Preferences and Pedagogies of Musicians in Amman, Jordan Undergraduate Senior Project in Ethnomusicology Earlham College, Richmond, IN Hope Savaria Safford Autumn 2016 H.S. Safford 1 25 October 2016 Table of Contents PREFACE 2 INTRODUCTION 3 METHODOLOGY STUDYING ARAB MUSIC LAYOUT 3 4 14 PART ONE: ARAB MUSIC AND MUSIC PEDAGOGY IN THE MODERN PERIOD 15 NINETEENTH CENTURY EGYPT THE FIRST HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY EGYPT IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY ARAB MUSIC IN THE 21ST CENTURY AN OVERVIEW OF ARAB MUSIC PEDAGOGY TODAY – CONCLUSION OF PART ONE 15 20 25 26 30 PART TWO: JORDAN 33 AMATEUR SINGERS MUSIC STUDENTS TEACHERS AND PROFESSIONALS 35 42 49 SYNTHESIS 61 APPENDIX ONE: GLOSSARY OF TERMS 65 APPENDIX TWO: QUANTITATIVE STUDY – GRAPH AND QUESTIONS 67 APPENDIX THREE: PRIMARY RESOURCES 73 INTERVIEWS MUSIC THEORY BOOKS AND OTHER RESOURCES 73 73 BIBLIOGRAPHY 74 1 H.S. Safford 2 25 October 2016 Preface On a warm Spring morning in March I hailed a cab on a wide, open street in the Dabouq neighborhood of West Amman and asked to go to the King Hussein Cultural Center. The driver headed down the hill into thick traffic. Amman is not a large city, but the winding roads and the presence of more cars than the city was built for mean that any cab ride can take more than an hour. As we drove, I responded to emails, made a phone call, and tried to pay attention to the route we were taking. Half an hour later we arrived at a building in Shmeisani that turned out to be the wrong King Hussein Cultural Center. In order to get my bearings, I got out and hailed a new cab, called the person I was meeting, and had him direct the second cabbie to the correct King Hussein Cultural Center, a modern building next to the Jordan Museum that houses the National Conservatory of Music. There I met Sakher Hattar, the head of the Arabic Music Department and a brilliant ‘ud player. I spent the rest of the morning in Sakher’s office drinking Arabic coffee and learning about his life, his work at the Conservatory, his ensemble, the musical history of Jordan, and his teaching philosophy. At one point he handed me one of the several ‘uds in his office. “I’ll tell you what to play,” he said, and he walked me through a taqasim (improvisation). “Imagine you are sitting at the end of the risha (the long, thin plectrum used to play the ‘ud),” he suggested. When I left Sakher’s office, I headed straight to a café on Rainbow Street, an artsy area that caters to European and American tourists and ex-pats. Sitting in the sunny upstairs of the café, I tried to process what I had learned from a morning that ended up being a definite highlight of my field work. Up to that point, I still was uncertain whether I wanted to focus my research on pedagogy, but spending a morning with Sakher Hattar convinced me that studying 2 H.S. Safford 3 25 October 2016 pedagogical techniques could reveal the depth and complexity of Arabic music’s relationships with heritage, modernity, preservation, and globalization. Introduction Methodology My meeting with Sakher Hattar in March 2016 exemplifies how my research on Arabic musical pedagogy unfolded. I chose to speak to individual musicians (amateurs, students, and professionals); observe how they learned, performed, and discussed music; and get to know their specific opinions and philosophies of musical pedagogy (defined in this research as the processes of learning and teaching used or imparted by an individual or society). Through a combination of these case studies, practical elements such as learning the ‘ud, and academic research on the evolution of Arabic music in the last century I gained a thorough understanding of Jordan’s modern musical pedagogical practices and how they compare to those of other countries in the Arab world. Between two trips to Jordan in Spring 2015 and 2016, I spoke with more than a dozen musicians and observed many others. Conversations with eight of these people became the case studies for this research. The voices quoted in this thesis span a range of practices from highly traditional to very Westernized. In 2015, my research focused on three amateur singers performing structured improvisations with the Dozan wa Awtar choir. I also began learning the ‘ud. In 2016, I spoke with amateur musicians and students about their musical preferences and training, and I interviewed professional musicians and teachers on their philosophies, practices, and projects. 3 H.S. Safford 4 25 October 2016 Studying Arab Music Studying modern Arabic music without acknowledging the history of the Arab world would not only ignore the violent colonial history of the region, it would also fail to acknowledge the complicated causes of modern Westernization and globalization of Arabic music. Modern Arabic musical practices were, and are, shaped by imperialism, colonialism, and orientalism. Therefore a historical study of Arab music is absolutely essential to ethnomusicological study in the region. At the same time, the post-colonial context of studying Arab musics calls into question the reality and use of binary categories, as well as many assumptions held until recently about the nature of Arab music. In addition to discussing these binaries, it is also important to address inbetweenness and hybridity as essential conversations to the study of Arab musics. Binaries: The East vs. West binary is one of the many dichotomies that must be discussed in conjunction with the study of Arab musics, and particularly to the study of the Westernization of Arab musics. While binaries can be useful in analyzing musical evolution in a post-colonial context, it is important not to treat the binary as a “given” even when “its two components rely on each other” (Gordon 2014: 102). This is not to say that the binary is entirely false, for it certainly holds onto some vestige of reality. Rather it is to acknowledge that a binary is a flexible, finite, and mortal construct. As Ali Jihad Racy explains in his article on the Cairo Congress (which I will discuss later on), historical dichotomies and dualisms existed in both the Orient and the Occident (Racy 1993: 81-2). Dichotomies are an integral part of how humans define themselves as separate from the “other.” However, power dynamics such as those created 4 H.S. Safford 5 25 October 2016 in imperial and colonial encounters create imbalance where one half of the binary exerts control over the other half. As Gordon explains, from the early twentieth century onward, “Egyptians seem to have adopted a European sense of a separate East and West, and indeed, the very binaries of East and West, and colonizer and colonized, have been theorized as emerging out of the colonial encounter” (Gordon 2014: 35). The consequences of this development are farreaching. Gordon goes on to say that the “colonial separation of East and West” can be connected to the “modernist separation of reality and representation. Once made distinct from their European counterparts and framed as ordered objects rather than people, Egyptian practices could be read, analyzed, ordered, classified, and…controlled.” (Gordon 2014: 36) Control, order, and classification of the East by the West cannot