MENAME Winter 2019 schedule: Difference between revisions

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* Arabic greetings
* Arabic greetings
* [https://www.artsrn.ualberta.ca/fwa_mediawiki/index.php/University_of_Alberta_Middle_Eastern_and_North_African_Music_Ensemble#Transliterating_Middle_Eastern_.2F_North_African_languages Transliterating Arabic] (see also http://bit.ly/mename)
* [https://www.artsrn.ualberta.ca/fwa_mediawiki/index.php/University_of_Alberta_Middle_Eastern_and_North_African_Music_Ensemble#Transliterating_Middle_Eastern_.2F_North_African_languages Transliterating Arabic] (see also http://bit.ly/mename)
* Confusion over last week's assignment.  SO:  If you read about North Africa, review the Nubian article for next week, and vice versa.
* How to write a review? Summarize (what's it about? show me that your read it) & critique (where are its limitations or possible biases? what else can you connect it to? Show me that you've thought about it!).  Let's consider the Nubian Music in Cairo article for instance...
* How to write a review? Summarize (what's it about? show me that your read it) & critique (where are its limitations or possible biases? what else can you connect it to? Show me that you've thought about it!).  Let's consider the Nubian Music in Cairo article for instance...



Revision as of 16:09, 24 January 2019

Note: this schedule will be filled in week by week. Note that all assignments are to be submitted via eClass (http://bit.ly/mename19We). Repertoire is listed (with links to listen and read) via http://bit.ly/mename

Note also that all repertoire documents are available online in this Google Drive folder. Theory resources on maqamat and durub are available via the main course webpage http://bit.ly/mename

Short link to this page: https://bit.ly/mename19Wa

Week 1: Jan 10

Lecture and exercise segment (6:30 to 7:30)

Course Introduction

  • Welcome! Self-introductions. Please add your intro on eClass and include a photo please so I can match faces to names.
  • Course: Middle Eastern and North African Music Ensemble
    • History of the group and course
    • Disciplinary scope: ethnomusicology, world music
    • Middle East and North Africa. Focus on Music of Nubia and Sudan.
  • Syllabus review, course requirements
    • Combined Performance & Academic course
    • 148 vs. 448 vs. 548
    • No prior musical experience or training required. BUT: I do need your attention and dedication, in and out of the classroom.
    • Performance: Listen, practice.
    • Academic: Read, watch, write.
    • Final concert with guest artist Ensaf Fathi (sponsored by the Sudanese community). Here is one song she proposes to sing with us. This is an amazing opportunity!
  • House rules:
    • No arriving late, no leaving early.
    • Rather: try to arrive early, and leave late.
    • As soon as you arrive please help out by setting up chairs.
    • After class ends please help out by putting them away
    • Socializing is important - but only pre- or post-class and during break
    • No talking during the class except as needed for participation
    • No cell phones whatsoever!
    • No eating in the class. Drinks are ok but take care not to spill them.
    • Keep any printed sheets neatly arranged in a notebook and ready to go.
  • Weekly plan:
    • Lecture segment 6:30 to 7:00
    • Warm-up exercises from 7 pm to 7:30 pm. Be ready to present!
    • On quiz days, we'll use 6:30 to 7:30 for the quiz
    • Rehearsal from 7:30 to 9:30
    • Often a short break around 8:30 (not more than 10 min; please don't disappear)
    • Close at 9:30
    • Concert Friday March 29 is mandatory.
    • Do your homework and submit prior to class on due date. Submit via eClass, not hard copy or email.

Some features of this connected yet diverse region

  • See map
  • Many (>50) languages: Semitic, Indo-European, Turkic, and others...
  • Name "Middle East" is colonial. "North Africa" a bit more descriptive. Not everyone who lives there identifies with this region, but the name has stuck, and it's not entirely arbitrary.
  • Real connectivity through overlapping empires - especially (since the 7th century) due to Islam. "Islamicate." Impact of recited religious texts, especially Qur'anic recitation.
  • In music, centrality of:
    • poetry, mostly of love and longing
    • singer, rather than instrumentalists
    • melody (not harmony)
    • Heterophony, lawazim
    • Ornamentation
    • Microtonal inflections, using voice and fretless stringed instruments
    • Use of overtones
    • Melodic modes: maqam, tab`, dastgah - mostly 7 tone (heptatonic), sometimes 5 tone (pentatonic)
    • Rhythmic modes: darb, iqa`, mizan...
    • Limited improvisation: taqasim, layali, mawwal
  • Socially, importance of:
    • Audience participation in live music: exclamations, gestures that feed back to the musicians and singers
    • Wedding, jalsa, hafla contexts
    • Nightclubs, dance music
    • Concert halls
    • Singing competitions (Arab Idol)
  • Culturally, importance of:
    • Resonances with mysticism, in poetry, sound, instruments, and context
    • Development of emotion: tarab, kayf ... sometimes conflated with mystical feeling: wajd, hal, nashwa ruhiyya
    • Modal ecstasy: saltana
    • Certain aesthetic of longing - bittersweet, nostalgic, mournful ethos is common

