique you change, it will be like a fire. But, if you start off, "tere kite taka gere dhere dhere kite taka," you get stuck with that. But nowadays, things are different. (excerpt from tabla lesson, 12 October 1994)

This was the only shortcut I received from Swapan. It is possible he told this story so that we would look for shortcuts. In keeping the shortcut secret, Swapan's teacher was able to force Swapan to develop a more difficult phrase which, when adapted with the shortcut, increased his fluency. It is these tales which bind a student to his or her teacher. Swapan's story teaches the student to trust the wisdom of the teacher. The student may become frustrated, but the teacher knows what is best for the student.

The learning process of the tabla is enigmatic. I never knew why I was being taught a certain composition, but I trusted my teachers. What I practiced, potentially applied to a number of different elements of tabla playing. For example, a certain composition may highlight a certain stoke that I was having trouble with, give me ideas and phrases for accompaniment ornamentation, or provide for another abstract method of creating variations. All of these elements are achievable by practicing one composition for the entire week. As Norman Skiba describes:

In the process of learning, redundancy is a key factor. Playing the same idea over and over again is the basis of practice or riyaz At this stage, mimesis is a important aspect. The student must begin by imitating the teacher. This learning and practice not only takes place on a physical level - the proper articulation of the bols; but also on a cerebral level - the theoretical understanding of the processes of the various forms. (Skiba 1993:103)

Thus, the relationship between the tabla student and the tabla teacher is intimate. The amount of trust and dedication to the student's teacher affects his or her musicianship. The Ali Akbar College was filled with student versions of their teachers to the extreme of dressing the same, smoking Dunhills (Khansahib's brand), and adopting certain mannerisms. This aspect of the student community reflects how the teachers are examples of Indian music, not limited musically. Beyond the authority of the teacher, the student must also value the compositions given by the teacher. The value of the compositions that I learned first-hand from Swapan and Zakir is much greater than compositions that friends gave me or ones I learned from recordings. The compositions that I learned first-hand are still incomplete. I feel that I will never be able to play them perfectly. Likewise, many students said that even one of Swapan's compositions was enough for years worth of practice. As Lewis explains:

Truth is revealed, not achieved. It is manifested by authoritative teachings and carried forward by a tradition of literary scholarship. Knowledge of it is always imperfect. Within such a framework of belief, the literature of music has taken on a prescriptive tone, and musical doctrines require no other justification than their prior existence in an authoritative treatise (Lewis 1992:6).

Swapan's teaching style reflected this belief. His lessons consisted of old compositions from his teacher and from previous teachers. Lineages of the gharana attest to the legitimacy of compositions. Devotion to a teacher is very important in the serious study of Indian music. The intensity to which students follow music at the Ali Akbar College, among Zakir's students, and among Chitresh Das's students encouraged me to practice from six to ten hours daily. Such devotion to music gave me a source of discipline that I had never before found. These practices are not limited to the Bay Area. The religious devotion that students give music goes back to religious terms in India. "Devotion to one's guru and to the ideal of music that the guru represents takes first and foremost the form of regular and disciplined practice, and it is striking that it is again a religious term, sadhana, that is used to refer to such practice" (Wulff 1983:152). The pure form of the music is never attainable, but an intense pursuit of the music will bring the student closer to that ideal. The teacher's role is to be able to present an intelligible representation of that ideal.

STUDYING WITH TWO TEACHERS

My studies with Zakir Hussain were markedly different than those of Swapan Chaudhuri. I could not easily talk about these differences, as studying with two teachers, especially of different gharanas, is frowned upon. One tabla player visiting the college told me that a student must remain in one gharana for ten years before experimenting with others. Otherwise, the student will become confused. Not heeding his advice, I began clandestinely going to Zakir's lessons in Berkeley on Monday and Tuesday nights. James Kippen describes his own experience with studying other gharahas:

For a musician to visit another group or to attend his concert would be viewed with considerable suspicion. I have myself had some experience of this. Before the nature of my research was fully understood by Afaq Hussain and other Lucknow tabla gharana members, I found myself under suspicion for having visited and interviewed a tabla player of another gharana. Their attitude was, "What are you doing? He's not one of us!" (Kippen 1988:48)

I knew that I risked falling out of favor with Swapan if he discovered where I spent Monday and Tuesday evenings. Therefore, I was careful to observe the differences in strokes and compositional structures so that Swapan would not pick up clues from my tabla playing. The fear of being discovered made me keen to the differences of playing and teaching methods.

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