be ignored; they are essential aspects of the development of Arab musics today. The categories of “Western” and “Eastern” are real in the sense that Arab musicians themselves use them in practical conversations, yet they are also constructed fictions. These categories fail to actually define anything about the nature of European music or Arab musics. Therefore, “Western” and “Eastern” or “Arab” hold extensional rather than intensional definitions. Since I am focusing on art music throughout this research, I will use “Western” to refer to the Eurogenic notated music commonly taught in conservatories across the world. On the other side of the spectrum, I will use “Arab” to refer to the pre-colonial art music traditions that are primarily un-notated yet highly structured, as defined by scholars such as Ali Jihad Racy and Scott Marcus. I will also use “Arab” to refer to the actual music that is understood and performed by contemporary Arab musicians.1 In a pedagogical context, meanwhile, I will use “Western” to 1 As such, these two uses of “Arab” sometimes seem in opposition to one another. This overlap of terminology is intentional as it reflects the vocabulary used by the musicians with whom I worked. I attempt to clarify the usage as much as possible within the text. 5 H.S. Safford 6 25 October 2016 refer to the tutoring system in which students learn from teachers in scheduled lessons and also learn and practice on their own time using notation. In contrast, “Arab” musical pedagogy (in the traditional sense defined by Racy) will refer to the master-apprentice relationship where students learned by rote from extended time spent with masters. Given these definitions, “Westernization” will refer to the importation of Western pedagogy and common practice into Arab pedagogy and common practice. This may be seen in such instances as the prevalent use of notation to teach Arab musics. The West-East encounter, and resulting power dynamic, is an umbrella binary under which many other dichotomies exist. Divisions of gender, class, religion, etc. can all come into play when discussing defining variables involved in musical practices (Racy 1981: 6). In this research, a primary dualism that should be mentioned is the classical or art vs. popular or local dichotomy, since I chose to focus on art music throughout my research. According to Racy, the division between art music and popular music can be misleading (Racy 1981: 4). Racy defines art music as having three major characteristics: a) exclusivity (usually within a specific social class), b) continuity (over time and sometimes space), and c) immunity (to both internal and external forces of change). This last characteristic is the most complicated. Obviously, art music changes and evolves; yet the ability of art music to persist throughout time while retaining specific characteristics shows its immunity to some forces of change. Racy gives the Western example of people wanting to hear Baroque music on original instruments (Racy 1981: 7-8). Art music may not remain immune to change in all ways, but it certainly retains essential aspects that are immune to total revision. In the West, we tend to take for granted the dichotomy between classical/art and popular/local. Elsewhere, this distinction may not be as clear (if indeed we can call it clear in Western music, from an objective perspective). Folk music may overlap with art 6 H.S. Safford 7 25 October 2016 music in the West and in the Arab world, but the ways in which this occurs can be so varied that the overlap is not recognized at all. Genres such as “art,” “popular,” and “folk” have definitions in a Western context. In an Arab context, there is no reason to assume that these categories would carry the same definitions. This is just one of many examples of how using Western perceptions of music may limit comprehension of the actual landscape of the musical “other” (in this case, Arab musics). It is clear in Racy’s writing that he decides to define Arab art music as music that can elicit tarab2 (musical ecstasy) for both performers and audiences. I find that this definition is useful since many of the musicians I talked to used “tarab music” to describe the musical traditions that may be referred to as “classical” or “art” by someone else in the region. Additionally, interpreting tarab music as art music allows iconic artists (who do not necessarily fit in either category of the art/classical binary from a Western perspective), such as Umm Kulthoum, to fit into research involving the “classical” music tradition of the Arab world. Acknowledging the long history of Western orientalism sheds light on the roles that Westerners have played in shaping (or trying to shape) Arabic music. Exoticism of the “Orient” by Western musicians, composers, and musicologists was apparent at the First International Congress of Arabic Music, held in Cairo in 1932. The Congress will be discussed later on, but here it is important to call attention to the fact that exoticism of the Arab world led to a preservationist approach3 on the part of Western delegates to the Congress, including Béla Bartok and Paul Hindemith (Racy 1993: 85). Arab musicians and musicologists at the Congress 2 See Appendix One: Glossary of Terms for explanations of Arabic musical terminology in italics. 3 In this case I am referring to the (mostly) European musicologists of the mid-twentieth century who advocated for keeping Arab musics free of “Western” instruments and music theory with the intention of “preserving” the Arab musical tradition and keeping it separate from their view of the Western category. This went against the explicit desires of Arab musicians who wished to use Western notation and instrumentation to reclaim and perpetuate their musical heritage. 7 H.S. Safford 8 25 October 2016 tended to lean towards Westernization as a useful method of reviving heritage and strengthening musical unity. Western delegates mostly opposed these ideas. In my research I, too, found myself leaning towards questions such as the following: why is Westernization so prevalent? What were the positive and negative effects of the many decisions throughout Arab music’s history that led to the use of Western notation, solfège4, and teaching systems? Through speaking to musicians, I found that it was much easier to understand the music itself and its relationship to both Arab heritage and Westernization if I actively chose to ignore preservationist attitudes, which were often not reflected in the philosophies of the musicians I observed. Lillie Gordon writes about how “reluctantly setting aside [her] struggle to understand what distinguishes Arab and Western violin playing paved the way for a better understanding of the ways players make violin playing meaningful in their lives, individually and collectively (Gordon 2014: 10). In her case, she lay aside a dichotomy (a dichotomy that, moreover, is of Western origin) and found this was more fruitful, and that it provided deeper contexts for her research. For me, realizing that the binary between Arab and Western practice in the areas of pedagogy, performance, and learning is often more gray than black and white meant that I was able to have an actual idea of the musicians themselves. The people I worked with are not participants from whom I collected data. They are individuals whose lives and music(s) simultaneously conform to and diverge from both Arab and Western musical identities. In-betweenness: Lillie Gordon’s dissertation, “Egyptian Violinists and the Negotiation of InBetweenness,” is an excellent example of how an ethnomusicologist might choose to conduct research while keeping in mind complicated aspects of supposed dichotomies, post-colonialism, 4 Arab musicians tend to use fixed Do (Do = C) as well as English note names (A, B, C, etc.). I did not encounter anyone who used the pre-colonial Arabic pitch names. 