Conversation

Today's the last day of practice for "bijari chamake" in Mian ki Malhar, and after a full half-hour of warmups (a good part of it spent dealing with frogs and dysphonia around the middle A), I start the tabla at mm 78, a relaxed slow tempo that leaves lots of room for maneuvering. At first (as noted above) I'm kind of stupid and groggy, which doesn't automatically mean I'm singing long tones...

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...though that probably wouldn't be a bad idea. I practice singing quintuplets against the beat, with the principal challenge being to "land" the five-ness without ambiguity, and then to sustain that speed in melismatic passages that don't sustain steady quints in their internal accenting. Once I have this tempo level, I can keep it going, but the gear change is difficult.

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