Joshuaspoppa
Oud Admirer
Posts: 2
Registered: 4-7-2011
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Historical fiction writer needs advice
Hi folks. I have an off-the-wall kind of question, and am hoping I can find some off-the-wall kind of people to help me with it. 
I'm working on a novel, historical fiction, set in the Byzantine Empire and the early Islamic Caliphate between 715-719 AD. One of my major characters
is a young Byzantine-Jewish merchant who wants nothing more than to be a musician, despite family disapproval. He lives, breathes, and would live by
music if he could, and has real talent - a good ear, near-perfect pitch, a nice tenor voice, etc. etc. And if it has strings, he can figure out how to
play it, after a bit of experimenting. (My father is kind of like this, though I'm definitely not. Alas, alack.)
I'm picturing him playing a lute-like instrument - from my research so far, I'm guessing that in that time and place, one of the leading possibilities
for his main instrument would be an oud. Which, by happenstance, led me here, through various random Google searches that I won't bore you with. I'm
hoping somewhere here there might be someone who can help me out with some pretty abstruse questions.
Keeping in mind that I'm no more than a beginning-poor guitar player (though an enthusiast for the music), I'd be eternally grateful for any insight
anyone can offer on some basic questions:
- What would an 8th-century oud or similar lute-like instrument look like, compared to the Renaissance or modern versions? Any idea how the
construction would differ? Assuming my character picked it up somewhere in Asia Minor or Syria, what might it be made of? What would it be strung
with?
- With an early-medieval instrument like this, what would it be like to care for such a thing? How would you case it? I have to assume an oud is
relatively resistant to heat and dryness - otherwise it would never have been used in that part of the world - but what *would* it be sensitive to?
Moisture? Cold?
- What would tuning it be like? Playing it? I gather they were played with a plectrum made of a thin sliver of wood (at this time, or later?) or
quill. I'm guessing that there were no frets. I'm wondering if the large bowl would have been awkward to hold, or if you'd have to be careful about
positioning - hold it vertical? - to keep the strings in a certain alignment or keep the neck in a comfortable place. How would you sit? How would you
hold it?
- From a player's perspective, how would you feel about the instrument? A joy to play, relatively easy (compared to, say, a lyre, or another variety
of lute-like early-medieval, late-antiquity instrument) - or a finicky lover that required just a certain kind of touch to make the most of it? What
kind of callouses would you develop, compared to a modern steel-stringed guitar or banjo, say? Would the neck require a smaller or larger finger reach
than a modern guitar?
- Are there any recordings of a period-replica instrument that I could access? I see there is an extensive library here, which I will peruse, but if
anyone has thoughts about what early-medieval Jewish, Arab, Armenian, or Greek folk music played on a string instrument might have sounded like, it
would be invaluable to me to get the recommendation. There's nothing like hearing something to bring it to life.
Hope this isn't too far out of left field. I'm sure there isn't a lot to go by, digging this far back - I've found that the historical record on a
surprising number of aspects of this time is alarmingly thin. Speculation would be more than welcome.
If you'd like to understand more about the context I'm operating from, my author's site is at KDavidSmith.com.
Thanks, folks, and best of luck with your playing and crafting!
David
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eliot
Oud Junkie
Posts: 252
Registered: 1-5-2005
Location: The Gorges
Member Is Offline
Mood: Aksak
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You will want to read H.G. Farmer's History of Arabian music until the XIIIth Century - it's available as an ebook here:
http://www.archive.org/details/historyofarabian030364mbp
Although there are some newer writings that take advantage of other primary sources, Farmer's work provides one of the better assessments of 8th
century musical life - as well as our knowledge about ouds of the time.
Best of luck!
-eliot
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Joshuaspoppa
Oud Admirer
Posts: 2
Registered: 4-7-2011
Member Is Offline
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Thanks for the suggestion, Eliot. Working my way through it now.
I also managed to find not one, but two oud players in my own home town - which is shocking to me, given that it's a pretty small place in a fairly
out-of-the-way area. I'm planning to ring them up and see if I can pay them, and their instruments, a visit, and maybe see if they'd be willing to
play for me a bit, just for kicks.
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