The ‘Three Waves’ virtual workshops are for lever, pedal and Paraguyan harpists to participate in online. They bring together the experience that Mendi Singh and Eleanor Turner have had through working together for the past five years. Tāla Tarang have combined Eleanor’s classical western harp playing background to Mendi’s Indian classical training. As Mendi says, “as we’ve been playing together, it’s just like the experience, the knowledge, the feeling of the instruments are resonating more deeply in myself, the harp and the tonality.”
Tāla Tarang were thrilled to receive the highly prized UKHA bursary which has enabled them to share their experiences as a harp and tabla duo with other harpists. The proposal was to create three ‘waves’ (lessons) through which harpists of every age and ability could gain some understanding and feeling for the combination of instruments and meeting of cultures. The bursary funded a videographer filming their workshops.
If you are a UKHA member, the course is FREE to you. Please get the coupon code off the UKHA website Members Area.
We designed the course for harpists. However, if you play another instrument and would like to be a BETA tester to see if any other musicians could learn from this, please email [email protected]
Tāla Tarang are constantly refining their art through teaching, learning and honing their skills; they strengthen the bond through their ancient instruments.
It is touching when students and audiences react to the combination of harp and tabla as having a deep historical and spiritual connection; this appreciation gives meaning to what they do and inspires them to find more ways to connect musically and to show this connection to the audience. Tāla Tarang have immense gratitude for anyone who helps this journey, in particular the UKHA for the bursary and to the courageous and wonderful harpists Ruth Lee and Tasha Burns for joining them at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire for the filming in November 2019 and embracing all that the opportunity offered.
Tāla Tarang are constantly refining their art through teaching, learning and honing their skills; they strengthen the bond through their ancient instruments. It is touching when students and audiences react to the combination of harp and tabla as having a deep historical and spiritual connection; this appreciation gives meaning to what they do and inspires them to find more ways to connect musically and to show this connection to the audience. Tāla Tarang have immense gratitude for anyone who helps this journey, in particular the UKHA for the bursary and to the courageous and wonderful harpists Ruth Lee and Tasha Burns for joining them at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire for the filming in November 2019 and embracing all that the opportunity offered.
“Through rich melodies in our music, every human emotion, every subtle feeling in man and nature can be musically expressed and experienced.”
Ravi Shankar
There are 12 PDFs that accompany the workshops.
Sheet music for the Tabla Teentaal that we teach in Wave 1, The Deer and a cross rhythm exercise for Wave 2, Lord Ganesh Mantra for Wave 3 and supplementary information in separate sheets, including some ragas that closely resemble Western modes, at least in their pitches, and a Suggested Listening sheet.
Keep up with us online!
Please keep an eye out on Tāla Tarang’s website www.talatarang.com, their social media @talatarang or sign up to Ellie’s newsletter via her website www.eleanorturner.biz if you would like to hear about our upcoming performances and future workshop opportunities. We are recording an EP soon and will be running a crowd funding campaign to help us to fund the cost of recording this. Above all, thank you for your support and we hope these online workshops bring you peace and joy.