8 H.S. Safford 9 25 October 2016 and globalization. She uses the term “in-betweenness” to describe the position that the violin and violinists hold, but she also uses it as an “analytical tool for exploring the postcolonial condition” (Gordon 2014: 8). The violin is a tactile example of the European and Arab (West and East) categories are opposite ends of a spectrum used by Arab musicians that includes adaptation of techniques, preservation of heritage, hybrid and fusion musics, innovation, and evolving musical languages. Along this spectrum, individual performers pick and choose aspects from each tradition’s theory, aesthetics, and pedagogy to achieve their goals. Gordon explains that the “spaces in-between become as much a lived reality for many people as do idealized categories, though both are necessary for the existence of this framework” (Gordon 2014: 7). She also goes on to say, “Depending on the day, the project, the person, or the piece of music, Western and Arab violin playing may be fused, defended as separate, integrated, or treated individually” (Gordon 2014: 211). In the same way that a multilingual person may use various language resources (i.e. vocabulary, slang, etc.) from individual languages to enhance their own speaking of any language, Arab musicians supplement their music, be it Arab or Western, with aspects that clarify, enhance, and shift musical conversations and aesthetics. Though Gordon writes specifically about violinists, her research on in-betweenness is relevant to any discussion of Arab music. Her experiences of violinists in Egypt are similar to my own experiences working with a variety of musicians in Jordan. In-betweenness involves the “integration of difference, rather than the creation of a [new] distinct style.” (Gordon 2014: 5). While this acknowledgement of difference perpetuates the East/West binary, it also subverts it by creating spaces for individualism outside of idealized categories without forgoing local traditions, aesthetics, and styles. Gordon asserts, “It is possible to frame violinists and composers not as victims of cultural imperialism, but as intellectuals and activists, taking the resources at 9 H.S. Safford 10 25 October 2016 their disposal to imagine new possibilities” (Gordon 2014: 38). While it is important to acknowledge and condemn the oftentimes horrific effects of colonialism and imperialism, orientalism, racism, and Western or Christian exceptionalism, preservationist attitudes that ignore the agency of modern Arab musicians to choose how they innovate can be just as damaging to the evolution of Arab musics. Individuals have agency in directing change within a situation of common circumstances (Gordon 2014: 41). Today, Arab musicians often praise those who have mastered both Western and Arab theory and technique. Gordon also incorporates the idea that “these in-between spaces, while sometimes tenuous, are also privileged, privileged in that they provide a position for forging relationships between diverse musical worlds and presenting various identities at the interstices of name categories” (Gordon 2014: 2). Arab musicians who are able to incorporate aspects of Western music have power within their field. This can be as obvious as using Western progressive harmony to influence the trajectory of an improvisation or as subtle as choosing to teach students using a Western-style tutor system rather than through an apprentice/master relationship. The ability to incorporate both the Arab and Western musical systems is idealized among Arab musicians, as my case studies reveal. Gordon writes that in Egypt, “it is often violin players’ particular enactments of tradition within innovative moments that give their work symbolic power” (Gordon 2014: 40). I found this to be true among musicians in Jordan as well. Tarab is one of the most fundamental aspects of Arabic music and it is not rare to observe an Arab artist incorporating subtle Western-inspired traits in order to inspire tarab. In this way, the incorporation of difference (in this case, of Western techniques) has had an innovative effect on many Arab musicians. Hybridity and in-between space is a contemporary conversation within post-colonial 10 H.S. Safford 11 25 October 2016 critique. Scholars such as Homi Bhabha, Marwan Kraidy, and others have defined in-between and hybrid spaces as new frontiers created through liminality. Ethnomusicologist Sarah Weiss critiques both the notion of hybridity and the post-colonial critics in her 2014 article, “Hybridity and Perceptions of Authenticity in World Music.” She writes, “Rather than accept cultural products…as solid entities, [Kraidy] suggests that we must understand those products as persistently emergent. And this fluidity intersects with shifting receptions and assessments of that cultural product” (Weiss 2014: 511). In-betweenness, then, is neither concrete nor singular; it is individual and fluid. Weiss also goes on to look at Brian Stross’s “hybridity cycle:” What happens if we imagine cultural change as a continuous and multi-faceted movement from discrete form to hybrid to new discrete form, with limitless possible fusions?...In Stross’s formulation, cultural entities move periodically from heterogeneous forms to more homogenous ones and then on to more heterogeneous forms…We can determine that what was once hybrid has come to seem originary and authentic even as it is being hybridized into something new (Weiss 2014: 512-13). The hybridity cycle is applicable to how inbetweenness manifests itself in Arab culture. Arab music adopted the Western notational and solfège systems in a moment of heterogeneity that became a more or less homogenous aspect of Arab musical practice. Notation and solfège, while Western in origin, do not usually compromise contemporary Arab musicians’ perception of authenticity within Arab music. In my experiences, inbetweenness has created a new innovative space in which the Western and Arab categories are both acknowledged and taken for granted among Arab musicians. Taking the Past into Account: Lillie Gordon states, “The past should not be represented as a singular teleology, but as a various set of personalities combined with common political and artistic forces” (Gordon 2014: 40). A single cause may lead to varying effects for different 11 H.S. Safford 12 25 October 2016 people and societies. At its heart, this statement advocates stepping away from generalization in both historical and contemporary contexts. In musicological study of Western art