As I mentioned last week… in my newsletter… (You’re on my newsletter right? If not, get on.) There will be a new tutorial on Umm Kulthum’s song Alf Leila was Leila (composed by Baligh Hamdi). It’s here! I have always stayed away from doing Umm Kulthum tunes because I don’t really enjoy the recording quality. It makes it really hard to hear what the instruments are playing, so it’s hard to…
Read More7 Benefits of Private Oud lessons (#7 is the coolest)
I was Live on YouTube again for over an hour discussing the benefits of taking private Oud lessons, and I wanted to give you the rundown on the session: (scroll down for the video) Discounts on Oud Lessons in August I’m giving discounts on Oud lessons in August, the deadline is Friday August 7 11:59 PM Pacific time. Book here. Get 20% off the price listed. The Benefits of Private…
Read MoreWhat Can Private Oud Lessons Do For You?
Some people teach themselves music. Some people go to a Royal Conservatory. Some people study music at University. Some people (like me) learned music completely through one-on-one private lessons. What’s your experience with learning music? Or learning an instrument? Now you can learn Piano and Guitar with high-tech apps for your tablet or smartphone. Everyone is different and learn best using an assortment of different tools. How do you fit…
Read MoreHow to Play Aziz Joon on Oud – Persian Oud
There are not that many tutorials out there teaching Persian Oud style. However, the Oud has become rather popular in the last 20 years in Iran. There are a lot of great young Oud players in Iran nowadays. One classic album is “Koohestan” by Hossein Behroozinia with whom I studied Oud with. One famous piece from this album is the fiery Aziz Joon, the title of the piece on the…
Read MoreDid you know? You Can Learn Modulations and Taqasim Principles from Compositions.
As you develop as an Oud player you are going to learn more and more repertoire from old masters and composers. Little do we know it at the time but we are slowly integrating their music into ourselves. With that, we can integrate the modulations and melodies used to inform our own taqasim practice as we advance in our playing. In other words, you’ll learn modulations that you can use in…
Read MoreChange Oud Strings like a pro! This video has it all.
With this video you can change Oud strings like a pro. Changing Oud strings for the first time can be a very daunting task. A few weeks ago I did a YouTube Live stream showing you exactly how I change Oud strings. Here I share valuable tips that I haven’t shared anywhere else. New Oud Foundation Program This month we were able to film a bunch of new tutorials that…
Read MoreRast is like a super-interchange
Jins Rast is like a super-interchange on the highway of maqams. I approach modal music in some ways the way a linguist would approach language. In the same way, my personal theory of modal music is that there exists a proto-mode from which all modes originate. I believe the proto-mode is Rast or the tetrachord Rast. In response to a question, I wrote the following on MikeOuds Forums some time…
Read MoreMaqams: A Tapestry
I used to think maqams had 7 notes, like Western scales… and I used to think they were very rigid. But now, I see maqams more like a mosaic, or like a tapestry… This tapestry has been built on for thousands of years, added to, destroyed and lost, adapted, and sometimes simplified or reduced, but they are connected and webbed together by common threads. Today I want to show you the…
Read MoreOfG Q&A: Why and how small deviations from a maqam doesn’t really count as a full modulation to another maqam.
The other day I received this very good question from a student from the Step-by-Step Taqasim program: “Hi Navid, I noticed that on the first page of this Taqsim, all the B’s in the bass part are B quarter flats. Yet the Bayati scale and key signature shows the B to be a simple Bb. Could you say why the quarter flat is used here and not Bb? With a…
Read MoreArabic Maqam 101 – the Friendliest Maqam Crash Course
Struggling to understand how maqams work? Can’t seem to figure out how they work together in a piece? Don’t worry, you’re not the only one who is mystified by the world of maqam. In fact, that’s one of the biggest challenges for Oud learners and other Middle Eastern musicians. But it’s also an indicator that your understanding of Arabic music is coming to a mature level, so you should give…
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