Mrdanga

In reference to yesterday's post about mrdangas and metronomes, Maha-mantra wrote me to say that "triplets at 66 bpm is too fast for beginners", and of course it is.

I didn't start out on 66 bpm with triplets - and neither should you. The 66 bpm practice of that mantra is just what I'm doing at the moment. The post is as much inspirational as it is instructional. The main point is - practice with a metronome.

Mantra suggests starting out with single beats at 204 pm. You can use the initial mantras in my book "The Art and Science of Harinam Sankirtan Yajna", such as te ta and te ta ta. That way you'll be following, rather than imitating.

When I have a little more time I'll sit down, start with the basics, and go systematically from there.

In mrdanga playing power is good, endurance is great, but precision is king.

If you have power and endurance people will notice you. If you have precision you can become invisible - the kirtan will rock so hard that people will forget you're there.

And that's the goal.

To develop precision you need to practice with a metronome. It's a form of hasta-sadhana ("finger practice") that involves subordinating yourself to Krishna in His form of time (kalo 'smi). It can be hard on the mind, but that's what it's all about - conquering the mind and becoming a faithful and useful servant of the kirtan.

Mrdanga and Metronome from Sitapati das on Vimeo.

After I shot this video I had a realisation about muscle fibres. You see, I've been practicing with a metronome for 30 - 60 minutes a day, and my precision is pretty high. However, I've been noticing that while my power and endurance have been going up with my new physical training program, my precision has been disappearing.

Here's my theory as to why: the precision is not simply in the brain, it's also in the muscle fibres. High speed mrdanga playing uses reflex actions. These reflexes are stored in the muscle memory. As you add new muscle you need to retrain it to make it precise in mrdanga playing. So it's back to the metronome and hasta-sadhana for me, otherwise all this power and endurance is just for show.

I've been doing some investigation into drums and drumming lately.

Param Satya plays the tabla. I've been playing mrdanga for a few years now, and recently I've taken up doumbek (aka darbuka, tarambuka, egyptian tabla and more), and djembe.

Prahlad plays mrdanga, doumbek, and djembe.

We have a kirtan retreat coming up with drumming workshops and a drumming circle, so all these drums will come in handy. There are a few more at Atma as well.

We're also investigating designs, materials, and production lines for producing mrdangas locally and globally.

A sifu master once said: "If you want to master something do it ten thousand times".

Of course, beyond the conception of mastery is the realization that we are subordinate to our environment and exist in order to serve.

However, the principle is valuable. I express it like this: "The difference between an experienced drummer and an inexperienced drummer is ten thousand strokes."

The other day I taught the basic strokes on the mrdanga to a student. Then I told her: "Now you know what I know. The only difference between us is ten thousand strokes."

There is no short cut, no substitute. Of course, there are lots of things that you can do to accelerate and deepen the effectiveness of your practice. Serving and associating with others who are better than you will lift your game. But still, the hard yards are there, just waiting for you to do them.

Ten thousand strokes - that's all it takes to get to the next level. How long will it take you to do them?

Prahlad and I are studying the Egyptian tabla at the moment. When I watch a video like the one below of young Yunus firing over a 12/4 rhythm, I realize that he is simply picking up from where he left off in a previous life. Born into an appropriate family, he quickly reconnects with his previous patterns. This is the fate of unsuccessful spiritualist as well - he or she gets the opportunity to take birth in a family of pious, devoted persons.

So in a sense our explanation that at the time of death everything material is lost is not strictly true, because otherwise there would be no such thing as karma. According to Bhagavad-gita 15.8: "The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life from one body to another as the air carries aromas."

While material wealth cannot be taken with you, your conceptions of life remain, and you continue to evolve, or degrade in terms of your consciousness.

Materially or spiritually, you get some impetus from your previous life's effort, and you go from there. Ten thousand strokes. Whether it's playing an instrument or progressing in spiritual life, the principle is the same. Do the hard yards.

These guys have dedicated their time to something. Instead of playing video games or watching tv, they've developed this skill. They have the same number of hours per day as everyone else, but they have invested them in a focused way. They have used their time to do ten thousand strokes on one drum.

"Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched." - Bhagavad-gita 2.41

Focused effort. Enthusiasm to begin, simultaneous determination and patience to see it through.

