What a week of khayal and dhrupad, both, actually does
I practise dhrupad on the surbahar and khayal on the sitar in the same evening, and the two styles do very different things to me.
Playing dhrupad slows down my entire being, and playing khayal energises my being. I would state it as states of energy - where dhrupad takes me to calm meditative state and khayal takes me to higher aggressive state. So in a session where I practise both dhrupad and khayal, I experience both these energy states, which moulds my being to transition from one state to another. It’s the perfect balance of peace and aggression.
A session means a stretch of 2-3 hours, and I do this every day of the week, in the evening.
I’ve recorded Bhimpalasi in both, Aalap and Jor in khayal on the sitar and Gat in Chowtal in dhrupad on the surbahar. The surbahar was built to play dhrupad’s slow aalap and to reach down into the range of the rudra veena, which is what my dhrupad guru plays. For surbahar - the tonic is tuned to G#, and for sitar the tonic is tuned to D. Both surbahar and sitar is made by Shahidali Sitarmakers.