music, we set great store by harmonic complexity, counterpoint, and polyphony, yet the ancient Arab texts show that there is nothing inherently exceptional or superior about the Western system. The rise of Western music as a lingua franca of describing music throughout the world (e.g. through transcription), like the rise of Western hegemony itself, was not due to some inherent characteristic of Western music that set it above and apart. Case studies are one way to go about this, but there are a couple other methods that are also essential. First of all, it is necessary to acknowledge the gaps and mistakes in past research and illuminate Western-centric tendencies. Second of all, it is important to avoid false parallels whenever possible and discuss the subject at hand (Arabic music) on its own terms, incorporating its own history and evolution. Stefan Ehrenkreutz writes about the gaps in musicological study of the Arab world in his (somewhat dated) article, “Medieval Arabic Music Theory and Contemporary Scholarship.” The main idea of Ehrenkreutz’s article is that on the one hand contemporary scholarship of Arab music needs to incorporate the study of medieval Arab music theory, and on the other hand, the research conducted on the subject of medieval Arab music theory is incomplete, generalized, and over-simplified. Using the example of rhythm, Ehrenkreutz demonstrates how many scholars (including Henry G. Farmer, Rodolphe d’Erlanger, and E. R. Perkuhn) come to conclusions that openly criticize inconsistency, primitivism, and contradictions within the ancient texts of Arab philosophers such as al-Kindi (d. ca. 874), al-Farabi (d. ca. 950), and Safi al-Din (d. 1294) without acknowledging that these medieval sources were written centuries apart and thousands of miles away from one another. Disparity, therefore, is natural and should be expected. Nevertheless, Farmer, d’Erlanger, and Perkuhn choose to ignore great swaths of the medieval 12 H.S. Safford 13 25 October 2016 texts in favor of picking and choosing aspects that fit their respective conclusions. Many of these conclusions support the assertion that Western music evolved teleologically from Arabic musical traditions. As Ehrenkreutz explains, Although Arabic music and its theory border in some fascinating ways on European music and its theory, it should not be forgotten that while Arabic music had chosen to develop an intricate, highly embellished monophony (at most heterophony) with complex rhythms, European music was beginning to opt for polyphony. The tradition of Western scholarship of Arabic music is to carry the connections with Europe too far. Western scholars insist on a direct causal link between Arabic music and the ‘rise’ of medieval European music. Usually this argument is based on a firm belief in the absolute inability of the Europe of the Dark Ages to make a creative initiative on its own. This argument has been bolstered by the fact that much of medieval European scientific, theological and philosophical thought was actually Arabic in origin (Ehrenkreutz 1980: 257). Not only does this evolutionary philosophy assume the primitive-ness of Arabic music (in comparison to Western music) and buy into the idea that the Arab world peaked in the Middle Ages and has since gone backwards, it also chooses to ignore fundamental differences between medieval music of Europe and the Arab world. The idea that the structure of Arabic theory should somehow fit comfortably into a Western framework of what can and should be prescribed and described in music theory, is a clear example of Western-centricism. Ehrenkreutz’s article also provides a useful example of how avoiding false parallels is important in combatting generalization and Wester-centric tendencies. He points out that, “The d’Erlanger French translation of the Grand Book [by al-Farabi] has many defects, such as the use of common Western musical terms as equivalents of Arabic terms that are so removed from the European terms in context and meaning that only a distant, very deceptive relation exists” (Ehrenkreutz 1980: 250). It is not an easy task to describe Arab music using a European language. Just as meaning is lost in translation of texts or conversations, attaching specific European words to Arabic musical concepts (i.e. “mode,” “scale,” “time signature,” etc.) does 13 H.S. Safford 14 25 October 2016 not necessarily provide a useful definition or description. Defining Arab musical terms in English cannot be done merely by choosing an English equivalent from our word bank of Western musical vocabulary. Instead it is necessary to explain the concept (even deceptively simple concepts) by incorporating the Arabic context of the original term. Ehrenkreutz’s example of rhythm is a useful example: Contrary to European conceptions, rhythm, as described by al-Farabi, is not conceived in terms of a normative, somewhat extended, rhythmic duration that is subdivided or multiplied so as to derive other durations. In other words, Arabic rhythm is additive…For the medieval Arabs, the standard rhythmic value was an ‘atomic,’ shortest possible, rhythmic duration, which was combined with more of these same durations to obtain larger units. The length of the shortest rhythmic duration was the length of time between two attacks such that no attack could be inserted between the two (Ehrenkreutz 1980: 261). While it is not incorrect to define iqa’at as “rhythm” in English, it is necessary to acknowledge how the word differs from a pre-twentieth century Western art music understanding of rhythm, meter, time signature, note duration, etc. This is the same with any Arab musical concept. Layout In Part One, I discuss Arab music and music pedagogy in the modern period. I outline the major events of Arab music’s timeline, focusing on Egypt and its influence over the region. In this section I also outline the goals and outcomes of the First International Congress on Arabic Music of 1932 and analyze the pedagogical changes in Arab music teaching in the modern period. This chapter brings up issues such as life under colonial rule and the resulting “internal inferiority complex” that privileged Western music and musical education over Arab traditions. Finally, I present the main characteristics of Arab musical pedagogy today using the works of Lillie Gordon, Ali Jihad Racy, Scott Marcus, and Shireen Maalouf along with my own experiences of learning Arabic music. 