Fourth Annual Summer Tabla Workshop

This year's intensive summer tabla workshop took place from June 23 through to June 29 at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University. There were students who came from as far away as Ottawa, New York, Michigan, and Massachusetts. A big thank you to this year's wonderful participants, who made it such an enjoyable week!

As always, there were group classes, daily group practice sessions, listening/video sessions, and we ended with a touching Guru Puja. A few of the students got together to make malas (flower garlands), and all brought fruits and sweets for the puja. We talked about the history of the Benares gharana as I introduced the participants to the legendary artists that make up Guruji's family tree. It was really nice having everyone pay homage to Guruji and his family, and I think that everyone really enjoyed the cultural experience. It's so important to honour our teachers, and the rich history of the gharana.

The week just flew by; I can't believe it's over already. Already thinking about next year, which will be the fifth edition!

Thanks to Caroline for the photos! For more photos, please visit the Facebook album.

Annual Summer Tabla Workshop 2013!

Wow, this past week just flew by so quickly! As I have for the past three years, I held my annual summer tabla workshop during the first week of July, at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University. This year, the participants all came from the Montreal area. I had two groups - one of pure beginners, who had no prior experience with tabla, and an intermediate group of students with a few years of experience. Each group had four 90-minute classes, spread throughout the week, and both groups joined together daily for a two-hour group practice session. We also met for two video-viewing sessions, where I showed videos of concerts by some of the great maestros, and as always, we concluded the workshop with a Guru Puja.

The participants this year had such great enthusiasm and energy. We were also joined by two guests from the UK, Caroline (my Gurubahen) and her partner Neil. Neil participated in the beginner class, while Caroline helped out with some of the teaching.

This year, for the intermediate class, I decided to follow an 'accompaniment' theme, and so for one of the classes, I invited my santoor buddy Jonathan Voyer to come, and be accompanied by the students in Rupaktaal, Sitarkhani, and Teentaal. The following class, Neil sang some bhajans, which gave the students a chance to accompany in Kaherva, Dadra, and Bhajani theka. The experiment was a great success, and I will surely integrate this type of activity again in the future.

One of the many group practice sessions.

Lighting the incense for Guru Puja.

Marc doing puja. This is his third year at the workshop!

Kai getting his offerings, walking around everyone's tabla. 

In case you would like to see more, I have posted many more photos on Facebook.

Until next year! Thank you to Caroline Tabah for the photos!

Two Gurus in Two Weeks

The Indian classical music scene in Montreal seems to be growing of late. Not that we necessarily have more locals professionally playing Indian music, but that more and more artists are passing through Montreal to perform. This fall, it seems that there is a concert every week or two! The first couple of weeks of October were quite intense, as in the first week, my friend Jonathan Voyer hosted his santoor Guru, Pandit Satish Vyas, and the week after, Uwe Neumann's Guru, Sri Partha Bose came to visit.

In both cases, I was fortunate to be their accompanist for both their private teaching, and in concert!

On October 4, I organized a workshop for Pt. Satish Vyas (himself a senior disciple of the legendary Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma) at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University. It was an introductory workshop on santoor and the North Indian classical music traditions.

The following day, I accompanied both Satishji and Jonathan for a concert at Tanna Schulich Hall, appropriately named Parampara, which was presented under the banner of Jonathan's organisation, Samskara. Tanna Hall has a perfect acoustic for Indian classical music, and while we did amplify a bit, the audio staff and equipment are of such quality, that we could not feel that we were being amplified. Crystal-clear sound!

Accompanying Jonathan Voyer.

Parampara - Guru and Shishya!

Accompanying Pandit Satish Vyas.

Dan Blanchard (also a disciple of Pt. Satish Vyas, who kindly MCed for us in English), Satishji, and Jonathan.

The next week, I had the great fortune to accompany sitarist Partha Bose in concerts at H-OM Yoga and Equilibrium Yoga on October 12 and 13 respectively. It was quite amazing to perform in such intimate settings with an artist of this calibre, who could just have easily filled a large concert hall. I considered myself privileged to have the best seat in the house, right next to Parthaji, where I could hear all the wonderful nuances of his beautiful alaps.

Accompanying Sri Partha Bose at Equilibrium Yoga.

Aha!

It was a great pleasure, and a great learning experience. I'm very much looking forward to both of their next visits to Montreal!

Thank you to Caroline Tabah for the photos!

PARAMPARA with Pandit Satish Vyas, October 5

This coming October 5, I will have the pleasure of accompanying my friend Jonathan Voyer's Guruji, Pandit Satish Vyas, in concert at Tanna Schulich Hall. This concert promises to be a truly special occasion, with both Satishji and Jonathan performing. A santoor festival! :)

Truly an event not to be missed for Indian music lovers in Montreal. You can keep up to date with the concert at its Facebook event page.

Friday, October 5, 2012 at 7:30pm
Tanna Schulich Recital Hall
Schulich School of Music of McGill University
555 Sherbrooke West, Montreal

Admission: 35$, 20$, 16$ (students)
Reservations: 514-398-4547

Here is a small clip to whet your appetite!

More Photos from my Second Annual Summer Tabla Workshop

So many great moments to share from this summer's tabla workshop! Here are some photos of the workshop in progress:

Beginner Class

Intermediate Class

Group practice session.

