Learning the Tabla
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David Courtney, Ph.D. was born in Houston, TX in 1953. He became interested in Indian music while he was still in high school. In 1971 he was host to a weekly program of classical Indian music on KPFT. He started to learn tabla in 1972. In January of 1974, he enrolled in the Ali Akbar College of Music and began studying pakhawaj under Ustad Zakir Hussain. It is from this period that his academic direction became firmly fixed toward Indian music. In 1976 while still only 22 he moved to Hyderabad to complete his training. He became a disciple of the late Ustad Shaik Dawood Khan of Hyderabad. In 1978 he married N. Chandrakantha, a well known vocalist in the Hyderabad area.
It was in 1980 that he moved back to the United States with his wife. Together they began teaching in the Houston area. Just months before returning, his first book was published. This book Introduction to Tabla was one of the few books written on tabla in the English language.
In the early 80's he was an early pioneer in the application of computers to traditional Indian music. This work on computers lead to his Doctoral Dissertation "A low Cost System for the Computerization of Indian Music" (1990 from IIAS - Greenwich University).
David Courtney is a prolific author on the subject of Indian Music. Aside from his iirst book, Introduction to Tabla, he has also co-authored Elementary North Indian Vocal and is full author for Fundamentals of Tabla, Advanced Theory of Tabla and Manufacture and Repair of Tabla. His articles have appeared in Modern Drummer, Percussive Notes and numerous other journals.
David Courtney is presently on the Board of Directors of the Texas Institute for ndian Studies. He is also an active artist with Young Audiences. He has made
::ountless performances around the world, made numerous recordings, and has
>erformed on stage, radio, TV and Disk on countless occasions. In 1996 he was given
:along with his wife, Chandrakantha) the "Award of Excellence" by the American Telugu ssociation for his artistic contributions in the field of music.
