Performance Portfolio
type: CreativeWork
description: Arabic music continues to struggle to reach an international presence in the music world dueto one of two reasons: either it was not transcribed and notated properly, including stylisticallycorrect ornamentation, or it was never written down at all. Thus, it was not archived and wassubsequently unavailable to non-Arabic musicians. There are many reasons behind not findinga good source of books or research about the history of Arabic music. Today, it is rare to get abook or a resource that has a proper archiving of the history of notated Arabic music.The following are the main reasons:1. Overcomplicating the documentation: In a book called “Scales, Rhythms, and Maqams”by Mohamad Imam, he discusses the math behind the creation of the music, and he goesinto mathematical details about every note and the spaces between notes. He lists over 80names for different scales without having clear examples of each scale and how to use it.No harmony at all was mentioned in the book, not even one notation for the researcher toplay any music and learn these maqams.As a musician, I was looking for simplicity in listing the main maqams, then giving amusical example for each one on a sheet of music, preferably with a harmonious approachto every individual scale on what is suitable and what is to be avoided.2. Not following the world music notation: In the book “Ahmad al Qabbani" by A. Abd AlRahim, he lists good music sources and poets by Qabbani but unfortunately, the music hasnot been appropriately notated. Followers of Qabbani passed on the music withoutnotation. Most of the musical pieces mentioned in the book were notated without a formalstructure and no bar lines. A few pages from the book are attached as an example wherethe lack of accuracy and methodology in archiving those important pieces is apparent.Additionally, no harmony was applied. (Appendix 1, File 01).As a conductor, I was looking for scores to be able to share with my orchestra and performthem. So, from my experience,…
abstract: Arabic music continues to struggle to reach an international presence in the music world dueto one of two reasons: either it was not transcribed and notated properly, including stylisticallycorrect ornamentation, or it was never written down at all. Thus, it was not archived and wassubsequently unavailable to non-Arabic musicians. There are many reasons behind not findinga good source of books or research about the history of Arabic music. Today, it is rare to get abook or a resource that has a proper archiving of the history of notated Arabic music.The following are the main reasons:1. Overcomplicating the documentation: In a book called “Scales, Rhythms, and Maqams”by Mohamad Imam, he discusses the math behind the creation of the music, and he goesinto mathematical details about every note and the spaces between notes. He lists over 80names for different scales without having clear examples of each scale and how to use it.No harmony at all was mentioned in the book, not even one notation for the researcher toplay any music and learn these maqams.As a musician, I was looking for simplicity in listing the main maqams, then giving amusical example for each one on a sheet of music, preferably with a harmonious approachto every individual scale on what is suitable and what is to be avoided.2. Not following the world music notation: In the book “Ahmad al Qabbani" by A. Abd AlRahim, he lists good music sources and poets by Qabbani but unfortunately, the music hasnot been appropriately notated. Followers of Qabbani passed on the music withoutnotation. Most of the musical pieces mentioned in the book were notated without a formalstructure and no bar lines. A few pages from the book are attached as an example wherethe lack of accuracy and methodology in archiving those important pieces is apparent.Additionally, no harmony was applied. (Appendix 1, File 01).As a conductor, I was looking for scores to be able to share with my orchestra and performthem. So, from my experience,…
author: Hamami, M
language: en
date published: 2021
date modified: 2026-07-24T04:26:03Z
provider: U. of Salford
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: U. of Salford