Arab and Indian Music Cool Stuff Blog- Grace Montgomery

 Hello everyone! Last Cool Stuff Blog, so lets just jump right in. 

While we were learning about the Arab music one thing that really fascinated me was their beat patterns. As we were listening to the music I would find myself concentrating so hard to try and find the beats but sometimes never really could. Due to this I decided to do some research and I learned that there are at least one hundred different beat cycles used in Arab Music, and many of these beats come from different musical regions like Southern European styles, like Spanish music. One pattern found in Arab music is called "Wazn" or "darb" translating to "measure," this pattern is only used in genres with a fixed rhythmic beat. This includes reoccurring musical fragments that occur on the same times segments of at least two beats. Another beat series is called Maqsum below are two different examples of how this beat can be played. 

I thought it was interesting that when the drummers were first learning, they were not even allowed to touch a drum until they could play it with their mouths. This fascinated me so much I decided to do some research and I found this picture showing how they write these beats down. 

This is an example of "Wazn Wahdah Sayirah" or a "relatively short measure of four beats" 

One instrument in the Arab culture that I found fascinating is the Oud.  The Oud is a short neck, pear shaped instrument that usually has around 11 strings. This instrument is very similar to the modern or western lute. Something that I found interesting about the Oud was its meaning. As I was doing research I began to wonder how much harder an Oud was to learn than a guitar or banjo. I found something online that said that the Oud is not a harder instrument to learn rather, there is a whole different approach one must take to be able to play this instrument. 

Another thing that I found interesting about the Oud is its origin. It was created by a man named Abu Nasr Muhammad Ibn Muhammad Farabi, who says that he got the idea from hanging the dead body of his son from a tree. The legend suggests that the skeleton of his son resembled the Oud. Farabi says, "It places the temperament in equilibrium... it calms and revives hearts." 

https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/origins-of-the-arabic-oud-1.605234