... and here are some more photos of the Guru puja:

Linda doing puja.

Jean-Marc doing puja.

Aaron doing puja.

Mathieu doing puja.

Marc doing puja.

Final group practice session!

Looking forward to next year!

Thanks to Caroline Tabah for the photos!

Second Annual Summer Tabla Workshop

This year's summer tabla workshop took place from July 2 to 8 at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University. I'm really happy with how the workshop turned out this year. The number of students has increased and some travelled from quite far away to be here, coming from Ontario, PEI, Wisconsin, and Florida.

The tabla workshop participants, from L to R: Mathieu, Kingsley, Dave, Aaron, Jean-Marc, Lisa, me, Fred, Marc, Linda. Missing from photo: Emily, Kameel, Rajit, Tomer.

The students were divided into beginner and intermediate groups. Each had four 90 minute classes, plus we all met every day for a two-hour technique practice session. It was really evident by the end of the week how much everyone had improved; it really brings me joy to see their progress. I also held two video viewing sessions where we watched a performance and a documentary on a nice big screen via a projector, and an excellent sound system.

On the last day, we concluded the workshop with a Guru puja, in celebration of Guru Purnima. All the students participated in the preparations and took part. After the puja, I distributed the prasad, we had a nice Indian meal, and wrapped up with a final practice session. After a week of daily two-hour practice sessions, this final session passed by amazingly fast!

Kingsley working on the large mala (flower garland).

Applying the tikkas.

Making an offering.

Fred doing puja.

Kingsley doing puja.

Dave doing puja

This being the first Guru Purnima since Guruji passed away, his presence was sorely missed more than ever. It was really heartwarming to have all the students participate, making their offerings and giving thanks to Guruji and his ancestors. The entire model for this workshop is based on how Guruji ran his workshops in the past. It was great to see former summer tabla workshop participants return this year, also wishing to keep this great tradition alive. I think that Guruji would have been very happy to see his traditions continuing in this way.

The final group practice session.

Until next year!

Thank you to Caroline Tabah for the wonderful photos!

The McGill Tabla Ensemble in Concert

This past Monday evening was the end of semester concert for the McGill Tabla Ensemble, a group that I teach at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University, here in Montreal. The ensemble of 25 tabla players is made up mostly of music majors, but we do have a few students from other faculties in the university. While a few of the students have some prior tabla experience, the great majority were beginners, having only started to play tabla in January. They had to work quite hard in order to put together a performance in only three-and-a-half months! Unfortunately I don't have many photos from the concert, but do have a few from the dress rehearsal earlier the same day.

The McGill Tabla Ensemble in rehearsal.

Aaron Landsberg running through his solo during the dress rehearsal.

The concert started with two of my more experienced students each performing a 12 minute solo. First, Aaron Landsberg opened the concert with a solo in Vilambit and Madhya Teentaal (16 beat cycle), with me accompanying him on harmonium. Aaron opened with a mukhra and a couple of moharas, followed by the famous Delhi kaida, a charbag rela, and ending with a few tukras. The audience was very impressed by the amount of speed and clarity that he was able to develop in the short time that he has been playing; about a year. Next, Emily Thompson played a solo in Rupaktaal (7 beats), again with me accompanying on harmonium. After an introduction of some moharas, Emily played a couple of kaidas, and concluded with an ari tukra and a farmaishi tukra.

Emily Thompson reciting a tukra during the dress rehearsal.

Next, the ensemble of 25 tabla players was on. We played various arrangements of traditional repertoire, re-arranged for the ensemble configuration. A couple of kaidas, and three tukras, all with recitation of bols as well. I played tabla along with the ensemble, accompanied by Dan Garmon on harmonium. The students performed impressively, and played the material with great energy and enthusiasm, which was met with equal enthusiasm from the audience. I was really overjoyed to see amount of people that came out to support the ensemble, and their applause during the performance was very motivating. I'm happy to see Montreal audiences slowly becoming more educated with respect to etiquette at Indian music performances, and showing their appreciation during the performance, not only at the very end. Clara Lichtenstein Recital Hall is quite small, with a maximum capacity around 70 people. Every seat was full, and on top of that we had additional people sitting on the floor in the front, in the centre aisle, and standing along the back wall. It was really great to see the ensemble having such a strong impact at the school and in the community.

In the week leading up to the concert, a few students asked if I'd play a solo as well. I didn't plan on it, as I didn't think it would be appropriate; this concert was intended to showcase the students of the Ensemble, not me. But then, at the end of the concert, one of the students asked out loud, "Who would like to hear Shawn play a solo?" After the applause that ensued, I basically had no choice but to comply. So without any planning or rehearsal, Dan accompanied me for a short solo in Vilambit and Madhya Teentaal. It was great fun, and it was highly motivating to play in front of an audience who obviously had such a great appreciation for tabla! Kudos to Dan for providing such solid lehra with only about a month of experience with tabla solo music!

The McGill Tabla Ensemble in Concert.

For September, we're aiming to increase the size of the ensemble to 30 members. I'm looking forward to continuing to work with some of the students this summer in private lessons and at the tabla workshop at McGill (which is also open to the general public), and again in the context of the McGill Tabla Ensemble once school starts up again in September.

Thank you to Caroline Tabah for the photos!