Learning the tune of the tabla

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This article was published 11/03/2014 (4281 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Seven Oaks School Division students will soon dance to a new beat.

On Fri., Feb. 28, Amjad Sabir conducted a workshop for music teachers in the division, introducing them to the tabla, a percussion instrument from India, and the harmonium, an Indian keyboard instrument.

Currently, Sabir teaches after-school Indian music and voice classes at Maples Collegiate and Arthur E. Wright Community School. Divisional principal Kirk Baldwin said Seven Oaks has purchased 25 tabla, with the intention of incorporating the Indian drums into music programs division-wide. The division also has three harmoniums.

“It’s (students of Indian descent) one of our bigger groups,” Baldwin said. “Over the years we’ve started a cricket program and bhangra and giddha dancing. It’s just another way to make connections.”

Baldwin said Sabir’s after-school classes currently consist of mostly Indian students. He said the introduction of the tabla to the teaching list means non-Indian students will learn to bang the tabla as well.

“We as a division bought the instruments and they will be in our school music program, so then you will have all students exposed to them,” Baldwin said. “Students across the division will hold a tabla and learn to play it, as we’ve done with African drumming in the past.”

Sabir has been teaching Indian music since immigrating to Canada from Pakistan in 1993. The St. Vital resident, who also teaches at the Indian School of Dance, Music & Theatre and the University of Manitoba’s school of music, said the addition of Indian sounds to a school’s music curriculum is very beneficial for students.

“It helps with the mental health of the kids,” Sabir said. “Music is very important, not just Eastern music, but all kinds of music are very good for the mental health of the students. Plus, they get something new to learn instead of going with the same old clarinet and saxophone. We broaden their knowledge.”

Baldwin said Sabir’s students performed at two previous school band concerts, which resulted in a cool cross-pollination of Eastern and Western sounds.

“They did one piece called Arabian Dances. It’s a classic powerful piece,” Baldwin said. “Normally you have big kettle drums in the back and it’s awesome, but the band teacher was fine to use tabla instead. It’s such a recognizable tune and I love it, but it sounds just slightly different but still the same (with the tabla). That was a West-meets-East example.”

Baldwin said the introduction of the Indian instruments will also make for an interesting teacher/student dynamic, as many students in the division are already competent with tabla and harmonium through Sabir’s classes.

“Even if a music teacher isn’t comfortable with harmonium, there’s probably a kid around that will do that for them, which is a neat way to see teachers as learners as well,” Baldwin said.

For more information on the Indian music classes, call Sabir at 204-254-7067.