14 H.S. Safford 15 25 October 2016 Part Two discusses Jordan’s unique musical position in the modern Arab world. This research is entirely based on fieldwork I conducted in 2015 and 2016. First, I talk about the musical preferences and learning practices of three amateur singers in the Dozan wa Awtar choir. Second, I examine the opinions of two music students at the University of Jordan on using Western elements in performance, composition, and music education. Finally, I outline my conversations with three professional musicians and teachers. Jordan’s musical practices incorporate a combination of various traditions from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and elsewhere creating a unique landscape of pedagogical characteristics. ______________ The purpose of my research is to explore answers to several questions I developed during my first trip to Jordan: How and why did Western music theory and terminology become part of the Arab musical lexicon, especially in terms of pedagogy? How do amateur and professional Arab musicians view the Westernization of Arab musical pedagogy? How has Western music acted in conjunction with European colonialism in the Arab world and what does that mean for Arab musicians in terms of how they interact with both the Arab and Western styles? By focusing on pedagogical practices in Jordan, I developed an understanding of the vastly diverse opinions present in musical circles in Amman. Part One: Arab Music and Music Pedagogy in the Modern Period Nineteenth Century Egypt The beginning of the modern era in Arab music is usually defined, among scholars, by two events: Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt and the move towards equal temperament, both of 15 H.S. Safford 16 25 October 2016 which occurred in the late-eighteenth or early-nineteenth century5. In the nineteenth century, the colonial and cultural climate of Egypt led to the institutionalization of music education, the building of musical cultural centers, and the rise of the belief in the superiority of Western music. The shift to equal temperament was the first of many instances where Arab musicians and musicologists trended towards standardization, simplification, and codification of Arab music to facilitate Western-based models of education and dispersion of musical ideas. As Shireen Maalouf explains, the Arab pitch system, in practice, is highly complex and cannot fit into the tight restrictions imposed by equal temperament. She writes that “Arabic music is not founded upon twenty-four notes separated by quartertones, but rather is based upon stable notes which, depending on the melodic motion, attract less stable notes. Although this method may sound difficult to convey to beginning students, it nonetheless communicates the reality of contemporary Arabic music” (Maalouf 2011: 223). Pitch standardization in the form of equal temperament is a clear example of how pedagogy often bears the brunt of official changes in music theory. Though many performers continue to use the traditional Arab system described by Maalouf, the official descriptions of maqamat and how they are taught depend on this move towards codification, and therefore students’ conversations and conceptual understandings of the maqamat tend to revolve around the standard definitions.6 With the move towards equal 5 Egypt’s position at the forefront of Arab musical culture is generally considered to be the most obvious in the twentieth century during the pan-Arab movement, the rise of technology in Cairo, and the popularity of such artists as Umm Kulthoum and Muhammad Abd al-Wahab. However, the importance of Egypt in the evolution of Arab music dates back further than the twentieth century. Therefore, Egypt remains the central location of musical evolution in the Arab world through much of my historical overview. Though my field work took place in Jordan, and Jordan itself is musically unique, it is still appropriate to focus on Egypt as a historical musical center since that is how many Jordanian musicians view Egypt (and specifically Cairo) in Arab music history. 6 Naturally, the move towards equal temperament was followed by the desire to harmonize Arab music. Maqamat that include only notes that also appear in the Western system (that is to say, 16 H.S. Safford 17 25 October 2016 temperament and the exposure to European practices through colonization, Egyptian musicians adopted a practice of using Western models to modernize and standardize Arab music, musical philosophy, and music pedagogy. Before and after the Napoleonic invasion, Egypt existed under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, as did most of the Arab world. The French invasion made way for new leadership in Ottoman Egypt, and Muhammad Ali Pasha maintained control for the first half of the century. Egypt also continued to be influenced by French and English culture via trade and the construction of the Suez Canal. Music theory and practice began to incorporate aspects of both European and Ottoman musical systems. I have already mentioned the main European influences (notation, solfège, and the tutoring system). The Ottoman musical system also contributed major aspects to Arab theory beginning with the rise of Ottoman Empire in Egypt in 1517. These contributions included the use of the sama’iyyat and other forms of repertoire for solo maqamat that do not include half-flats or half-sharps) were easier to harmonize, albeit using Western concepts of progressive harmony (leading tones, dominants, etc.). Occasionally, harmony has also been applied to maqamat with “neutral” pitches (quarter-tones), but this has not caught on because neutral tones, by their nature, do not create the harmonic tension needed in voice leading. Maalouf explains this phenomenon: The exchange of the major or minor third of the triad with the neutral third is flawed for two reasons…[1] The tempered neutral third…simply does not exist in the overtone series…[2] The insertion of the tempered neutral third transforms the nature of the triad…The initially major or minor triads take on a neutral quality. It becomes clear that progressions with neutral triads do not support harmonic tension and resolution, nor do they favor attraction within the voice-leading motion. Therefore, such progressions can only produce a stagnant and motionless musical language, disconnected from Western tonal harmony and Arabic monody. Under this light, I believe that the application of Western tonal harmony to Arabic monody does not enrich Arabic music, as it is often supposed (Maalouf 2011: 235). Though harmony is now relatively commonplace some circles of Arab musicians, it is mostly avoided when dealing with neutral pitches. In my experience, the main effect of applying harmony to Arab music is that it draws attention away from the complexity of the melody and how the maqamat are being used. The responsibility of creating forward motion and emotional arc in the music falls to the harmony rather than to the natural progression of the maqam itself. 