upontheroof
Oud Lover
Posts: 18
Registered: 12-2-2005
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arabic and turkish ouds
hello there,
as anyone who has read any of my postings knows, i'm quite new to ouds. could someone explain to me, in some depth, the difference between arabic and
turkish ouds and the styles? i know some things, for example that the arabic oud has a lower tuning. is there any difference between the number of
strings? judging by the music i have heard on the oud, i prefer the arabic style of playing. however, i can't find anyone locally who teaches arabic
style. would it be worth it to learn turkish, just to get some stuff figured out. are the skills i would learn, easily transferable? does anyone
know of any good luthier's of arabic ouds that are worthy of doing business with?
thanks for the help!
allan
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
Posts: 2939
Registered: 1-30-2004
Location: Brooklyn, NY
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Arabic and Turkish ouds tend to have different tonal characteristics, with Turkish (as a very general description) brighter and with more echo, and
Arabic being darker with more midrange and less echo. There's a wide variety in Arabic oud styles, though.
One variation is the floating-bridge (also called "Iraqi" or "Bashir" oud); instead of a fixed bridge, the bridge is held in place by the tension of
the strings pressing down (similar to a violin, mandolin or archtop guitars). These are generally louder and have what I would characterize as a very
clear sound, almost guitar-like sometimes.
Arabic ouds are generally bigger and have a longer scale.
Most ouds in either style have 6 courses, but there are a lot of 7 course Arabic ouds, usually with a floating bridge.
You can definitely tune a Turkish oud down a step and play Arabic, and even sound good, but it's not the same as an Arabic sound.
Turkish workmanship is usually better on the beginner-type instruments than comparable Arabic ouds, but if you're sure you want to learn I'd say go
ahead and spend the money on a good instrument--in which case you can get a good Arabic oud from Shehata, Ghadban, or others.
As far as studying with someone, I recommend it. Even if you really want to learn Arabic style, a Turkish teacher can help you learn to use the
plectrum correctly, and get you started on the microtones. A lot of the "classical" repertoire is Turkish anyway (samai's, etc).
You don't say where you live. There are people on this board from all over the world, so someone might be able to recommend a teacher if you let us
know where you are.
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upontheroof
Oud Lover
Posts: 18
Registered: 12-2-2005
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p.s. i live in seattle, washington
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SamirCanada
Moderator
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Registered: 6-4-2004
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Actualy a teacher is going to help you because on the technical aspect for beginers its the same for arabic and turkish oud. The difference come
latter when you take in concideration the style of play and ornamentation but its nothing to worry about when trying to learn.
I have learnt completely using the learn to play videos over here.
http://www.mikeouds.com/video/learn.html
If you combine this with a few visits to the teacher who teaches turkish style you will learn to hold the oud properly and how to place your fingers
corectly etc... after that Its a mather of practice. Read up on the forrums too I suggest you go to some of the first posts that have been discussed
and read up. There's a wealth of information in here you can learn a lot.
You can look at this site to see a few examples of ouds and how they sound
http://www.msocp.com/InternetOudDatabase.htm
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
Posts: 2939
Registered: 1-30-2004
Location: Brooklyn, NY
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Mood: Stringish
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I also suggest joining the Arabic Music Retreat group on Yahoo and asking there if anyone knows a teacher in your area.
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John Erlich
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1470
Registered: 8-26-2004
Location: California, USA
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Hi Allan,
Last I knew, there was an older Egyptian gentleman named Maurice Roman living in the Seatle area. My friend Stephen Elaimy, who plays (played?) with
a Seattle-based group called Orchestra Halam studied with him. If Maurice is unavailable, Stephen is quite qualified to teach beginning Arabic-style
oud. Unfortunately, I have lost touch with Stephen.
Also, there is a mainly Turkish-style Seattle-based player Kane Mathis: http://www.kairarecords.com/kane/
If you are on the West Coast, consider the Mendocino camp in California: http://www.middleeastcamp.com/ Compared to the Arab Music Retreat in Massachusetts (http://www.simonshaheen.com/retreat.htm), the Mendocino camp is "pan Near Eastern," not Arabic only, and less "serious." That being said,
although I am an Arabic-style player and LOVE Simon Shaheen's playing (and prefer this style), the Turkish musicians who typically come to the
California camp (Necati Çelik, Halil Karaduman, etc.) technically can play in circles around any Arab musician I've ever heard.
Good luck.
John
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upontheroof
Oud Lover
Posts: 18
Registered: 12-2-2005
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so, i was just thinking that if an oud usually has 6 courses and a guitar has six strings, would tuning a guitar to oud tunings be of any value in
getting used to the scale of the oud. i know that the way you play and oud and a guitar is quite different but it seems like it might familiarize one
with some aspects of the scale. just a thought. thanks everyone for all the info so far!
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upontheroof
Oud Lover
Posts: 18
Registered: 12-2-2005
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seattle
nevermind that guitar question, i just realized that with the oud being fretless and guitar being fretted, there are probably some notes you can't hit
on the guitar.
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SamirCanada
Moderator
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Registered: 6-4-2004
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I tried that before and its not of any help. The oud is fretless and you have to play where the frets would be on a guitar. so the notes are not in
the same intervals and since the fingerboard is much shorter you cant relate when you sit with a oud. A bit the same as tuning a guitar like a violin
it wouldnt be of much use. Plus the oud is made to play arabic music wich consists of the use of Maqams(scales). These quite often use microtones and
what gives the oud its beuty is that you can play those semitones and modulate from Maqams to another.
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