Tavil

The tavil, also spelt thavil, is a double-headed, barrel-shaped drum associated with Tamil Nadu. It is the drum of the periya melam, the South Indian temple ensemble led by the nadaswaram. It is used in temple music, Carnatic music and folk music, and with the nadaswaram it counts as an auspicious instrument at temple rituals and Hindu weddings.

The mridangam, the drum of the Carnatic concert, sits across the lap and is played with both hands. The tavil hangs from the shoulder: the right hand plays one head and the left strikes the other with a short, hard stick, and its volume matches the nadaswaram outdoors.

You can start the tavil with KalaSudha online or in a workshop, and beginners begin at Foundation level. Foundation covers playing seated and standing with a shoulder strap, and the traditional hold: fingers on the right head, a stick in the left hand. We teach children as well as adults, so ask us about a starting age and about a drum size for a younger learner.

Returning after a long break, you start again where you left off. Our courses run in levels, and your teacher reviews where you stand first.

A tavil's shell is hollowed from a solid block of jackfruit wood. The two heads use different hides: water buffalo skin on the right head and goat skin on the other. The skins are fixed to hoops, historically of bamboo, and steel hoops have replaced bamboo because bamboo breaks. A paste is applied inside the left face, over a circle about 5 cm across.

In the standard hold, the right hand plays the tavil's right head with the hand, wrist and fingers, and the left hand strikes the left head with a stick. The stick, the kuchi, is short, thick and hard, cut from local wood such as portia. The player sits or stands with the drum hung from the shoulder on a cloth strap, which suits the open-air performance of the temple ensemble.

The tavil's skins are fixed to hoops, historically bamboo, and steel hoops have replaced bamboo because bamboo breaks. The tensioning system, rope and dowel or steel hoop and bolt, is one of the main decisions for a buyer, because it affects how a head is replaced. Check too that the shell is a solid jackwood block, and look at the head hides and the loaded left face. Each head tunes on its own, and the player sets both to the nadaswaram player's tonal centre before each performance.

The periya melam is the South Indian temple ensemble of nadaswaram, tavil, ottu, a drone reed pipe, and talam, cymbals, organised around the lead nadaswaram player. The nadaswaram and tavil are auspicious instruments, heard at temple rituals and Hindu weddings in South India. The nadaswaram's volume makes it largely an outdoor instrument. Players who shaped the concert tavil include Valayapatti A. R. Subramaniam and Haridwaramangalam A. K. Palanivel.

When buying a tavil, check that the shell is a solid jackwood block, how the heads are tensioned, which hides the heads use, and the condition of the loaded left face. The tensioning system affects how a head is replaced. You will also need the kuchi, a short, thick, hard stick, and finger caps for the hand that plays the right head.

KalaSudha sells the tavil to players outside India, by quote or made to order, and we deliver worldwide. We pack every drum for international shipping; ask us about cases and insurance.

We also service and repair any tavil, wherever you bought it, in any country. Spare parts come from us as well. For help with your tavil after the sale, use the chat on any page or email [email protected]. Ask us too about gift vouchers or class sets for schools, and about a flight case for travel.

You can book a tavil player through KalaSudha for a concert, event or recording. The tavil partners the nadaswaram outdoors and in Carnatic concerts, with a volume to match the reed. Ask us through our page to book Indian classical musicians, and hear our artists first in KalaSudha's recordings and concert videos.

Well-known tavil players include Valayapatti A. R. Subramaniam, who shaped the modern concert tradition and in 2009 became the first tavil player to receive the Music Academy's Sangita Kalanidhi, and Haridwaramangalam A. K. Palanivel, who received the Padma Shri in 2004.

Valangaiman A. Shanmugasundaram Pillai received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for tavil in 1985.

Each head of the tavil tunes on its own, by pulling or slackening the leather straps that lace it to the shell. The player sets both heads to the nadaswaram player's tonal centre before each performance: the buffalo-hide right head higher, the goat-skin left head lower.

Weather moves the pitch, since heat tightens the heads and humidity slackens them. Before humid outdoor performances players retighten slack heads, and in dry weather they ease the straps a little.

Both are double-headed barrel drums of jackfruit wood from South India, built for different settings. The tavil plays outdoors with the nadaswaram in the periya melam, loud enough to match its powerful reed, while the mridangam is the principal percussion of Carnatic concerts.

They are played differently. A tavil player strikes the right head with the hand, traditionally in finger caps, and the left with a short stick. A mridangam player uses both hands across the lap, on a treble head with a permanent black load and a bass head that takes fresh paste before each concert.