First Blog – Sabbatical Study
So, it turns out, my new website platform has a space for a “blog.” I’ve often thought about starting a blog – but, I’m usually held back by my inability to form sustained coherent thought.
: )
I’m currently on sabbatical. My project is organizing materials for an Arabic Music Ensemble at OCC. My plan is to pattern the OCC group after the Cornell University Middle Eastern Music Ensemble (CUMEME). I played with that group during my last sabbatical in 2011. What I really loved about the group was that it had members from a variety of cultures that all came together to make music. Turkish students would take the lead when singing Turkish songs, Egyptian students would lead in songs from Egypt, Israeli students would lead the Hebrew songs, etc. There were also some “Americans” in the group. It was a really nice way to learn about each other and our different worlds.
I have a pretty good understanding of the percussion involved; so, one of my big goals was to further my understanding of the melodic material. My overall approach was to study some language (nothing too exciting – just working through level 1 of Arabic from Rosetta Stone revisiting the same level of Turkish); accumulate a diverse library of traditional music from the middle east; learn about Arabic music theory; and organize an ensemble.
I worked early (and often) with my language tools. It has been interesting but probably won’t be my most important take away from this project. (I think I know enough to appear respectful – but not nearly enough for anything meaningful.) It has helped me with some of my music research though.
I have compiled well of 100 lead sheets of traditional music from the middle east. I’m in the process of creating an annotated bibliography for this collection that includes: title; cultural origin; maqam; iqa; whether it is suitable for OCC; and a youtube link to the performance that best matches the lead sheet.
I’ve worked in the libraries at Cornell, Eastman, and Syracuse University to create my own Arabic music theory documents. I should be able to present the information to the students in a concise manner. I have also purchased a few good resources and found many helpful resources on line.
Probably the most beneficial thing has been rejoining the group at Cornell. They are now called the Cornell Arabic Music Club (CAMC). They are led by Nicolai Ruskin and their faculty advisor is Greg Ezra. Nicolai and Greg have been incredibly helpful. The group works a little differently now. They run as a “takht” ensemble. Nicolai gave the parameters as:
Arabic Vocal Music (we'll have a couple short dulabs as intros)
Takht Instrumentation: Oud, Nay, Qanoun, Violin, Riq, Darbuka, and (Duff is ok too). Other strings are also fine (cello, bass, viola).
Improvisation Taqasim, (Layali and Mawal are optional)
While very different from my first experience, this has been a very helpful group for me. The intense, academic focus on one Waslah (a suite of movements performed as a unit)
has helped me learn with much more specificity than my previous experience. This, really, is the information that I sought. It’s an intense focus on one maqam (scale/tuning.) I’ve really learned to hear the different parts (jins) of the maqam and have even been able to improvise (singing) using those jins. (And, I suspect I can now widen my focus, using the tools I have learned here, to include more musics while keeping this improved understanding.)
I also reached out to a few other groups. I met with Taksim, an Ithaca based middle eastern group in the fall of 2018. (It was through them that I reconnected with Cornell.) They also introduced me to Don Baragiano who runs a more contemporary group called East Meets West. He and I are meeting for our first rehearsal this Saturday – wish me luck!
All in all, I feel well prepared to work with students at OCC on middle eastern music. I suspect that our challenges will include instruments and membership. We don’t really own traditional instruments outside of our percussion collection. I am beginning to research Qanoon and, maybe, Oud prices. I think Qanoon might be the easier instrument to master as the tunings are set. Membership: I have begun reaching out to Arabic students on campus and am hopeful that we will have a core group assembled in the fall from which to grow the ensemble.
So, that’s where I am at. First blog!