I will be experimenting with tumblr for a bit trying to make my posts look better and seeing exactly what I can post on this. I’ve neglected the blog a bit but I plan on dedicating more time to it and posting more of my oud adventures and frustrations. For now I will be posting cool stuff that I’m listening to. So, first up, the ultimate Diva of the 20th century and the Mother of Arabic music, Oum Kalthoum. One of her classic pieces Enta Omri.
This guy blows me away. I hadn’t heard of him until I found this but I watch this video now at least once a week. Impeccable tremolo!
This is rare and a really funky almost free jazzy jam from the 60s featuring the great Udi Hrant, Tassos Halkias, and Emin Gunduz. Makes me think of some of the stuff Alice Coltrane and Yusuf Lateef were doing around the same time.
The title of this post is taken from Ethan Iverson’s DTM blog. It’s a statement that haunts me. I had a teacher tell me once that if you practice one day and don’t practice the next, then the second day cancels the first. This can be a very depressing axiom to live by. If I do the math correctly that means I’m probably going backwards to a point in time before I ever picked up an instrument. That may be a little extreme but it’s a thought that I’ve pondered often.
But today was a good day. I didn’t have to use my AK. No…seriously. I got some good hours in the shed. Working on my chops. Running some tunes. That’s jazz talk for “I practiced a lot of music today.” About 5 hours worth, spread throughout the day with several breaks in between. This is ideal. If I could do this every day I’d be killing it in a few months. That’s jazz talk for “I’d be playing really well.”
It was a beautiful day today. The sky was bright blue and the sun was a blazin’. A perfect beach day. And the thought crossed my mind. But I’d been lazy and missed several days of practice. So I stayed home and went to work. First off, I’ll be the first to admit that I am lazy. I need to do this more often. And I need to put everything else aside and do this first. Daily if possible. That practice guilt sits over my head like a dark cloud. But after some coffee and breakfast, some emails, and just dicking around on the interenet for a bit (arrrrggghhh!!!) I finally dove into it.
Practice is hard for me and often frustrating. I have trouble focusing. I go off on tangents that I don’t realize I’m on until half an hour has gone by. Then I sit there trying to remember what it was I sat down to do. But today I really just got in there. Distractions or no distractions. If I went down one path, I tried to take it until I could go no further. Developing the idea until I had gotten what I needed out of it. I feel that this is the way to do it now. If you have the time and a notebook with a list of objectives that can always steer you back to the original path, then it’s best to maintain that energy that spurred you off into a tangent and just go with it. Wherever that immediacy is, you have to follow it. Otherwise, practicing gets dull and you get nothing out of it.
NO PAIN NO GAIN
By the end of the day my finger looked like this. You can’t see it well but that’s a nice callus I’ve developed on my right index finger. It comes from hitting the other strings with the back of my finger while doing heavy rest strokes with the risha. This is my favorite sound on the oud. Very Hamza El Din. At least I hope that’s what I’m sounding like. I put a new heavy string on the bottom. It’s a .54 Classical D’Addario. It barely made it in the groove of my nut. I’m sorry that sounds gross but it’s true. With the extra resistance now I can hit it hard and not worry that my hand is going to slip and hit the other strings which was happening to me a lot. It sounds awesome too.
FAT BOTTOMED OUD….you make the rockin’ world go round.
Practicing can also be emotionally taxing which is why I think so many of us put it off. You’re home alone all day doing repetitive motions and hearing the same song or phrase or exercise over and over and over and over….It’s kind of what a crazy person does. By the second hour I was anxious. Was it the coffee or is my brain on overdrive? My first instinct was to drink more coffee but instead I went for some chamomile. It did the trick. It’s my practice beverage of choice now. Clearly, I need to build up some endurance.
So perfect practice day is over. Tomorrow I work 9 to 5 (If only someone would pay me to be a musician, what a novel idea). Then I’m going to a friend’s gig. So my whole day is shot. Oh no!! If I don’t practice tomorrow then I have to erase whatever I accomplished today. Is that true? I hope not.
‘ahlan wa sahlan!
That’s the extent of my Arabic. It means “hello and welcome.” I’ve got a book now and I’m working on it. Little by little.