These are the principles of success.

"Ten thousand strokes" - that's what it takes.

A video podcast lesson on playing daadra taal beats on mrdanga, as per a request on an earlier lesson posted to YouTube.com.

Here are the mantras:

Daadra taal cartal beat:
dheiya da da dheiya

Mrdanga beats:

Dhei da dhei ta kheta kheta
Thei ta thei ta kheta kheta

While I'm singing Hari haraye namah krishna, I think I also change to:

Dhei da dhei tak da dhena kheta
Thei ta thei tak ta dhena (thena) kheta

The dhena and thena in the second line of the above mantra are interchangable. Do either one or the other, not both.

Here is the breakdown beat:

That top end is used for the other beats that I demonstrate. I'll get the images for those beats to you later on.

Here's the "Babalu madness beat" :-) :

da guru gur da dhei da guru gur da dhei da guru gur da dhei ta kheta kheta
ta khur khur ta thei ta khur khur ta thei ta khur khur ta thei ta kheta kheta

For those who are listening really carefully, the last mantra that I'm playing after this in the final "Nitai Gaura Haribol" at the end is:

dhei ta tak take ta tak take ta tak ghida ghida

Prem Yogi recently acquired a new Balarama mrdanga. He rang Krishna.com and asked them if they had anything lying around that they could supply him with, in order to avoid the standard 5-6 month waiting period for Ratna to make one up. Fortuitously they had a slightly used full-sized blue Balaram mrdanga that they sent over within a week. Tenacity pays off.

Prem Yogi with his new mrdanga

It was Prem's 25th birthday this week, and I wanted to get him something so I bought him a case for the mrdanga.

A mrdanga must always be transported and stored in a case. The mrdanga is understood as both Lord Balaram (Sankarshan) and Krishna's flute.

At the time that Lord Krishna was going to advent as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu He told everyone that he was about to incarnate on Earth. Then he told His flute that since He would be coming as His own devotee He would not be taking the flute with Him. Venu was very disappointed and begged to accompany Him, so therefore the Lord arranged for His flute to come as the mrdanga.

All the Lord's paraphenalia is manifested by Sankarshan, the first of the quadruple expansion of Sankarshan, Vasudeva, Aniruddha, and Pradyumna. This means that Lord Narayana's brahman thread, His shoes, and other personal paraphenalia are all manifestations of Lord Sankarshan. The nitya-dhama of the spiritual world, and the dhama that appear in the material world are all also manifestations of Lord Sankarshan. So the flute also is manifested by Lord Sankarshan. Venu is a form of visnu-tattva expansion, not jiva tattva, or some impersonal category. In spiritual life everything is personal.

So the mrdanga must be honored in this category. All of the paraphenalia of worship of the Lord, including the mrdanga, are sacred and worshipable by us. Our service to this paraphenalia is our sadhana.

So the mrdanga must always be transported and stored in a case. Consequentially, storing the mrdanga in this way protects it and extends its service lifetime.

Here's the case we got: Musical Instrument Transportation System (M.I.T.S) by UK's Protection Racket.

Made with double-stitched waterproof rip-stop bonded nylon called Racketex, this particular case is designed for a djembe, but perfectly fits the full-sized Balarama mrdanga, with a bit of room to spare.

The zips are heavy duty and strong.

Internally the case is lined with a dual-layer synthetic fleece (Propad and Propile) that wicks moisture away from the instrument, preserving the tonal characteristics of the drum. It also absorbs impacts, distributing the force of a blow across the entire body of the instrument.

Here's a shot of the mrdanga in the case:

And a shot of the case done up:

It has a carry handle and an over-the-shoulder strap. Conceived and designed in the UK, fabricated in China.

RRP: AU$99.95 (it went on special for AU$59.99 the morning that I went to get one! :-) )

Conclusion: Solid and well constructed using durable materials. Well thought out design. Nicely executed. It would have been a ten if it had a pocket for the tuning key to go in. (We need to look into something that attaches to the mrdanga strap to store that, actually). The new models have backpack straps and a pocket. This is the previous model that was being sold out.

Rating: 9/10

Raivata writes me:

Hmm I reckon you are right and copying a good synthetic design like that. It's a simple and proven design.

