Indian Influence - Tabla Perspectives is a comprehensive guide to the art of North Indian tabla drumming, blending tradition, technique, and performance insight. Drawing from decades of study with master teachers in Boston and India, Jerry offers a structured path from fundamentals to advanced repertoire. This newly expanded edition covers every aspect of tabla-instrument care, tuning, terminology, and the rich traditions of gharana (schools of playing). Step-by-step lessons detail hand positions, strokes, and rhythmic syllables (bols), supported by over 100 photographs and 150 pages of compositions in popular talas such as Tintal, Ektal, Jhaptal, Rupak, Kaharwa, and Dadra. Students will explore peshkar, kaida, gat, tukra, rela, chakradhar, and more while learning the discipline of Riaz (daily practice), the guru-shishya tradition, and cross-cultural applications for contemporary music. Whether you are a beginner seeking a solid foundation or an advanced player deepening your repertoire, this text serves as both a practical manual and a window into the living tradition of tabla.
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Jerry Leake is a Professor of World Percussion at Berklee College of Music, Berklee Global Jazz Institute, and the New England Conservatory (Jazz and CMA). Jerry leads the world-rock-fusion octet Cubist that performs compositions from his acclaimed CDs. He is a founding member of Natraj, Club d'Elf, and a long-standing member of the Agbekor Drum and Dance Society. Jerry has written eight widely used texts on North and South Indian, West African, and Afro-Cuban percussion, and has published numerous articles for Percussive Arts Society Magazine. He presented his "Harmonic Time" method at a 2011 TED Talk.