Thavil: India musical instrument

The thavil is a barrel shaped musical drum that is from the southern part of India. The musical instrument is used in temple, folk and Carnatic music, usually accompanying the nadaswaram. The musical instrument and the nadaswaram are important components of traditional festivals and cerebrations in the southern India.

source of picture: world-of-tabla.com

In folk music contexts, a pair of wider, slimmer sticks is sometimes used on the drum. The musical instrument is made up of a cylindrical shell hollowed out of a solid block jackfruit wood. Layers of animal skin are spread across the two side of the shell with the use of hemp hoops fixed to the shell. The right face of the musical instrument has a bigger diameter that the left side of the instrument. The right drum head is spread very tightly, while the left drum head is kept loose to permit pitch bending on the instrument. The larger face of the instrument is higher in pitch than the smaller face of the instrument.

The musical instrument is either played while sitting or standing, or hung by a cloth strap from the shoulder of the instrumentalist. The right head of the instrument is played with the right hand of the player, together with his wrist and fingers. The player of the instrument normally wears thumbs caps on all the fingers of his right hand, made of hardened glue from maida flour. The left head of the instrument is played with the use of a short, thick stick that is manufactured from a wood of the Portia tree. It is common for the left-handed player of the thavil to use the opposite hands and some nadaswaram groups features both a right-handed players of the instrument and a left-handed player of the musical instrument. If the player of the musical instrument is left-handed, the musical instrument can be reversed.