Introduction and Turkish Oud Questions
Hello,
So, I've had an oud since 2015. My grandfather had it in his house from Damascus. It was of a very poor quality. I live close to oudist John
Berberian, so I had him fix it up for me. He even suspected it was just for decoration. I decided to just use it for the time, considering I was new
to the instrument, and I did not want to make a serious investment until I knew I was going to be serious about it. I was in college at the time, so I
would practice every so often, but not a lot.
During the pandemic, I lost my job, so I used the extra time to really practice the oud more seriously. Needless to say that I fell in love with it.
It got to a point where I recently talked to Berberian again and asked where I could buy a higher quality oud.
He sold me a 1923(!) Papazian oud from Athens. It sounds beautiful, and is a major improvement over my last oud. The best way I can explain it is if
you started breathing fresh air after breathing through a straw for three years. The playing is so much easier.
The other difference is that the Papazian oud is Turkish style, so it is smaller and the tuning is different. Mr. Berberian had it tuned to EABead,
the most common tuning for Armenian players (I am of Armenian descent).
One question I had was about playing Makams. For example, in Arabic tuning, the "Hijaz" makam starts on a "D". With this new Turkish one, does it
still start on the "D", or does the whole Makam move a step up as well, so the makam starts on an E? If I did this, the fingering would stay the exact
same, but the notes would be different.
Thanks so much for any help. I look forward to using this forum for any questions that I have!
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