Lecture-Demo: Percussive Instruments of India

Indian classical music is famous (or infamous!) for its complicated rhythmic structures. While Western music is largely in 4/4 time, with an occasional foray into 3/4, Indian classical music journeys into 7, 9, 19- even fractions like 5-1/2!  The more you understand about these rhythms, called taal and laya, the more Indian classical music will blow your mind. 

VR Ventakaraman, esteemed mridangam player and our Artistic Director, will present a lecture-demo (called a Baithak) to educate us on the rhythms and tempos, as well as the wide array of percussive instruments providing the heartbeat of Indian classical music.  This baithak will feature young local percussion artists, plenty of performances, and stories from VR's performances with Ravi Shankar, Zakir Hussain, and the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart.