Mike's Oud Forums

Sounbati Taqasim Transcriptions

Brian Prunka - 12-3-2008 at 02:04 PM

Hi everyone,

I have a question for all of you.
I've transcribed most of Sunbati's taqasim record, and I'm gradually working my way through the rest of the album.
My question has three parts:
1- would you be interested in purchasing a book of Sunbati transcriptions?
2- would you prefer a hard copy or an e-book?
3- what would you consider a fair price (keep in mind a hard copy would cost more)?


You've all seen my transcriptions before and you know I put a lot of work into them to make them accurate, readable and professional.
So far, they're all just hastily handwritten versions for my own use; it would be a lot of work to make good charts for others to use. What I'm trying to gauge here is the level of interest and whether it would be worthwhile for me to do so (and also how high a priority to make it, I could finish it in a month or six depending).

thanks,
Brian

Christian1095 - 12-3-2008 at 02:28 PM

Unfortunatly, I don't read music... but - if there were SLOW versions of his taqsims I could learn from that would be absolutly awesome and I would be more than happy to chip in $10-20 for the MP3s....

nizarrohana - 12-3-2008 at 02:31 PM

Hello Brian,

Congratulations for the idea. I did transcribe the first Taqseem on the cd (Nahawand). I found it very useful also

for students. Such a book would be perfect for people who are trying to learn Taqaseem and specially for Oud

players or students. I would recommend you to add also the Taqseem Nahawand from the song "Ashwaq". That

is a lovely one.

My self i would prefer a hard copy.

Good luck:wavey:

Nizar

ALAMI - 12-3-2008 at 02:36 PM

Great Idea Brian
am in for the hard copy preferably, but if you decide to go with an e-copy it is also fine

MatthewW - 12-3-2008 at 02:37 PM

Brian, this surely must have been a real labor of love.
perhaps you could offer several options: a hard cover or good spiral bound book, an e-book, and also the option to choose just one or two, etc transcriptions if that's all anyone wanted at a lesser price each. sent via pdf file. A paypal option would be useful as well.

Boral - 12-3-2008 at 02:50 PM

Hi,
I am very new to the oud.
I think before some time I will only be able to play more easy pieces.
There are companys that publish both e-book and hard copy. Once I bought one e-book from this one:
http://www.lulu.com

tchandler - 12-3-2008 at 04:56 PM

I think this is fantastic! I would pay $30 easily for this, ebook or hard copy. Is that too stingy?
tom

revaldo29 - 12-3-2008 at 05:45 PM

I'm in too. I would pitch in to make it worth your time, maybe $20?

francis - 12-3-2008 at 06:56 PM

Hello Brian.

Personally I would prefer an hard copy, but I take another one if there is not.
Your price will be mine....( may be I don't give a clear help by this way.....just to say I'll buy it!!! ).
Thanks for this heavy labor!

Butrous - 12-3-2008 at 07:44 PM

I would also prefer a hard copy especially if it included maqammat analysis in notation and prose.

Did you move back to New Orleans or are you still in NYC?

Jameel - 12-3-2008 at 08:14 PM

Brian, aside from buying your work, I'm really amazed at this accomplishment. Congratulations. Rough draft or not, I'm impressed. I'd buy an electronic copy for sure, and it's easy enough to print it out and put in a binder. You'll end getting people sharing it though, since it's way easier to send a pdf than make a hard copy. Do it for your love of the music, and count any monetary reward as icing on the cake. Now, to dust off my rishi in hopes of learning one of the improvisations.

samzayed - 12-3-2008 at 08:36 PM

This is good news Brian!! Your work is much appreciated. Thanks!

Looking forward. I'd take e-copy

David Parfitt - 12-4-2008 at 12:10 AM

Put me down for a copy too, Brian, in whichever format. Were you planning to include an analysis of each piece too? That would be an amazing learning resource!

All the best

David

Cyberquills - 12-4-2008 at 12:22 AM

Brian

THAT is one of the best suggestions I have EVER heard! You would save us so much time! I'll definitely buy a copy! Sunbati is my all time favourite Oud player!

CQ

Danielo - 12-4-2008 at 01:23 AM

Great idea Brian, I was really hopping that somebody would do it ;)

I tried myself, and didn't have time to go beyond the first minute of the Rast taqseem :(

I would prefer an electronic version (no hassle with shipping)

Marina - 12-4-2008 at 04:17 AM

Do you take Paypal?
:D

joseph - 12-4-2008 at 05:03 AM

Hi Brian,

It's a great idea. I would be interested in your book.

I actually think any project to help transcribe Arabic music is worthwhile. I think there are too few in depth books and music sheets available for Arabic music. I did volunteer some work into LilyPond to help encourage this in a small way, and I hope others can do some work in this area too in the future. I also would like to see one day a project similar to the Mutopia project to document Arabic music that is out of copyright.

Best wishes
Joseph Harfouch

Basho - 12-4-2008 at 07:24 AM

You sell it I´ll buy it!:applause:
This is something I have been hoping for.

Best wishes
Kristoffer

charlie oud - 12-4-2008 at 08:46 AM

Excellent Brian, well done !

I'm in...

LeeVaris - 12-4-2008 at 09:45 PM

Yes -

Fantastic Brian! I think an e-book would be easier for you and less expensive for everyone - plus we'd get it sooner (a big plus)

Put me down for a copy - I don't think I could put a price on something like this! Really invaluable and would save me a huge amount of time. I'll pay whatever you decide is fair.
:bounce:

Amos - 12-5-2008 at 07:17 AM

Hi Brian,
I have to echo everyone else and say GREAT IDEA. Put me down for a hard copy (if you make one), your price I am sure would be reasonable. If you make only e-copy then certainly that would be fine too.
This is an impressive accomplishment, and after having learned Tatyos Rast Pesrev from one of your transcriptions I know how meticulous and accurate your work is. Im looking forward to getting my hands on it...
Amos

Owain-Hawk - 12-5-2008 at 08:18 AM

Count me in! I'm not sure about the price, but I trust you with the decision. I think I would prefer a hard copy in some ways, and Ebook in another, but as Jameel said, the Ebook version could be easily printed out.

By the way, I know it's only early days, but perhaps after this you could do another book with his compositions, such as the ones for Om Kalthoum and ones only he played? I've been looking for a music sheet if this particular compositions for a long time now>>> http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XtM52MfsL-k

Can I pay now? :D

shareen - 12-5-2008 at 08:46 AM

Me too Brian. E-copy or hard copy is fine. I prefer e-copy. Then I can print the pages I want as I go along and know that I have the whold shebang in a PDF on my computer for future use.

Save the trees!

Brian Prunka - 12-5-2008 at 09:57 AM

Thanks everyone for your responses. I'm glad to see that there is definitely enough interest for me to go ahead and make it happen.
There's more interest in a hard copy than I expected, so I'll have to look into ways to make that feasible. Either way, I think I'll make an e-book version available.
The idea of an analysis to accompany each transcription is a great one; I'll definitely incorporate that.
I think the price will end up being between $20-30. The hard copy will be a little more to cover the additional costs.

I think I could figure out a way to share slowed-down versions of the taqasim as well; the copyright issue is a problem though. I figure everyone who would be interested already has the regular album, though. And it's not like Sounbati needs the money.
Quote:

  • posted by Jameel on 12-3-2008 at 10:14 PM
    Brian, aside from buying your work, I'm really amazed at this accomplishment. Congratulations. Rough draft or not, I'm impressed. I'd buy an electronic copy for sure, and it's easy enough to print it out and put in a binder. You'll end getting people sharing it though, since it's way easier to send a pdf than make a hard copy. Do it for your love of the music, and count any monetary reward as icing on the cake. Now, to dust off my rishi in hopes of learning one of the improvisations.


    • Thanks Jameel. I know that these days, someone will almost certainly post it on a file-sharing site. The main reason I did the transcriptions to begin with was for my own musical education--I love those improvisations! I realized that a lot of other oud players do, too, and figured I should make them available if I can. I'm optimistic that there are enough honest people that it will work out.

    To Joseph, I agree that there is not enough written material available about Arabic music, certainly with regard to the concerns of practicing musicians. As a jazz musician, I note the hundreds of books documenting the improvisations of outstanding jazz musicians (often with excellent in-depth analysis), and am amazed at the almost total absence of a similar body of work documenting Arabic musicians. Ottoman/Turkish musicians seem to be more concerned with written documentation & analysis. Indian music, while almost an exclusively oral tradition, has been pretty well documented by this point as well.

    Butrous, I am in New Orleans at present . . . I'm back and forth a little bit, but I'm teaching at Loyola University here and will continue with that for at least the Spring semester. Being away from NY is partly why I have the time to work on a project like this (which I started half a dozen times in NY and always got interrupted with more pressing concerns).

    I'll keep everyone informed of the progress. I am juggling a couple of other projects as well, but I have a month off from school and will have some time to devote to this (barring unforeseen events).

    Again, thanks for all your interest.

    ALAMI - 12-5-2008 at 11:02 AM

    Brian,
    There is a way to secure a pdf (a little bit) by introducing an individual activation code: when someone purchases the e-book he can immediately download it, but the file won't open unless he enters a code sent to his mail that you (or the person in charge of the sales) have to generate and send (or may be it can be automatically done, I don't know)
    When the file is copied to another computer you have to re-enter the code, so the person who bought the e-book may give some copies to his friends (with the code) but would hesitate to post it online as he'd also have to post the activation code also, which reveals his identity (only to you)
    Of course this is a basic security that can be easily overridden but it may help to make the inevitable spread slower.

    journeyman - 12-5-2008 at 02:18 PM

    Hi Brian,
    This would be a valuable learning tool and worth every penny. Put me down for a hard copy.

    Roy

    Brian Prunka - 12-5-2008 at 02:32 PM

    Thanks Alami,
    I had thought of that, but it didn't occur to me that it would reveal where the file originated. That could be a useful deterrent.
    I have mixed feelings about it, though. I generally don't like intrusive rights management techniques because they can frustrate legitimate use and generate ill will (I generally will download an album anywhere but iTunes, for example, because their DRM blocks tons of legitimate uses of the music, not just copying).
    Possibly, I could give each copy a unique serial #, that way I have the identification without the hassle of passwords. It wouldn't be any harder than assigning unique passwords.

    abusin - 12-6-2008 at 09:41 AM

    Hi Brian,

    Looking forward to this project in any shape or form, I am certain it will be an asset. All the best and keep us posted man:xtreme:

    Awad

    ALAMI - 5-2-2009 at 02:01 PM

    Brian,
    Any news or update on this project ?

    mabozaed - 5-9-2009 at 04:07 AM

    Brian

    Fantastic project. I can't wait to see it; I prefer a soft copy.
    In this spirit, how is taking the challenge to transcript Farido Taqasims?

    MatthewW - 5-15-2009 at 10:38 AM

    hey Brian, please don't keep us in suspense too long bud!:bounce: any idea of when your Sunbati Transcriptions ebook/hardcopy will be ready? :D cheers, MW

    Brian Prunka - 5-15-2009 at 12:51 PM

    Hey guys, sorry I've been out of touch . . . I've had to put this on the back burner for a while, as I've been busy with other projects and preparing to record. It's still on my list of things to do, but sometimes life interferes, you know? I'll let everyone know when I get it together. I might just end up doing them one at a time instead of waiting to do the whole set.

    -Brian

    Sunbati transcriptions

    Cyberquills - 6-23-2009 at 01:14 AM

    Hiya Brian

    Just wondering, have you progressed your MARvellous idea to do Sunbati transcriptions?

    Cheers

    CQ

    mavrothis - 6-23-2009 at 07:24 AM

    Hey Brian,

    This is great, I think I would be interested in this book too - ebook would be fine with me.

    Thanks Brian. :)

    mavrothis

    michoud - 1-27-2010 at 08:02 PM

    Hey Brian

    What about Sunbati´s taqasim transcriptions?
    for me an ebook is good

    and why not to make the same with Farido taqasims transcriptions??? If you´ll make it...a lot of members will be veryyyyyyy happy:D:D:D:D:D and it will be a good bussines:cool:

    thanks Brian!!!!!!!!!!!!