MCMA faculty member Amelia Campbell proposed a newsletter segment that showcases an instrument. Here is her review of the tabla, written in collaboration with MCMA founder and faculty member Tom Ulichny (who studied tabla in India):

The tabla are a pair of tuned drums from Northern India, tracing their roots to as far back as 500 BC in the Middle East. They are traditionally made of ceramic or copper and hollowed out wood, with goat skin heads. The left drum, the baya, is bigger with a lower pitch which can be modulated by applying pressure with the wrist. The right drum, the daya, is smaller with a higher fixed pitch. Each drum has a set of circles on the heads known as the gab, which consist of a special mixture from the drum maker including rice paste and iron shavings that is carefully applied to give them their distinctive characteristic tone. The gabs also act as subtle guides to playing the tabla as specific finger placements will produce different tones, much like a guitar’s fretboard. Instead of notes, however, the tabla has unique tones referred to as bols, or musical syllables. The language of tabla was passed down by drummers reciting the bols verbally and then applying the sounds to the drums. For example, the bol “da” played correctly should sound like the spoken syllable "da”. This instrument’s linguistic way of making music has made it possible to pass down through oral tradition rather than written “how to” guides and sheet music like most western instruments. This oral tradition has maintained the tabla’s central place at the heart of Hindustani classical music for centuries and will continue to do so for many centuries to come.