Tag Archives: hindustani classical music

My Favorite Electronic Tanpura with Tabla App! – iTablaPro Demo

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Here is an in-depth review and demo of iTablaPro, a fantastic Electronic Tanpura with Tabla App.

I love this app so much and it has been so useful to my Sitar education that I made a review and demo.

I like it so much that I wanted people to know about it. I think this is the best electronic Tanpura and Tabla app you can buy.

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Most Difficult Sitar Gamak Exercise Ever: Part 2

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Around September 2016, my teacher gave me this new sitar gamak exercise and told me that it would take a year to master it.

I figured this would make for a great series of videos and I would document my progress.

You can watch Part 1 here: https://youtu.be/Uyn_DP35Bfo

This has been one of the toughest tasks I have faced with the sitar.

Playing this with even tempo and in pitch has been brutal. In addition, I feel like every time I ask my teacher to review I learn that I have been practicing it slightly wrong (or completely wrong) as the subtle elements are beyond my grasp.

Hopefully I am now on the right track. Let’s take a listen and see how I am doing.

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Help support me on Patreon:
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Learning Raga Yaman Alap, Update December 2016

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Here is a video of me practicing Alap for Raga Yaman.

As many of you already know, sitar is really hard to play!

Raga Yaman Alap is something I have been slowly learning over the years. For the past few months my teacher has been having me focus a lot of Gat and Taans. Then over the past few weeks we started spending more time during my lesson discussing and playing Alap.

Since I was traveling this week I figured I would shoot a video playing alap to document my current progress compared to the previous videos I have posted. You can see those in the links below. I hope I am getting better. Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Old Alap Videos:
October 2016: https://youtu.be/ohiPO4el_D0
July 2016: https://youtu.be/AZ7mkE4LKpA
April 2016: https://youtu.be/s29hjlDTghI

If you want to learn more about the sitar I am playing you can watch this video:
https://youtu.be/PUA3P_YwMOA

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Please subscribe to my YouTube Channel:
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Like these videos?
Help support me on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/JeffStarr

Fast Sitar Taans! 200 Beat Per Minute Practice

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I am working to build up speed as my teacher wants me to play at my gat and taans at 250 beats per minute (BPM).

Tonight’s video really focuses on one fast sitar taan at 200bpm. I mixed in a few others as well. This practice was very hard and you can see that my endurance was starting to fade by the end. That said, I can’t believe that 200bpm is starting to become a reality.

A year ago I was maxed out at 150 and I didn’t think I could play much faster than 170. My teacher really motivated me to push myself harder. As a new dad it’s easy to find excuses and not practice. Making these videos has been a great motivator and I’ve seen a lot of improvement since I started this series.

I give all my my Taans nicknames. The one I am playing tonight I call, “Singing Woman #1.” I play, “Singing Woman #2” a few times toward the end as well.

I took my first sitar lesson on January 27th, 2012.

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Long Sitar Practice: Paltas, Gat & Taans

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It’s been a busy week and sometimes life get’s in the way.

I needed to get in a decent sitar practice before my lesson so this video includes paltas, a gat and taans in raga yaman.

I am quickly approaching my 5 year anniversary of playing sitar and I’ve been struggling recently to find time to practice and it has slowed down my growth.  It’s been frustrating.  This isn’t some of my best playing, but I wanted to be honest about my progress and post the good with the bad.

For those new to this series, I am working to build up my speed. My teacher wants me to eventually play at 250 beats per minute (BPM). Let’s see how fast I can get today!

Sitar Gamak Riyaz Craziness

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I sort of lost my mind practicing this Taan that uses Gamak. I had been practicing it for hours. Sorry if I’m a bit too silly.

Gamak is a new technique for me and something I am really trying to get better at.

I think this is finally starting to improve especially by the end, but I would love to read your comments and feedback.

Check out the video teaching how I tape my fingers

I am working to build up speed as my teacher wants me to play at 250 beats per minute (BPM). Tonight I kept things slow so I could focus on the basics.

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New Tough Sitar Taans

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Hi, I’m Jeff Starr, a sitar student and filmmaker. Last week my sitar teacher revised one of my existing taans to expand it further.

It’s not super complicated, but he wants me to build up my speed so that I can play my sitar taans at 250 beats per minute (bpm). And, this one started getting really hard at at 175 bpm.

I give all my my Taans nicknames and I call this one “3P.”

Let’s see how fast I can get today!

I took my first sitar lesson on January 27th, 2012.

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel:
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Debut sitar performance in NYC

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My teacher said that he booked me for a sitar performance in NYC this December!

I am stressing out!  Back in November 2015 I had my first public performance. I was background music for an event at the Pakistan Mission to The United Nations. It was an honor to be invited to play there, but I was REALLY nervous about it.

In tonight’s video I reflect on that performance, where I am now with my training and I show a super old clip from 2012, after I had taken my third sitar lesson.  I’ve come a long way since then!

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Raga Yaman Alap Practice 10-27-16

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In this video I am practicing my opening phrases to the Alap for Raga Yaman.

This is difficult stuff!

I struggled with some pitch issues and my attack on some notes is a little rough but this is all part of the learning process. Hopefully this is an improvement over my last Alap video.

Please leave comments and let me know what you think. I love to read feedback.

If you like this video and want to follow my progress learning the sitar, please subscribe to my YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/user/notbadfilms?sub_confirmation=1