Too bad there's not such a thing as a subjectivity Guru. One's opinion is necessarily subjective. One should try to express it in a non-dogmatic fashion.
We all have to work with what we have in the times and place we live. Traditional teaching methods are simply not present in the culture the original questioner lives. Every avenue of instruction can be explored if they exist including the most obvious one, the self. While the Guru-shishya relationship may be a wonderful thing be thankful at least that the fate of Eklavya is not our common situation, even though he seemed to have learned pretty well without the physical presence of the Guru, at least until... well you know the rest of the story I suppose.
One of the most asked questions here is how to tell a good tabla. I'm still waiting for a good answer but I suppose the sound quality would be the best answer. Good construction would seem to obviously support the sound. A lighter or heavier head would be a preference of the player and of the style which goes back to the instructor's opinion. Knowing what poor construction is helps to avoid the real dogs, or dogs with their mouths full of arrows.

It is well and truly my opinion based on my personal and subjective experiences in learning the Tabla which holds that e-learning the Tabla can not supplant learning from a Guru who can be physically present.... I personally don’t fancy the idea of learning Tabla online. I will feel extremely disappointed if my teacher were to start conducting our sessions over the internet and will feel like the soul of my learning experience has been taken away. And so I won’t advocate e-learning the Tabla to a serious student.

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It is well and truly my opinion based on my personal and subjective experiences in learning the Tabla which holds that e-learning the Tabla can not supplant learning from a Guru who can be physically present.... I personally don’t fancy the idea of learning Tabla online. I will feel extremely disappointed if my teacher were to start conducting our sessions over the internet and will feel like the soul of my learning experience has been taken away. And so I won’t advocate e-learning the Tabla to a serious student.

BrokenSoul, are you interested in the experience of the gurukul system, or in actually learning the tabla? If your opinion is that you will lose the "soul" of your learning experience, then that is a personal judgment and I can't argue with that.

But most music training these days is a practical compromise for the busy times we live in. The "soul" of the experience aside, what ultimately counts IMHO is the end result - can you play tabla well after all those lessons? Most of the answer depends on your own dedication to practice, not to the medium of your lessons. Practically speaking, I can give you several reasons why online learning is superior to driving to your teacher's house once a week.

- you can choose from many online teachers, versus the one who happens to be in driving distance
- you can easily video record your lesson
- eliminate the driving time, cost, and hassle
- no cancellations due to weather, traffic, etc.

Yes, these are practical considerations, but very real ones for many people. And I even dispute that you will lose the soul of the experience - when you are focused on learning music, the medium of the learning becomes very secondary to the goal of exchanging information, unless real information just can't be transmitted, which is not the case for tabla.

I started learning online two years ago, and my son started learning online one year ago, and has never met his teacher in-person yet. Yet his playing is dramatically improved since he started his private online lessons.

You can stick to your principles and wait another year or two or more for the ideal guru to move conveniently near your house. Or you can compromise your soul and start learning tabla right away. I suggest the latter.

Good luck with tabla and with college next year.

By the way, Boston has a great 4-day ICM festival in April that you should attend if you get a chance. Maybe I'll see you there.

Regards,

Having said that, if there is truly no good teacher in one's area, online learning is probably the best thing to go for.

There is always more than one path to the top of the mountain. I agree having a teacher is necessary, to learn the correct approach. Though, each teachers techniques and ways of instruction, will likely have some differences. What are your intentions for learning tabla? For meditation, for use in western music, chances are it is not in becoming CIM performer, thats where I think the thread has gone off track. It is not for us to judge, but to suggest, not to preach, but to teach. Music in all its forms should be fun, not dogmatic. Megwitch!