Mike's Oud Forums

Oud advice from a creative writing class

joseph - 1-3-2022 at 06:54 AM

Oud advice from a creative writing class.


Hi,

I wanted to share this thought with others to see what they think about this. I remember the advice that I heard in creative writing classes when we were told never to share our writing and the draft versions specially with family and friends. I wonder if this advice applies to oud playing in general too that we can offer it to beginning players of the oud . On the one hand we would like to get the experience of playing in front of others, but on the other hand we don't want this experience to be so negative that it becomes a discouragement to further learning. In my personal experience I would now think this advice applies, and I think that I should have not played in front of others specially in the earlier years of learning. I am keen however to hear some discussion about this. Here are some of my reasons.

1. Most people are not really not that interested in music or particularly good at listening in general. It is easy to think otherwise when we have a strong interest in music, and imagine that is a common trait.

2. Even among those who like music and are good listeners, we are strongly conditioned these days to a band sound, that playing the same songs using a solo instrument does not interest most people.

3. Solo performance that engages attention on any instrument is extremely difficult but exceptional players make it look easy. As beginners we make many mistakes, but even with few mistakes the playing is never engaging enough.

4. The oud sound that is so warm and beautiful in a small bed room at home and on a quiet night becomes so unremarkable in a noisy setting that others would start wondering what attracts you to this soft instrument, and you might to start to wonder yourself.

For this reason my tentative advice is to play only in front of your teacher and musician friends who share the same learning process. If playing in front of others, play preferably as part of a group that provides backup, or if you can't avoid playing solo, choose something that is simple and short.

What does everyone think?

Cyril - 10-10-2024 at 11:01 AM

This is very interesting perspective (kind of sad, though). Perhaps it might depend on where you live – in my country no one plays oud, so at least it might be interesting to people because it is unknown.

kampanas - 10-11-2024 at 06:36 AM
Quote:

For this reason my tentative advice is to play only in front of your teacher and musician friends who share the same learning process. If playing in front of others, play preferably as part of a group that provides backup, or if you can't avoid playing solo, choose something that is simple and short.


Respectfully, this is terrible advice.

As performing musicians we are in a constant dialogue with our audience. Playing in front of people, whoever they are, shapes our skill, our style and our understanding of the music we play in the most exposed way possible.

We learn from our audience and our audience learns from us. Should we deny people an opportunity to fall in love with solo oud just because we think they'd rather hear a band? Rahim al Haj's Tiny Desk solo concert has 1.3 million views, do you think he learned to play that engaging by playing for nobody until one day he felt ready? Comedians learn to make people laugh by getting on stage and bombing night after night until they get their set right, oud players are not immune.

There is a thread on this form where someone says an oud player should not dare accompany a belly dancer without a percussionist. Well, I did it, and it went great. Both myself and the dancer learned a lot about what we're capable of in performance, all it takes is experimentation and creativity.

Go, get out of your comfort zone and play for people and with people. See if you still feel the same in 6 months time. If its solo performance that you want to engage an audience with, find a way.

Oh and don't forget to practice with a metronome ;)

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