Hatem_Afandi
Oud Junkie
   
Posts: 414
Registered: 2-26-2005
Location: TX
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Mood: Learning
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Improvisations and exercise
Dear friends,
As a oud player, I would "boldly" describe myself as a quasi-
professional or a competent hobbyist. Anyway, here is a couple of
dilemmas I am trying to resolve:
First, although I was able to develop the ability to play
complicated notes, I am still not able to improvise in my own and
create my own taqaseem. Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated.
The second issue I have is:
I practice for 2-3 hours every day. I spend longer hours over the
weekends too trying to play trills and the complex musical sentences
I listen to.
Every few weeks, I just lose it all! My hands become stiff and my
ability to play turns to that of a weak beginner. At that point, I
stop for a few days, and then I regain all my skills when I start
again.
I am sure that it is not a muscle issue because I play the both the
Arabic and Turkish ney too and I do have the same problem and I find
myself forced to stop for the same period of time. The question is:
Is that normal? Is it due to something wrong I am doing
consistently?
Best Regards,
Hatem
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palestine48
Oud Junkie
   
Posts: 448
Registered: 6-9-2004
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Mood: Free Palestine
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Ya its normal. You are just bunring yourself out. I found that out most significantly when i was a gym buff. I worked out so much I wasnt growing
as i did previously. then i was taught to work out in moderation and that its ok to take breaks here and there. I was able to grow again. Its not
your muscles thats the issue its also your mind and nerves. Imagine studying for hours, eventually you cant absorb any more information. Just relax
take a few breaks wether it will be a day or a week. your fingers like any other muscles have memory skills and you will be back playing just as good
as before if not better.
I should take my own advice.
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SamirCanada
Moderator
    
Posts: 3405
Registered: 6-4-2004
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Yah it is completely normal. The thing is if you keep practicing to much you will develop paterns and when you take a few days off those paterns
disapear. It hapens in anything. Music, sports etc... I think its the brain getting lazy. If you take a couple days off then your ideas get fresher
not as restrictive your more open to try different things. And much more creative for taqasims.. try to sing or hum what you want to play and
reproduce it with your oud after.
Palestine do you still work out? I have been bodybuilding for a couple of years now.. its important to take breaks but there dangerous since you can
always loose yourself in them and 1 week off becomes 1 month off faster then you think. I have a question related to that. Although I dont have larger
then normal hands or nothing,.. I would say that the rest of my body is larger then a regular person. I was wondering if anyone here works out with
weights regularly has difficulty playing oud? I feel that sometimes my forearms are used to hard work so when Iam trying to be precise on the oud I
get a bit of dificulty. I wonder if this is related to working out and if so is there a way to counter effect this.
To Stop working out is a ruled out option btw
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palestine48
Oud Junkie
   
Posts: 448
Registered: 6-9-2004
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Mood: Free Palestine
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To be honest I dont. I always try to but since I left college 2 years ago, i Lost the energy to do it. college you always have brakes and short days
where you go, but now everything seems like it has too be scheduled in and thats exhasuting. I keep trying to get back in it but I fall out like you
said. it can be dangerous but if u are really disciplined, a break is good. As for your question, no i dont experience that problem but it could be
a possibility due to muscle memory. I mean i know when i switched from whatever i knew about guitar to oud. my instinct was to play like a guitar
and it took time for me to ease into oud. so it could make sense ur body thinks ur normally just gonna lift something heavy. my only suggestion I
think is sit down with oud, play as slow as possible. go through soft motions until u feel its natural. and keep that up until u get adjusted. its
also possible that the weight of your arm maybe too heavy to hold up. bodies are sensative more than people think. ive heard horror sories of one of
the top body builders, he was so massive, he couldnt do anything that would require any stretching like using the bathroom, take a shower. he had to
sleep with pillows between his arms and legs if he slept on his side or the circulation of blood would cut off. he had all those chronic problems yet
he could to the splits while posing on stage. freaky man.
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SamirCanada
Moderator
    
Posts: 3405
Registered: 6-4-2004
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What your saying is verry true. Iam going to foccus playing a little more concentrated and precise. I always start that way and after I drift onto
playing something I already know. Same goes for taqasims I start practicing to develop a certain maqam. And after a while It gets too repetitive or I
drift into playing a song and I start doing whatever... I takes discipline in a sense but that's sort of the last thing you want to do Discipline
yourself when your siting down to play to get things off your head.
About the sport... I think you could be right about geting tired. I think because of the weights my forearms are always strained. And I noticed that
when I play for some time.. Its almost like my forearm fills with blood and thats when I get tired. Its a choice I make I guess my father was a
bodybuilder and my mother keeps on feeding me Its part genetics since Iam from the Mountains in the south near the Beqaa in lebanon. There is actualy
a saying that there might be "something in the water" because its known to have strong people.
Anybody else that has a take on this or a first hand experience please let us know. And Also please remember if you have a hint on developing a
taqasim share it.
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palestine48
Oud Junkie
   
Posts: 448
Registered: 6-9-2004
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Mood: Free Palestine
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I been in the mountains. i dunno if I went to beqaa valley. I been to basqinta, sanin, qarnayel, baalbak, zahleh, etc. I loved it so georgeous but
i gota say i felt culture shocked without having acess to all the technology im used to. hey man can u help me with a nutrition prgram. I would love
to tone up. im 205, i wanna get to 175 lean.
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