So here’s my first transcription. It is a Sama’i in the Nahawand maqam composed by UCLA professor Jihad Ali Racy. It took me a while to finish but here it is. The piece is pretty easy for a Sama’i and I figured it out rather quickly. Getting it into Sibelius and onto this blog, however, posed a series of technological hurdles that delayed it’s delivery. But I’m happy with the results and I learned a lot on the way.
First off, I should say that I took this off of Simon Shaheen’s Turath album. This album has been my number one source for learning oud licks and phrases. It’s a must have for anyone interested in the instrument and traditional Arabic music.
Sama’is are in 10/8 and the phrasing follows the Iqaat, or rhythmic mode, of the piece. I tried to beam the notes in a way that would match the phrasing of the Sama’i.
The last phrase at the ends of Khana 2 and 3 are not played on the repeats, hence the “1st time only” note above the staff. There are also variations and embellishments throughout the piece that I felt were unnecessary to notate since these are usually improvised.
I wanted to post the mp3 along with the score so you can follow along but I don’t know if that’s possible on Tumblr. So…I will put it in the next post.
Cheers!
This is an oud blog. What is an oud blog you might ask? I’m not sure. It’s an attempt to document my progress as a beginning oudist. It’s a way to share with other oud enthusiasts. It’s a way to hopefully stay inspired and explore some of the ideas I have for playing this beautiful instrument.
What is an oud?
It’s this:
It originated in ancient Mesopotamia and took on it’s modern shape in 9th century Arab-occupied Iraq. It can be heard throughout the Middle East, Turkey, Greece, Armenia, and North Africa. And it sounds RAD!
Why the oud?
I don’t know. I was drawn to the sound. My room mate had a Munir Bashir album that he liked to play and it piqued my interest. I liked the idea of a fretless guitar with doubled strings. I was also intrigued by the Arabic maqam system and its use of microtones. However, In some ways, learning the oud is an attempt for me to discover my cultural heritage. My great grandparents were Syrian and Lebanese. Unfortunately, I never knew them. I don’t speak Arabic but I have an Arabic last name. It means happiness.
Last year I got a job at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago where they teach oud in addition to many other instruments. One of the perks of the job is that I get discounted lessons. So I decided to go for it. I bought an oud and began my studies. It’s been a few months now and I’m feeling like I can almost call myself an udi.
My Goals Beyond
SO….This blog will hopefully help me keep track of my progress and allow me to connect with other fledgeling udi. Inspired by James Mahone’s Practice Portal, a great jazz saxophone blog, I want this blog to be a place where I can post transcriptions for others to study/compare/critique. I’ll also post oud related videos and recordings that I think are cool. Once I feel brave enough I’ll post some videos or recordings of me playing….maybe.
I’m focusing now on learning the classic Arabic repertoire and becoming familiar with the maqam system. I have a few simple pieces under my belt but I’m trying to focus on the melodically and rhythmically intricate Samais. I am trying to apply the phrasing and modulations I find in the Samais to my improvisations, also known as taqsims. I find the taqsim to be the most challenging aspect of the oud. A taqsim is a contemplative improvisation in which you “cut up” the maqam and explore it’s melodic contents. Every improviser is supposed to create a personal path or “sayr” through the maqam, hence the name of this blog.
In addition to the classic oud repertoire I am interested in exploring other styles on this instrument and playing anything that sounds cool on it. I learned an Ornette Coleman head the other day and it sounds great on the oud. His harmolodic concept, where the melody dictates the harmony, is very similar to Arabic music which is essentially melodically and rhythmically driven. So I have this crazy notion of doing some free jazz oud.
Also….I was lucky enough to catch the Septeto Nacional de Ignacio Piñeiro at Old Town and I noticed that the Cuban tres is played a lot like an oud, with heavy downstrokes and a similar rhythmic flair. I’ve always been a big fan of Cuban son and I think an oud would fit right in with that style. So I’ve been listening to some of tres virtuoso Eliades Ochoa recordings trying to rip off licks.
I’ve put my guitar down for now and I’m putting all my musical efforts into playing the oud. I hope to mash up these disparate influences and styles and hit the streets of Chicago with a busking license to put some of these ideas into practice and to get my chops up. Possibly to get rotten tomatoes thrown at me.
In the meantime, enjoy this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRg8XngrQLU&feature=feedf
P.S. That’s not me
