Wednesday 9 February 2011

First lessons on ESNCM

Today I had my first lessons at the ESNCM. First one was "Maqamat 1", which is about the Arabic counterpart to scales. Here, the different maqâmât are thaught, their intervals, starting note, which two half-scales (ajnâs) they are build of, and their behavior (tasarruf). The behavior is the most important part, all the rest is just "facts". The music and the expertise lies in knowing how and when to use which maqâm, to know it's mood and colour.

After a longer break and a date with my dear husband, the next class was "Introduction to Oriental Music". This one teaches the different types of Arabic musical pieces, both the instrumental and the sung, the various rhythms (and there are many!), a bit about the instruments.

Classes started after the summer holidays, so I'm jumping in in the middle of things and these two were in Palestinian Arabic, so I don't understand everything. But enough to get invited by my girlish classmates on a trip "to find food", food as in cake.

Last class was Harmony with an Austrian teacher, so this was in English, and a bit more easy for me to follow. It is Western music theory and how to use it when composing.

After all this (and I'm a bit sad that all my three theory classes are on the same evening; I would like to come twice a week instead) I biked (! ^^) on to the Jerusalem Music Center for rehersal with the Israeli wind band, HarEl. Long day with lots of music!

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