17 H.S. Safford 18 25 October 2016 instrumentalists and for ensembles with or without vocalists. This study focuses on the incorporation of European/“Western” elements into Arab musics, but the Ottoman contribution is still significant. It is also important to note that it was during Ottoman rule that much of the standardized Westernization occurred. Institutionalization of music education under Ottoman rule during the early nineteenth century had a lasting effect on Arab music, yet according to Racy, rote-methods of learning were still considered necessary to master the art of tarab. The late-Ottoman era was characterized by two closely related aspects of musical culture that precipitated change: 1) the prevalence of an internal inferiority complex prioritized Western musical practices, and 2) a greater demand for musical institutions led to the adoption of concrete aspects of Western musical pedagogy. The Internal Inferiority Complex: Imperialism as a process is not a single, passing event. Just as the political transience of the Arab world led to musical transience and evolution7, the colonial condition creates lasting effects that are more than superficial inconveniences. Colonial powers exercised not only political control but personal control over their subjects by creating Westernized schools that instilled European cultural models from a young age. In short, there are significant psychological and pedagogical effects of colonialism and these affect music as much as they affect any other aspect of culture (Gordon 2014: 34). Colonialism creates imbalanced 7 Transfer of power from one group to another in the Arab world both strengthened and eroded the Arab musical traditions outlined by the medieval philosophers. As Shireen Maalouf explains, “The rapidly-risen impulse of musical activity and literature of the Abbasid period moderately declined towards the nineteenth century through periods of languishing cultural degradation and stagnation. These centuries were marked by Ottoman domination, which had transferred the center of culture and music from Baghdad to Istanbul. A new type of art was born in Istanbul and was strongly influenced by Turkish characteristics. The components of Arabic music were being assimilated into Turkish music and the tradition of Arabic music were left buried in the privacy of some individuals” (Maalouf 2011: 19). 18 H.S. Safford 19 25 October 2016 binaries and fosters movements towards Western-centric models of modernization. In nineteenth century Egypt, “Egyptians began to view European modes of being as existing in opposition to local ones, thus solidifying bifurcated ideas of tradition and modernity, and Europe and Egypt” (Gordon 2014: 16). This is the method by which dichotomies grow out of colonial conditions. National identity, culture, and methods of education began to revolve around the idealization of Europe in the eyes of the Egyptian elite and the general public8. The Institutionalization of Music Education: The first music institutions in Egypt were founded under Ottoman ruler Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha (r. 1805-1848). According to Gordon, “These schools prompted not only the establishment of a military band tradition in Egypt, but the spread of Western music there as well, including the proliferation of the use of staff notation and equal temperament” (Gordon 2014: 14-5). In his analysis of pedagogical changes in the Arab world as a result of conservatories, Ali Jihad Racy also mentions the inclusion of “keyboard technique,…polyphony…and harmonization of the Arab maqamat.” He goes on to say that institutions exclusively taught precomposed pieces rather than teaching the improvisatory techniques essential to tarab music. Scholars such as Gordon refer to the development of “double consciousness” in the minds of colonial subjects educated in colonial institutions. These scholars, and musicians in this case, acquire an intuitive sense of the East-West binary, and they integrate the two systems without diluting either category. 8 Maalouf explains that, even today, “Contemporary attempts to follow the footsteps of Western music, either driven by a stance of Western superiority or a search for new avenues in musical composition, continue to grow. However, when these attempts do not reach dead ends, they assist in shaping a musical language, neither Arabic nor Western, yet with characteristics of both” (Maalouf 2011: 228). 19 H.S. Safford 20 25 October 2016 The First Half of the Twentieth Century Starting in 1882, British imperialism opened another chapter in the history of colonial Egypt that lasted through two World Wars, the advent of significant technology, and the rise of Egypt as the heart of Arab musical culture. Under the British, Egypt’s music conservatories and other educational institutions gained popularity and prestige, cultural exchange between the Arab world and the West increased, and Arab music began to forge a modern identity. Despite significant Turkish (Ottoman) influence on Egyptian music, twentieth century Egyptian musicians developed music that “represented a distinctive Egyptian style, not European and not Ottoman” (Gordon 2014: 24). Indeed, Arab nationalism at the turn of the twentieth century and later led to the definition of Arab music as “Arab” as opposed to “Oriental” or “Eastern” (Marcus 1989: 29). Shireen Maalouf explains the changes in Arab music in the twentieth century using two cultural transformations: [1] Cultural interconnection between Arab countries resulted in the musical tradition of each country coming into direct contact with the musical traditions of other countries. This close contact led to two opposite consequences: on one hand, the aspiration to unify Arabic music emerged; but on the other hand, the subtle differences which characterize each of the musical traditions…stood in the way of those who were working towards a unified Arabic music…[2] Cultural exchange between the Arabs and the Westerners, largely due to Western colonialism and missionaries, highly influenced musical practice and training in Arab countries (Maalouf 2011: 215). Both of these cultural transformations are exemplified by the establishment of the Oriental Music Club and Academy of Oriental Music in 1913 by Mustafa Rida. Rida insisted that the cooperation of all Arab nations was essential to reviving and systemizing Arab music using Western-style musicology. He endeavored to codify major aspects of Arabic music from its history to its instruments to its pedagogy (Racy 1993: 70). No doubt, his ideas led to the 20 H.S. Safford 21 25 October 2016 organization of the First International Congress on Arabic Music in Cairo in 1932. The second cultural transformation mentioned by Maalouf was apparent in the decline of takht ensembles, which were previously used to provide “a learning context and a stepping stone toward becoming accomplished performers,” and the loss of apprenticeship as the traditional form of musical training (Racy 2003: 26). This transformation was also exemplified in the less frequent use of maqamat using quarter-tones (Racy 1981: 10); and in the popularity of European composers (Racy 1981: 19). The interwar period saw huge changes in Arab music, musical culture, and general society. These changes were caused by a variety of factors including technology10, the move towards larger ensembles11, the rise of Umm Kulthoum and other iconic artists12, and the 10 Without the invention of the radio, music in the Arab world would probably have taken a completely different route. The importance of the radio to Arab music cannot be overstated. Egyptian Radio, founded in 1934, provided Arab countries and the broader Middle East with weekly shows featuring famous performers (such as Umm Kulthoum), and encouraged musicians from all over the region to follow their careers in Cairo (Marcus 1989: 28). Before the radio, Cairo was already a major center of musical influence, but the radio left this position without possible question. Though other countries developed radio stations, Cairo remained the most famous and the most credentialed. Other technological advances such as amplification and film also played large roles in the dispersion and evolution of Arab musics in the interwar period and later. Amplification is now considered essential by many Arab genres of music, and musical films promoted the works of famous artists through romantic plots and songs. 