Learning how to hold the Tanpura

 


Holding the Tanpura for the first time sure does sound easy, however its quite complicated in real life. At first I thought that learning how to hold it wouldn't take must time but it did. 

How to hold it:

Your dominant hand, (right hand for me) should be strumming right at the middle of the neck for the perfect sound and aura, the other hand can either be resting separately or under the Tanpura for support, your back has to be straight and you have to look presentable while holding it and sit in a criss cross position. 

 

My teacher who also happens to be my mother’s cousin, told me on the first day that there are mainly two types of tanpuras, a small one and a big one, the big one is rarely played nowadays as it is harder to carry so learning the smaller one made more sense. He also showed me the parts of the tanpura such as the beads and threads (as seen in the above image) and also showed me how he tunes the instrument with the help of it.



He also told me that many people now play a recorded tanpura with their music instead of getting someone else to play it with them, and me learning the tanpura made him happy because that way I could accompany him when he’s playing the flute.



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