Some terms/concepts to know

  • Middle East and North Africa
  • Islamicate
  • mashriq (eastern Arab world)
  • maghrib (western Arab world)
  • Nubia
  • Sudan
  • Regional languages: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Nubian (Matokki or Kenzi; Fadija or Nubiin), Amazighiya, Kurdish, Hebrew, Syriac, Aramaic, Greek, Armenian, Coptic...
  • Transliteration: Arabic
  • ethnomusicology
  • etic vs emic
  • world music
  • heterophony
  • darb/durub (rhythmic cycles), also mizan or iqaa`
  • maqam (scale/mode), also tab` or nawba or dastgah
  • quarter tones or microtones ("notes between the piano keys")
  • taqsim (instrumental improvisation)
  • layali (vocal improvisation on "ya layl, ya `ayn"
  • mawwal (vocal improvisation on a poem)
  • lawazim (instrumental fills)


Introducing: rhythmic and melodic modes

See http://bit.ly/mename "theory" section for visual representations of these rhythms and melodic modes:

  • Durub: 1,2,3,4,8,10
    • 1. Wahda Tayra (fox)
    • 2. Bamb, malfuf, ayub, Aragide (Nubian)
    • 3. Fals, Sama`i Darij
    • 4. Wahda, maqsum, masmudi, sa`idi
    • 8. Masmudi kabir
    • 10. Sama`i thaqil
  • Maqamat:
    • Use of "quarter tones"
    • Ajam
    • Rast
    • Nahawand
    • Hijaz

Note: see http://bit.ly/mename for links to repertoire and theory. See http://maqamworld.com for additional info on theory

Rehearsal segment:

(see Repertoire folder for all the related documents and audio files)

  • Ah Ya Zayn (Oh beautiful one) - Hijaz, Masmudi. Take turns, alternate choir and instruments.
  • Lamma Bada Yatathanna (When he began to sway) - Nahawand, Sama`i Thaqil
  • Ya Shadi al-Alhan - Rast, Masmudi Kabir

Week 2: Jan 17

Homework (due today)

Remember homework is always due on the day it is listed, before class! You must submit reading reviews for each reading to me by email before class on Thursday! In this review, you should demonstrate that you’ve completed the assignment (by telling me what it’s about), and that you’ve thought about it (by telling me what you think of it). If there's more than one item (reading, listening, viewing) be sure you discuss all of them. You don't have to write much on each. Use the eClass site to submit all assignments. (All assignments due on a particular day will be submitted together, since eClass provides a single link each Thursday.) For more details on assignments, see course outline.

Read & review (submit reviews on eClass)

Browse: http://maqamworld.com, and Theory section of our website, especially for the maqamat and durub we introduced last week.

Practice:

  • Please be able to recognize and play the rhythms we've introduced thus far, ideally while counting out the beats!
  • Listen to our repertoire and sing along.

Lecture and exercise segment

  • Regional languages and maps
  • Nubia, the Nubians, Sudan, and the Sudanese
    • Kenuz (Matokki language)
    • Fadikka (Fadikka language)
    • Region
    • Ancient history of Nubia
    • Modern history - the Nile dams, and displacement
    • Nubian culture today: Aswan and Cairo
  • Music theory and terminology:
    • Darb (lit. "strike"), plural durub: rhythmic concept (also known as iqa` or wazn or usul). We introduced several durub including wahda - maqsum - masmudi - malfuf. See my charts for definitions.
    • Maqam (lit. "station"), plural maqamat: tonal concept (something like "scale" but using a wider range of pitch material, and including melodic and ornamentation characteristics). There are dozens of different maqamat. See maqamworld.com
    • Maqam Rast
    • Taqsim: an instrumental improvisation in a maqam.
    • Mawwal: vocal improvisation in a maqam, with text (which is not necessarily a "mawwal" in the literary sense)
    • Layali: vocal improvisation in a maqam, using "nonsense" syllables, usually "ya `ayn, ya layl".
    • Muwashshah: classical strophic poetry originating in Andalusia; can make use of multiple rhymes and meters
    • Qasida: original form of Arabic poetry, single rhyme and meter
  • Some other terms that have come up...
    • Lawazim: instrumental fills
    • Fairouz: famous Lebanese singer
    • Rahbani brothers: composed for Fairouz
    • Ziad Rahbani: Fairouz's son, also a famous singer/composer in Lebanon