11 Performers such as Umm Kulthoum and the national radio helped develop the new, larger ensemble style by expanding the takht ensemble. The expansion was usually achieved by adding full violin and cello sections and, sometimes, additional strings in a Western orchestra-style format. The music remained mostly monophonic or heterophonic, but the additional instruments added depth and volume. The new group became known as the firqa and it accompanied artists during the Golden Age of Arab music, which was characterized by the voice and persona of Umm Kulthoum. According to Lillie Gordon, “Egyptian State Broadcasting decision-makers saw an increase in the size of the Arab music ensemble as both a positive examples of the integration of European elements in Arab music and a symbol of ‘progress’” (Gordon 2014: 26). Later on, Gordon goes on to say that modern musicians (violinists in her case) “rarely discuss the emergence of the firqa as anything more than a logical progression in musical development” (Gordon 2014: 105). I also found this to be true in my experiences in Jordan, though I should also mention that the creation of the firqa introduced an accompanimental aspect to Arabic instruments (such as the ‘ud, violin, etc.) that did not exist in the takht era to the same extent. 12 Umm Kulthoum is probably the best known Arab musician to have ever lived. She’s certainly the most recognizable to the international community. Her life, work, and persona were an 21 H.S. Safford 22 25 October 2016 First International Congress of Arabic Music in Cairo in 1932. The First International Congress of Arabic Music – Cairo, 1932: The musical questions of the early twentieth century came to a head in Cairo in 1932. The widespread belief that Arab music was, in some way, inferior to Western music coupled with a rise in nationalism led to the desire in Egypt and throughout the Arab world to preserve musical heritage within a Western paradigm. Modernization and Westernization were inextricably bound in the minds of many musicians and intellectuals who saw the introduction of “elements of Western music into Arab music, particularly music theory, as a useful strategy for updating [Arab] music and its pedagogy.” (Gordon 2014: 27). Applying Western musical ideas to Arab music could (hopefully) combat the trend in Cairo and elsewhere towards exclusively teaching Western music. Racy echoes this view in his article on the Congress explaining that many musicians in Egypt felt that the Golden Age of Arabic music had peaked during the Middle Ages with composers and philosophers such as integral part of what came to be known as the Golden Age of Arab music: roughly 1935 to 1970. She was beloved as a national and pan-Arab icon as well as a musical icon. There is no parallel in Western music to explain her significance in the region. Umm Kulthoum and one of her composers, Muhammad ‘Abd al-Wahab (who is an iconic and brilliant musician in his own right), represent the emphasis that contemporary Arab music places on in-betweenness. In this case, musicians “often characterize Umm Kulthum as a representative of tradition, and Muhammad ‘Abd al-Wahhab as a great innovator…However, both performers achieved success through their insightful negotiation and integration of [tradition and modernity]” (Gordon 2014: 29). Gordon goes on to explain that even though Umm Kulthoum is viewed as a “representative of tradition…she embraced new song forms, new ensemble formations, and new technologies,” and even though ‘Abd al-Wahab is viewed as a “great innovator…contemporary musicians prize his recordings and compositions as examples of Arab modal (maqam) usage and intonation” (Gordon 2014: 29). The ideal of modern Egypt, therefore, became a space between tradition and modernity, the latter of which was characterized by aspects of European culture. Both of these artists, along with several others, became important aspects of modern Arab musical pedagogy. I was told to listen particularly to ‘Abd al-Wahab’s music to learn and perfect intonation, become accustomed to modulation techniques between maqmat, and learn the trajectories of improvisation. Decades after their deaths, Umm Kulthoum and Muhammad ‘Abd al-Wahab are important sources of influence and inspiration to Arab musicians. 22 H.S. Safford 23 25 October 2016 al-Kindi and al-Farabi, and that there was a need to “re-civilize” Arab music in the modern era. (Racy 1993: 68-69) The objectives of the Congress were addressed and discussed by different committees made up of Arab and European delegates, and the proceedings were described in the Book of the Congress. The objectives were as follows: [1] To set precise rules for Arabic music in conformity with the principles of arts and sciences, and upon which all Arabic countries would agree. [2] To study the appropriate means for the evolution of Arabic music. [3] To set the scale and to determine a standard musical notation. [4] To establish rules for vocal and instrumental compositions. [5] To organize musical training. [6] To examine the instruments appropriate to use in Arabic music. [7] To record the popular chants and tunes of every Arabic country. [8] Finally, to study the published material or manuscripts of Arabic composers and musicologists (Maalouf 2011: 216). Scholars agree that the Congress was called in order to decide how to use Westernization to the advantage of Arabic music. The European delegates to the conference, such as H. G. Farmer, Béla Bartók, Paul Hindemith, Erich von Hornbostel, Robert Lachmann, and Curt Sachs, were seen as invaluable resources towards the development of an Arab musical identity that incorporated “scientific” aspects of Western music (Marcus 1989: 31). Yet, these European delegates tended towards a preservationist approach that advocated for the decline of Western influence in Arab music and, in the eyes of their Arab counterparts, undermined the independence and agency of Arabs to decide what was best for their traditions (Danielson 1997: 77). The effects of the Cairo Congress in the following decades (and into the present day) affected every aspect of music and were met with varied reactions from different Arab countries. Perhaps most importantly, the Congress led Arab musicians to self identify their music as distinctly “Arab” rather than “Eastern” in a more general sense. This reflected a sense of nationalist identity that was more political than musical (Shannon 2006: 210n7). The Cairo Congress is, beyond a doubt, the most obvious turning point in Arab music in the last century, and it is held in high regard throughout the region today. 