What is Ear Training?

ear training

As I mentioned the other day, I’ll be doing a free Ear Training session live on YouTube.  Ear Training sounds really boring doesn’t it?  What really is Ear Training? And why should you do it?  Let me put it this way…  Ear Training are essentially exercises that help you internalize and absorb the nuances of a maqam in a natural and innate way.  It’s like Monkey see… Monkey do…  Or…

Read More

Navid’s Top 5 Recommended Egyptian Songs

learn Egyptian Oud

How does an Oud player go about learning more Egyptian music?  How about a little crash course in Egyptian music… Well, this is the highly abridged, and terribly concise Egyptian music crash course.  For the simple reason that this is a huge subject…  But I’ve condensed all of Egyptian music to 5 tunes/songs that I believe can be your meze platter which I hope will entice you to learn more and…

Read More

The truth about Farid Al-Atrash… Learn Egyptian Oud

learn Egyptian Oud learn Egyptian music learn oud online how to play oud

What comes to mind when someone says the words, “Egyptian Oud” or Egyptian Music? Do you think of belly dancers?  Or do you think of the diva Umm Kulthum?  Or do you think of this cool dude Amr Diab?  Maybe all of these come to mind…  But what about Farid Al-Atrash…?  A long time ago someone corrected me when I said that Farid Al-Atrash was Egyptian. He’s associated very much…

Read More

An Exercise for Honing Your Taqasim

taqsim

In response to hearing a taqsim recorded by one of my Step-by-Step Taqasim students, I suggested the following exercise: One exercise you can do is take this recording of your taqsim and play it back and listen then try to recreate some of your melodies and think about what phrase you were trying to create at that moment. Then think about how you can refine it. By refining I mean,…

Read More

How to NEVER make a mistake when you play taqsim

How to never make a mistake when playing taqsim

Playing a taqsim can be intimidating.   …especially when your teacher or musically-versed audience is watching you intently.   In this video, you’ll find out how to NEVER make a mistake when you play taqsim.   Click here to check out Step by Step Taqasim!     How to NEVER make a mistake when you play taqsim   In 2016, I went to the Arabic music retreat and was put…

Read More

2017 Highlights & Step-by-Step Taqasim

learn taqasim

2017 is going by fast. It has been a very eventful year. I haven’t released any new videos on YouTube in a while, but a few things developed which you can totally take advantage of right now. You can now hear my self-recorded and self-released solo Oud album. And it’s free. I’m working on a new project with Cumbus with Oud strings. I would love to hear your opinion on a rough…

Read More

Taqsim Study Material – Practice Oud Taqsim

practice oud taqsim

How do you learn how to play taqasim? This is a subject that is difficult to articulate. There are very few materials out there that teach taqasim. There are not many study materials written on paper about taqasim. For some Oud players, taqasim might eventually develop. For others, it takes some guess work, trial and error, and coaching. I’m of two minds in regards to this: From one perspective, you…

Read More