Practice:

  • Compositions using basics: 1,2,4 (see above)
  • Singing patterns in Hijaz, Rast, Nahawand

See http://maqamworld.com for more on maqam, darb, and forms

See the course's Theory section for more information about maqam, darb, and music theory generally.

Rehearsal segment

(all repertoire is listed via http://bit.ly/menamerep)

(see Repertoire folder for other related documents and audio files)

  • Lamma Bada Yatathanna (When he began to sway) - Nahawand, Sama`i Thaqil
  • Dulab Rast (C)
  • Ya Shadi al-Alhan - Rast, Masmudi Kabir
  • Ah Ya Zayn (Hijaz G)
  • Bilafrah (Assiss Wara) (Hijaz G)
  • Dulab Nahawand (C)
  • Lamma Bada (C)

Rehearsal

Week 3: Jan 24

Homework (due today)

  • Listen: The Music Of Islam, Vol. 3: Music Of The Nubians, Aswan, Egypt
  • Read: Liner notes (click on the "Related Documents" tab and download the PDF), pp. 38-49 only (if you want to skim earlier sections fine but you don't have to read the whole thing!)
  • Write: Submit (on eClass) a short (1-2 paragraph) review of the notes and recordings, including musical, cultural, and historical observations of Nubian music in Aswan, and a critique of the disc as a representation of the musical traditions it purports to survey (for instance, ask yourself: is this representation complete? what does it omit? how is the music presented in the notes? who seems to have compiled the music and what was the context of performance? why was the disc made and for what audience? might village music sound different? how? These are the kinds of questions you can raise in your critique.)

Note: do not quote readings when composing reviews, except very short excerpts, which must be in quotation marks with a reference to the source. But mainly I want to hear your voice, and not that of the source.

Lecture and exercise segment

  • Arabic greetings
  • Transliterating Arabic (see also http://bit.ly/mename)
  • Confusion over last week's assignment. SO: If you read about North Africa, review the Nubian article for next week, and vice versa.
  • How to write a review? Summarize (what's it about? show me that your read it) & critique (where are its limitations or possible biases? what else can you connect it to? Show me that you've thought about it!). Let's consider the Nubian Music in Cairo article for instance...
  • Durub review
  • Maqam review
    • Nahawand
    • Ajam
    • Rast
    • Hijaz
  • New maqam: Bayyati

Rehearsal segment

(see Repertoire folder for other related documents and audio files)

Review:

  • Dulab Nahawand
  • Lamma Bada Yatathanna (When he began to sway) - Nahawand G, Sama`i Thaqil
  • Dulab Rast (C)
  • Ya Shadi al-Alhan - Rast, Masmudi Kabir
  • Ah Ya Zayn (Hijaz G)
  • Bilafrah (Assiss Wara) (Hijaz G)
  • al-Ghourba

New repertoire:

  • Shamandoura (traditional Nubian-Arabic, Mohamed Mounir version)
  • Ah Ya Hilu (Bayyati qadd)

Week 4: Jan 31

Week 5: Feb 7

Note: Feb 8: International Week concert in Convocation Hall, featuring the Edmonton Transcultural Orchestra (and lots of world music).


Week 6: Feb 14 - QUIZ #1

First quiz.

Quiz

No new homework for today....just prepare for the quiz. The quiz is in two parts:

  • Map quiz: simply name the countries identified by letters on this map, which also appeared in your first reading this term, Hearing the Music of the Middle East. Spelling is important; try your best - but you will receive nearly full credit for minor spelling problems. Names that are completely mangled will receive partial credit.
  • Short answer: here is a list of short-answer questions. On the quiz, I'll present you with a selection of four (4) questions from this list, out of which you'll pick two (2) questions to answer, each in less than one page of the exam book. Your answers are to be short, but try to cover the key points.

