It is interesting to have a look into the basic structure of some of these instruments as it reflects a great deal on the musical ingenuity of the folks.
 

 Chang is used as a rhythmic accompaniment to the erotic songs and dances on the colourful occasion of Holi. This instrument has sheep-skin pasted on a large circular or octagonal wooden frame. Balanced on the right shoulder, it is played with both hands, left striking the rim and right the central part. Interesting rhythmic patterns are woven when two players perform together, occasionally using a stick held between their right-hand fingers or using their knuckles to emphasize the beat. A variant of this instrument producing hollow, booming and resonant sounds, has buffalo-hide held securely by an intricate cord work.


 

 The large dhol is a big cylindrical drum made of flat iron sheets alternately rivetted with iron and copper, has goat-skin mounted over both ends with cotton cords adjusted by brass rings to obtain appropriate tension. While the right side having a lower pitch is struck with a stick, the left with higher is struck by hand. The medium one, used mostly for devotional music, is a wooden cylindrical drum. The single-headed dhol, a tribal instrument, is a hemispherical metal bowl. Another tribal noted for its deep and loud sound is maadal which has an earthen body having the shape of a truncated cone and deer or goat-skin tightened by rope without hoops. Played with both hands, it is used as an accompaniment to community dances.


 

The massive nagara is a pair of hemispherical bowls, the bigger made of copper and the other of iron, with buffalo and camel hides mounted on them respectively, kept in position with leather straps. The bigger bowl is set at low pitch and the smaller at a very high one. Keeping the larger to the left, the drums are played with two sticks. It is capable of producing a variety of notes, deep and thunderous, to give company to massive community dances like raasmandal and ghoomar.




 

Amongst the tintinnabulary instruments, ghoonghroo is a small round hollow metal ball slitted and having a pebble inside. It is a very significant instrument for musical embellishment. A bunch of them threaded in a cotton string and tied round the ankles of the dancers, produce bewitching tinkling sounds to the rhythm at each step of the performer.





 

Manjeera is a pair of concave cymbals, cast in an alloy of brass, copper and zinc and connected to each other with a cotton cord passing through holes in their centre. It produces rhythmic tinkling sounds when clanged against the tapered edges of each other, tone varying according to the sizes, weights and the proportions of the metals in the alloy. A virtuoso performer can produce nuances by striking at different points of one by the rim of the other. An interesting use of the instrument is made by the performers of the teratali, when as many as thirteen cymbals are put in action.


 

Khartal is used for keeping time during devotional singing. This castanet-like instrument consists of a pair of flat rectangular wooden clappers having thin brass jingles. One is ringed in a thumb, the other is held by the remaining four fingers, and the sound is produced when they are clapped against each other.