We're going to take things really slow, so that everyone can keep up, even all of you seriously advanced players who are missing some important aspects in your mridanga playing.
Traditionally the student of mridanga would spend 6 months simply chanting the mantras perfectly before evening handling the mridanga, because the sound of the mridanga drum is reflected in the sounds of the playing mantras. The drum itself is a voice in the sankirttan of Mahaprabhu.
Part 1. The first part of our sankirttan experience
will be a discussion of technique, firstly with one
side of the mridanga and then with the other. Herein
is the key to a successful and qualified student of
mridanga.
Everything is in the technique. This statement could be made a thousand times on this site alone, just to get the point across.
So what is good technique? Well first to the right hand (for those who play right-handed with the smaller head on their right hand.) Usually your stronger hand will be on the smaller head. Still hold the mridanga whichever way feels more comfortable for you.
We will start with the small head, and the first thing to do is position as closely as possible your elbow in line with and at the same height as the centre of the head of the mridanga. Here your elbow will stay as you produce your beats on the small head. It is your frame of reference and base point for your playing. By keeping this base point you will not lose any extra energy, with arms flailing about in poor technique. Accentuated movements as with anything in bhakti are for advanced practitioners whereas simple straightforward regulations are for the junior section.
On the small head there are two main techniques to drill yourself in the beginning of your training. The first is combined with the sequence of beats te-re. te is played with three fingers of the hand together, middle finger to pinky as an upstroke with a turn of the wrist. The fingers will stay on the head of the drum making a 'closed' sound. Then using those fingers on the head as a fulcrum, the wrist is turned the other way and the index finger strikes the head of the mridanga to produce re. The fingers will resist during the impact with the head, but just to hold their position. Importantly, the fingers will stay relaxed the whole time. So many times I see people try and are trained to have stiff or firm fingers. This is not correct. Relaxed fingers will gently strike against the head producing the sound, which means that the mridanga makes the sound, not your fingers. Actually, initially there won't be much sound, and that is fine. If you try to make sound you will injure your technique - initially sound is really not what you want. Sound will come once the wrist becomes stronger.
Note well! The strength of the wrist will determine the sound for te-re on the right hand. This is a most important thing to remember. It will only take a few days or a week of practice to get a nice sound on the head. But too often, a mridanga player will over-use their fingers in order to prematurely produce sound, while the wrist remains weak and lazy.
This is the number one cause of bad playing and is easily identified. Practice should be slow without much sound (yes the neighbours should not even hear you) and your wrist muscles should be aching after 15 minutes or so. Do this 20 minutes morning and evening for a week and they'll stop aching, and become strong. They're just complaining because you normally never use them. The goal of this practice is to achieve a 180 degree wrist turn and it is this turn that is the foundation of your playing on the small head of the mridanga.
Everything is in the technique. This statement could be made a thousand times on this site alone, just to get the point across.
So what is good technique? Well first to the right hand (for those who play right-handed with the smaller head on their right hand.) Usually your stronger hand will be on the smaller head. Still hold the mridanga whichever way feels more comfortable for you.
We will start with the small head, and the first thing to do is position as closely as possible your elbow in line with and at the same height as the centre of the head of the mridanga. Here your elbow will stay as you produce your beats on the small head. It is your frame of reference and base point for your playing. By keeping this base point you will not lose any extra energy, with arms flailing about in poor technique. Accentuated movements as with anything in bhakti are for advanced practitioners whereas simple straightforward regulations are for the junior section.
On the small head there are two main techniques to drill yourself in the beginning of your training. The first is combined with the sequence of beats te-re. te is played with three fingers of the hand together, middle finger to pinky as an upstroke with a turn of the wrist. The fingers will stay on the head of the drum making a 'closed' sound. Then using those fingers on the head as a fulcrum, the wrist is turned the other way and the index finger strikes the head of the mridanga to produce re. The fingers will resist during the impact with the head, but just to hold their position. Importantly, the fingers will stay relaxed the whole time. So many times I see people try and are trained to have stiff or firm fingers. This is not correct. Relaxed fingers will gently strike against the head producing the sound, which means that the mridanga makes the sound, not your fingers. Actually, initially there won't be much sound, and that is fine. If you try to make sound you will injure your technique - initially sound is really not what you want. Sound will come once the wrist becomes stronger.
Note well! The strength of the wrist will determine the sound for te-re on the right hand. This is a most important thing to remember. It will only take a few days or a week of practice to get a nice sound on the head. But too often, a mridanga player will over-use their fingers in order to prematurely produce sound, while the wrist remains weak and lazy.
This is the number one cause of bad playing and is easily identified. Practice should be slow without much sound (yes the neighbours should not even hear you) and your wrist muscles should be aching after 15 minutes or so. Do this 20 minutes morning and evening for a week and they'll stop aching, and become strong. They're just complaining because you normally never use them. The goal of this practice is to achieve a 180 degree wrist turn and it is this turn that is the foundation of your playing on the small head of the mridanga.
Part 2. The second technique on the small head is
achieved through the bol ta.
ta is played with all four fingers
together and the thumb raised up. All four will hit
the head and bounce off creating an 'open' vibrating
sound. The soft pads at the upper side of the palm,
or the soft pads between the first knuckles of the
palm will bounce against the rim of the drum, as the
ends of the fingers bounce against the black section
at the centre of the head. Again the fingers are
completely relaxed. In this bol the wrist will stay
completely straight. And the mridanga player will
swing at the head from the elbow, which is stationed
as mentioned before in line with and at the same
level as the centre of the head of the mridanga.
Part 3. Now we move to the large head of the
mridanga. First thing to note again is the position
of the elbow. The elbow needs to be placed 10-15cm
away from the plane at which the head is. This gives
the necessary angle to produce correct technique.
Just as the wrist was so important for the small
head, on the large head side, the shoulder is the
all-important factor. By keeping the elbow out, you
can work the head of the mridanga with the shoulder.
It the elbow is in line with or inside the plane of
the drum, within a short time your bicep will start
to ache and your arm will be ready to fall off. Keep
your elbow up, let your shoulder do the work,
assisted by your torso, and you'll be keeping up with
all the kirttan leaders for hours and hours on any
street sankirttan.