History And Introduction Of Thavil Musical Instrument In English

History And Introduction Of Thavil Musical Instrument

Introduction

• A thavil or tavil is a barrel-shaped percussion instrument from Tamil Nadu. It is also widely used in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana and in the north and east of Sri Lanka.
• It is often used in temple, folk and Carnatic music along with nadaswaram. Thavil and nadhaswaram are essential components of traditional festivals and celebrations in South India.
• In the context of folk music, a pair of broad, thin sticks is sometimes used. Thanjavur is famous for Thavil, called Thanjavur Thavil.
• Thavils are mostly used in film songs in Kollywood, notable films: “Thillana Mohanambal”, “Paruthiveeran”, “Kargattakaran”, “Sarvam Thala Mayam”.

History

• Thavil is a traditional musical instrument from the ancient city of Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu. It is an integral part of Carnatic music in Thanjavur. It is mostly made in Thanjavur and Valayapatti.

Construction

• The thavil consists of a cylindrical shell hollowed out of a solid block of jackfruit wood. Layers of animal skins are spread over both sides of the shell using hemp hoops attached to the shell.
• The right side of the instrument has a larger diameter than the left, and the right drum head is stretched very tightly, while the left drum head is kept loose to allow for pitch bending. The large face is higher in pitch than the small face.
• The modern thavil consists of a corpus surrounded by a steel ring coated in plastic, on which two skins are fixed by metal straps. Both the skins can be tuned separately.

Methods Of Use And Posture

• The instrument is played either sitting, or suspended from the player’s shoulder by a cloth strap (called a nadai).
• The right head is played with the right hand, wrist and fingers. The player usually wears thumb caps on all fingers of the right hand, which are made of hard glue made of fine flour.
• The left head is played with a short, thick stick made from the wood of the Portia tree. It is not uncommon for left-handed players to use opposite hands, and some nadhaswaram groups have both right- and left-handed thavil players.
• Mainly used in folk and traditional music, especially in instruments called ‘periya melam’, a double-reed wind instrument used to accompany the nagaswaram.

Material

• Jackwood, Sheepskin, Bamboo

Thavil Players

• Thirumulaivayil Muthuveer pillai
• Thirumulaivayil Shanmugavadivel pillai
• Valangaiman A. Shanmugasundaram Pillai
• Valayapatti A. R. Subramaniam
• Haridwaramangalam A. K. Palanivel
• Vellore Dr. P.R.M. Venkateshan
• Dakshinamoorthy – Jaffna or Yaazhpaanam , Shri Lanka
• Needamangalam Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai
• Thirunageshwaram Subramanian Pillai
• Bhusurapalli Adisheshaiah
• Iluppur Panchami
• Kumbakonam Thangavel Pillai
• Natchiarkoil Raghava Pillai
• Needamangalam Shanmugavadivel
• Valangaiman Shanmugasundaram Pillai
• Thiruvalaputhur T A Kaliyamurthy
• Tanjore T R Govindaraj
• Shanmugam Thavil – Puducherry
• Thiruppungur T G Muthukumarasamy
• Mannaarkudi Thiru M.R.Vasudevan
• Thirumaignanam Narayanasamy Pillai
• Valiyambakkam V.M Ganapathy
• Gurumurthy Pandithar – Adelaide

Thavil’s Question Answer