The Cello and the Tabla
Review by a 10 year old
"On the 22nd of May two very kind gentlemen came to teach us about Indian music. Their names were
James Barralet and Sankar Chowdhury. This was quite an unusual Indian workshop because James played
the cello and Sankar played the tabla. You might think that sounds weird but actually they went together
beautifully.
As we started to fill up the seats they played some delightful music. After the music had finished they
introduced themselves to us and they started to interact with us. They told us how they met and how long
they have been playing as a duo.
Sankar taught us some of the key features on how to play the tabla. He taught us all the pitches and how a
tabla is made and its skin is made out of goatskin. It was fascinating to know that something made out of a
goat can make an astounding sound like that.
Then James and Sankar played another outstanding piece for us and it was about a lady and a robin.
This piece was very emotional for me because of the amazing way it was put together. Now this part was, in
my point of view, the best part of the whole Indian workshop because they talked to us about scales.
As you may know an English scale is a major or minor, the more popular version of do ray mi far so la ti do.
But they taught us an Indian scale. There are apparently more than two hundred sorts of Indian scales.
Unfortunately after this the Indian workshop was over and I would just like to thank James, Sankar and Mrs
Barralet for letting us have a taste of Indian music.
Suraiyya Jaffer J3T Solihull School
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