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Lesson 13: Drut Lay Thekas of Eight Matras

 

As introduced in the previous lesson, there are three types of tempos. Of the three tempos, we have studied the madhya lay in detail through the study of the tala thekas and prakars. This lesson is dedicated to the study of drut lay.

 

Drut lay is the fast tempo. One of the properties of the drut lay is that it looses bols, or changed bols, in order to allow ease of playing. The key to being able to play drut talas without faltering or getting excessively carried away with the rhythm is to play these talas slowly, at first. Playing these talas slowly will develop clarity in the bols. This way, when a tala is being played under drut lay, then it can sound nice and crisp.

 

Many talas that we have studied have drut lay forms, including the tisra jati talas. However, we will only study the drut lay forms for kaherva tala in this lesson.

 

APPROACHING DRUT LAY TALAS

 

In doing the previous madhya lay rhythms, the focus was primarily on getting the rhythmic cycle correct. However, with drut lay cycles, it is important to not only get timing and accuracy, but also to play in correct tempo. These talas are not necessarily meant to be played in madhya lay. The best approach is to learn how to play them in madhya lay first, then speed it up slowly. That is the best approach to use for this and the next lesson.

 

 

DRUT KAHERVA TALA 1

 

X

 

 

 

0

 

 

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

dhin

 

ti

 

dhā

 

This is the fast version of the kaherva tala theka we discussed in lesson 8. This is used most commonly in kirtans, at the first instance of a change in tempo. Please note the bols used for drut kaherva tala and the bols that was used for kaherva tala theka.

 

AUDIO CLIP: Lesson 13 Drut Kaherva Tala 1 Practice

 

DRUT KAHERVA TALA 2

 

X

 

 

 

0

 

 

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

dhin

 

ka

ti

 

dhā

 

 

Here is another version of the Drut Kaherva tala 1. There are fewer bols to work with, but it works just as fine.

 

AUDIO CLIP: Lesson 13 Drut Kaherva Tala 2 Practice

 

 

DRUT KAHERVA CYCLIC SET

 

X

 

 

 

0

 

 

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

dhin

 

dhā

ti

 

X

 

 

 

0

 

 

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

kat

 

dhā

ti

 

dhā

 

This is a style of drut kaherva that needs two cycles to work for its variation. Therefore, it’s a cyclic set, or simply a set. This is used occasionally in the middle of a fast portion of a kirtan.

 

AUDIO CLIP: Lesson 13 Drut Kaherva Cyclic Set 1 Practice

 

Remember that the key to succeeding with drut lay for practice is starting slow and then build up to the point where you can play this at a faster speed, while making each bol sound nice and crisp.

 

AUDIO CLIP: Lesson 13 Summary

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