Anuradha Pal: Learn Tabla Well

I would say that this is a great DVD to see if the tabla is something you want to learn. But as an instructional DVD I found it very lacking. First, it is not broken into lessons of any kind. A student would have to work very hard to extract a learning track from it. Second, the explaination of the verbal drum syllables in interesting, but I could not tell how the ones spoken in the DVD correlated to the written ones in the included leaflet. Lastly, I may have missed it, but I don't think tuning was covered at all. I definitely don't feel that I could learn tabla well, let alone at all from this DVD.

I've taken tabla lessons from an actual human in Sri Lanka and tabla is not a topic you can easily cover in a DVD. That being said, even given the limitations of the medium, Anuradha Pal doesn't really try that hard to teach. A large portion of the DVD is taken up singing the praises of Anuradha Pal's pedigree and her undeniable mastery of the tabla. While this is a distinct cultural difference (if you've spent time in South Asia - and I've spent more than a couple years - you'll realise that name-dropping is a popular pastime), North Americans will find the video meanders and doesn't get to the point fast enough. The fact that there is such a large section of the DVD dedicated to puffing up Anuraha Pal's ego is enough to make one roll one's eyes and move on. Not really worth the money.

Sorry, I wanted so badly for this to be a good book, but it's highly flawed.Although it contains some very good information, it is poorly organized for someone who would like to learn the Indian Tabla drums.I tried to take lessons, but they were too expensive. I was hoping that my few lessons combined with a good DVD book would get me started, but this isn't it.The problem is that the material is not presented from the viewpoint of someone who is just learning. The examples are played WAY too fast, there is too much talking at the beginning, much of it not even related to playing, and not enough slow, how-to stuff. She's a great player, just not good at showing how to learn. This might be a good book for someone who already plays and wants to get new viewpoints on performing, but I would not recommend it for a beginner.

I would not suggest that a beginner buys this product...he or she will be disappointed. Unless you have basic training from elsewhere, you will experience tough times ahead should you depend on this product in your first year. I agree with a review I read that this product is more Like A Pal giving a TV interview. In spite of that I still decided to buy it only to confirm that notion. It does not seem like teaching. I have set it aside while I am learning from others. One day it might kick in usefully.

The product description and the actual merchandise do not match at all. To claim that one can learn to play Tabla with this DVD is a total deception and misleading. The DVD has a very small portion of teaching material and that too is meant for advanced student.To call it as "Learn Tabla Well" is a fabrication beyond morals and decency. Also it is just one small example. This product is principally used to advertise the talents of the artist and has nothing to do with learning and teaching. The artist has absolutely no teaching talents and it is a fraud to portrait her as such.Amazon should not market this product. It should be immediately removed from its inventory otherwise it harms the good reputation of Amazon.com.Someone in Austin, TexasUSA