On the ahimsa note I reckon it's ok to use animal skin when it comes from pests like goats or possums (pests in NZ anyway). Allowing them to live is simply causing violence to the other life forms they harm. Perhaps you could train up some of the local boys as Kshatriyas and send them out there to bring home a few skins. Good for the environment, good for the sankirtana yajna and a practical step for introducing varnashram.

Ahimsa aside, I am tending to the use of synthetic heads. I used my Balaram mrdanga in the Andes, in the jungle, and in the desert while I was in South America. Sometimes in the same week. You can't do that kind of thing with an animal skin head drum.

I want this drum to be the "AK-47" of mrdangas. Here are the characteristics of the AK-47 that I want it to share:

• Built using large, crude parts - AK-47's are easily maintained even by peasants. Local gunsmiths are able to produce replacement parts using artisanry. This mrdanga should have parts that are easy to replace using standard parts or replacement parts that people can make.
• Strong and durable - AK-47's are legendary for their ability to sustain punishment and neglect and keep firing. They aren't the most accurate of weapons, but they make up for this with volume of sustained firepower over the lifetime of the weapon. My Balaram mrdanga has gone through aircraft cargo holds, bus lockers, and numerous trips in the boot of the car. This is an argument against clay bodies. My Balaram mrdanga may not sound as good as a bonafide Bengali clay mrdanga, but it has outlasted fifty of them in its service lifetime.
• Coming off a factory line at the rate of 180,000 per day - if you don't have a plan to make thousands of mrdangas, you don't really have a plan for making thousands of devotees. This is an argument in favor of using standard pre-fabricated parts (such as Remo heads), and industrial production materials and existing production lines (the logic of the snake and the mousehole)
• On the national flag of a country - the AK-47 played such a crucial role in the liberation of Mozambique that they put it on the national flag. This mrdanga will play such a crucial role in the liberation of modern nations that it will feature on the national flag of several nations.

The national flag of Mozambique includes an AK-47

No one goes into war without a serious plan for industrial production of armaments. It's time to tool national industries for the sankirtan-yajna. It's time to beat our AK-47s into mrdangas, and wage a surgical war on the diseased mentality which is ravaging our communities worldwide.

The first phase is guerilla warfare, the second phase total war.

Param vijayate sri krishna sankirtanam!
Total victory of the congregational chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord!

Egyptian darbuka (aka doumbek or tabla)

Turkish darbuka

Both use mylar heads, and the bodies are constructed of aluminium. Weight is good. Sound is good.

The Egyptian design is something that could work for a mrdanga. It would remove the perishable rubber component from the current Balarama design.

A young guy at the drum shop told me he bought a clay darbuka in Egypt that uses mylar heads. I'm going up the coast to the place that imports darbukas to see some clay ones. I'm interested in the possibility of a hybrid clay / synthetic head design.

We have a locally made clay water filter at Atma, so we can get fired clay. Glazed it will be stronger than the unglazed bodies made in India.

Remo make Nuskyn and Fibreskyn heads for world percussion instruments. These are synthetic heads that mimic animal skins, using layers of Mylar and Tyvek.

It's almost impossible to get animal drum heads into Australia. Customs gamma rays and sprays them, which makes most of them break quite soon afterwards. There are local animal skin suppliers, but these are definitely not ahimsa heads.

Synthetic heads avoid the animal slaughter angle, and are easier to replace and more consistent in different weather conditions.

The current Balarama design uses a 17.5" head. The darbukas have 22" heads. The Remo Djembe has a 30" head. We'll make our mrdanga use a standard Remo head, so that replacements are easily procurable.

Here are some of the best websites to help you learn to play mrdanga:

• KK Songs Khol Lessons - as well as fundamentals this site will teach you the double time beat and the dadra taal "breakdown" beat, as well as a lot of good background information.
• Learning Mrdanga - the basics of transcendental drumming - Jagannatha Mishra prabhu and his son Arjuna teach you to play the standard ISKCON kirtan mid-range and fast swing beats.
• Chant and Be Happy.com - the grand daddy of online mrdanga lessons. This site will teach you to play the "Prabhupada beat".

Enjoy!

Vrajadhama in form on the mrdanga in a kirtan at Atma one evening.