The quiz will be 45 minutes long, from 6:30 to 7:15, after which we'll break for a few minutes before the rehearsal starts. Please arrive on time!


Week 7: Feb 21 - READING WEEK - no class

But you can use this week to review the songs as well as the maqamat and durub, in preparation for the second midterm quiz, after the break.

Week 8: Feb 28

Week 9: March 7

Homework (due today)

Muslim religious chant - adhan and Qur'anic recitations - reflect the various styles of music in the region. They also impact it, because many singers are trained through such recitations. We saw a clear instance in the case of Umm Kulthum, but such training is common to many singers.

  • Read and review each of the following (just two paragraphs on each).
  • Read, listen, analyze: what differences do you hear?
    • Read and listen and submit your comments on the differences you hear between the different styles of performing the Call to Prayer (adhan).
    • Read and listen and submit your comments on the differences you hear between the different styles of performing Qur'anic recitation.

Watch Koran by Heart, a beautiful documentary about a Qur'an competition. (Kristina Nelson served as consultant on this film.). Note: updated link.

Lecture segment: Adhan and Qur'an

About Adhan and Qur'an

  • Two forms of Islamic "language performance" fusing sacred text and non-metric melody
  • Meaning, use, purpose
  • Primary role in vocal training, along with the music of Sufi orders (turuq)
    • Pronunciation; Makharij al-huruf
    • Breath control
    • Improvisation in maqamat
    • Use of cadence (qafla)
  • Relation to melody/music
    • Maqamat
    • "Melodies of the Arabs" (Hadith)

Adhan:

  • Islam's link to Aksumite kingdom in Ethiopia (Habasha) - site of the first hijra; and birthplace of the freed slave Bilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi, Islam's first mu'adhdhin - as well as spiritual progenitor of Keita dynasty (rulers of Mali 12th - 17th centuries) and various sub-saharan subcultures of North Africa (e.g. Gnawa, Stambeli)
  • Origin of adhan (see 1:20:00; from Moustapha Akkad's film, al-Risala, a biopic about the Prophet Muhammad)
  • Map of adhan and geocultural performance styles
    • Melody
    • Group
    • Local musical sound

Qur'an:

  • Recitation (tilawa, qira'a, tajwid, tartil) of the Qur'an restricted by 3 sources:
    • the mushaf (Qur'anic text)
    • the 10 (7, or 14) qira'at ("readings")
    • the ahkam al-tajwid: rules of recitation, dictating how to begin and end, when is it necessary, possible, or forbidden to stop for a breath, etc.
    • nowhere is melody determined, and in fact association of a fixed melody is discouraged in favor of improvisation
    • Egyptian reciters tended to be most famous and influential until the recent rise of Saudi reciters
    • One of the great master of this art was Mustafa Ismail, deploying Egyptian maqamat, whose performative interactions with the audience border on tarab.
    • Contrast this performance by Al rama Mouhamadou Sanoussi (from Niger).
    • Muslims are enjoined to beautiful the Qur'an - with their voices, or -- less commonly -- in calligraphy.
  • Koran by Heart, a beautiful documentary about a Qur'an competition. (Kristina Nelson served as consultant on this film.)
  • More on tilawa
  • video from The Guardian, in which a calligrapher speaks and demonstrates his art.
  • The calligraphic representation of the Qur'an.

For those who are interested, here are some links on Arabic script and calligraphy:

More in-depth presentation of Language Performance in Islam

Rehearsal

Week 10: March 14 - QUIZ #2

Review:

Please be ready to identify all the pieces we've performed so far, and say something (1-3 sentences) about them, including the following sorts of information (as available - not all information is available for every song or piece, so don't feel that you need to provide everything for each):

  • the title
  • the maqam and darb (if identified)
  • the names of the composer and lyricist (if known)
  • the singer with whom the piece is associated (if known)
  • the genre (type of music)
  • the source culture or country/region
  • any other associated facts or history

I will play a recording; you will provide as much of the above (or other) information. You don't have to know anything about these songs that hasn't come up through this class (so don't go researching); there isn't always a definite "right" answer; and you don't have to provide every last detail. I'm just looking to see what information you can provide.

I will play an excerpt from the recording and then you'll write 1-3 sentences about the piece.

Week 11: March 21

Week 12: March 28 (MENAME Final Concert Friday March 29!)

Week 13: April 4 - FINAL QUIZ

Final quiz.