These are photos of percussion master John Marshall with his Tabla. These photos give a better view of what the Tabla looks like and how you play them. As you can see in all three pictures, John’s wrist is resting over the larger drum. As you are watching the videos, notice the deep sound that comes from sliding this wrist across the drumhead.
Look below at the different layers of the drumhead, especially the Syahi (black spot), which is one of the main reasons the Tabla is able to produce such melodic, clean-sounding tones.
In the first and third picture, try to notice the wooden pegs that the leather straps secure to the body of the smaller, wooden drum. Moving these pegs tunes the drum.