Tabla Position

Overview

Most tabla teachers will teach you to keep your drums in particular positions. And yet you will see variations in positioning from player to player in the same tradition. So clearly personal preference is a factor for advanced players.

However, for beginners it is recommended you maintain the positioning suggested by your teacher. If you are learning from this site, I recommend that you keep your drums in the positions suggested here. as it also helps maintain the positioning and techniques of the hands, wrists, and shoulders. In other words, to some extent, the playing technique and the position of the drums support each other.

General

The drums should be positioned evenly in front of you, close together but not touching each other. Both drums should be close to your legs and feet (touching the feet or legs is OK).

Daya

In the tradition in which I was taught, the daya should be tilted slightly forward, more or less as in figure [ ].

It should not be tilting inwards more than a tiny amount [images].

There is no rule for precisely what the forward angle should be, but roughly it should be as above. By not tilting the daya too far forward, it is easier to maintain the hand, wrist, elbow and shoulder positions and techniques promoted on this site.

Baya

The baya should be less angled than the daya. Ideally it should be only slightly angled forward as in figure [ ].

It may be slightly angled inward, as in figure [ ], but not too much.

Here too there is a lot of variety from player to player as to how much the baya is angled forward (or inward, in some cases). However, as with daya, having less of an angle makes it easier to maintain the wrist, elbow and shoulder positions recommended earlier. This too will become clear when learning to inflect the baya.