India as a land of ancient culture traditions contains dance, music, art, literature, architecture and handicraft etc. Music plays a great role in improvising lives mentally and sometimes physically also. One of the widely used and followed musical instruments is percussion instruments or drums. Percussion instruments or drums are referred as “Avanaddha Vadya’ which means ‘to be covered’. Most of the percussion instruments that have one or two faces are covered with hide or skin come under this category.
Drums of Melody: Indian Drums
Tabla
Tabla consists of two drums, one for the left hand and one for the right and accompanies classical vocal, light vocal (Thumris) Ghazals as well as Bhajans and folk music. It was
Amir Khusroo created and developed Tabla .
Pakhawaj
Pakhawaj one of our oldest drums is a barrel shaped drum with leather skin on both the sides. Phakhawaj is played with our most ancient type of singing namely Dhrupad and Dhamar and Bhajans. The most ancient drum in India is called Dundhubi, the earthenware drum.
Mridagam
It is the main drum of South India for Karnataka Music.
Khol
In eastern India khol accompanies the melodious Baul and Bhatialies sung by Bards going from village to village. It is also played with modern music.
Dholak
It is usually played with folk music and other type of light music.
Dholki
It is also played in folk music and other types of light music.
Dhol
It has an appearance of a barrel with leather skin attached to the Sides. It accompanies the fiery Bhangra in Punjab,Raas in Gujarat and folk music in Rajasthan and other places in India. It is played with wooden sticks.
Tavil
This drum is played in south India only mostly in temples .It accompanies Nagaswaram a very important instrument of south India
Damru
This percussion instrument is associated with the cosmic dance of Lord Shiva The two threads attached to the drum have beads at the end and when rotated with the hand touch the lather skin on both the sides and produce a peculiar musical sound .
Madal
It is a two faced drum whose both sides are used. It is usually played with dance and folk music.
Kanjira
It is played in South India to accompany singing, although it is nowadays played all over India. Only one face is there .It is held with one hand and played with the other. It is in the category of frame drums.
Indian Tasha Drum
Hand-made terracotta with a goat-skin head. This is a traditional Indian drum that can be played with the hand or with the bamboo beaters. It includes a beautifully carved wood tripod stand and a pair of bamboo beaters.
Drums form an integral part of Indian classical music. Learning to play these instruments can be so rewarding for one and all. There are many famous music schools that offer learning lessons for this. For example lessons of Voice and vocal training in Melbourne offers beginners’ lessons of drums for kids as well as adults.