23 H.S. Safford 24 25 October 2016 In my experiences in Jordan, I noticed the Westernized method of teaching maqamat, so I want to draw attention to the decision made regarding maqamat at the Cairo Congress. Maalouf explains the complexities of the discussion of maqamat at the Congress, which was one of the most fraught topics at hand in 1932. Critics of the standardization of the maqam system feared that it would lead to an oversimplification of Arab music that would remove essential complexities of the music. The commission for setting the maqamat discussed temperament, simplification, and notation, among other things (Maalouf 2011: 218). Critics of the decisions made by the commission opposed the equal tempered scale, the tetrachord model of describing maqamat, and notation based on raising and lowering quarter-tones in a standard fashion, all of which were recommended by the Congress. In my experiences in Jordan, I found that the maqamat were even more Westernized than the original recommendation. Though Maqam Rast (which contains quarter-tones) was maintained by the Congress as the primary scale, my ‘ud teacher usually taught Maqam Ajam first, which is often heard as having the same notes as the Western major scale. I often heard that maqamat with quarter-tones were more complex or difficult than those without quarter-tones. The trend towards Westernization alarms some musicians today, but to most it is simply the way Arab music has evolved in the wake of the decisions made in 1932. The explicit and official effects of the Cairo Congress on musical pedagogy were fairly straightforward. Notably, Arab music study became a prerequisite for studying Western music at conservatory and university, and students of Arab music would be required to learn some European theory and history (Racy 1993: 75). The Congress led to a standardization of Arab music that did not sustain the apprenticeship model of teaching into the second half of the twentieth century. Though the importance of practical experience and performance is still 24 H.S. Safford 25 25 October 2016 prioritized in Arab music education, the relationship between student and teacher has changed dramatically. This decline had already started before 1932, yet the models put forward by the Congress set institutional education (in both Arab and Western music) above other learning environments. Egypt in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century In 1952, a non-violent revolution forced King Faruq, who was complicit in the continued British occupation, to abdicate the throne and effectively ended British colonialism in Egypt. Within four years, the British military was completely removed from the country. The new era of independence in Egypt led to nationalism, pan-Arabism, and the desire to preserve heritage. Though the Congress of 1932 had already effectively prioritized institutional education, the creation of an independent national (and governmental) identity led to an even greater appreciation for standardized education. The predominant view, that Europeanized methods of education, music theory, and composition were superior and necessary, “conflicted with new notions of Egyptian nationalism,” and yet the European paradigm remained (Gordon 2014: 28). The desire for modernization using Western ideas (either directly or indirectly) continued to direct the development of a national musical identity. Pan-Arabism required a standardization of heritage in order to retain potency. The founding of the Arab Music Ensemble in 1967 expressed the government’s commitment to heritage through standardization.13 The modern, standardized 13 In Ruth Davis’ comparison between Egypt and Tunisia’s musical modernization movements, she explains that in Egypt, the Arab Music Ensemble founded in 1967 …introduced radical changes in transmission, performance practice and context, clearly derived from Western orchestral models. These changes were based on a well-defined musical ideology aimed at reinterpreting the traditional repertory according to contemporary aesthetic ideals. The result was a ‘modernized heritage’(Davis 1997b: 78). 25 H.S. Safford 26 25 October 2016 Arab musical tradition used solfège and staff notation borrowed from Western music, simplified maqamat, and placed an emphasis on institutional education. Mass music education in the Western style was the practical cause of this standardization, though it was closely connected to nationalist and pan-Arab sentiments. The creation of more accessible and acceptable music education came at the cost of preserving some of the traditional styles.14 Paradoxically, this situation led to an increased appreciation for Arab music alongside a loss of some aspects of the tradition. Music theory, by its nature, can over simplify and ignore the dynamic chance aspects that are inherent in music as an art (and as a science). Each performer naturally adds their own voice and style to any given instrument, piece, improvisation, or performance. Despite the fact that this variability remains, the standardization of music theory in the Arab world had a marked effect on musical practice. Today, maqamat are almost always conceptualized using solfège and staff notation, reading Western staff notation is an expectation, and elements of the Western musical lexicon are prominent in musicians’ conversations. Arab Music in the 21st Century Arab music today spans and incorporates many genres including pop, hip-hop, and metal, in addition to strong art and folk music traditions. Western instruments, languages, and rhythms 14 According to Scott Marcus, “The introduction of music and music theory into the mass education system necessitated a new type of music theory, a pedagogical theory which explained the existing music in a simplified, systematized, and standardized fashion…When the theory was oriented toward the specialist, aspects of complexity were not something to be avoided in theoretical expositions: one could expect the specialist to wade through complicated issues and read at necessary levels of understanding. But now with mass music education, previous levels of complexity were no longer acceptable”(Marcus 1989: 35). 26 H.S. Safford 27 25 October 2016 are commonplace, not just in fusion examples, but also in the compositions of a large percentage of Arab artists. Racy explains that even in the art (tarab) music circles, many musicians are “bimusical” – meaning they are fluent in both Western and Arab styles (Racy 2003: 29-30). While many artists see this eclecticism as a positive, innovative, and international attitude, musicians also recognize the cost of this modernization. I met few Jordanian musicians who read the works of medieval theorists, and musical communities are fairly insulated, meaning that the majority of the population has very limited access to musical education. Jonathan H. Shannon explains, somewhat bluntly, that “the Arabs find themselves living through a period of marked crisis, their aspirations for cultural and social modernity thwarted by lengthy periods of colonialism, postcolonial instabilities, persistent economic stagnation, and crises of political legitimacy” (Shannon 2006: xvi). Factors such as globalization, standardization, and constant change play a role in the complicated landscape of Arab music today. While Arab musical institutions continue to set great store by bi-musicality in Arab and Western theory, performance, and pedagogy, Arab musicians themselves are forging new paths that do not necessarily depend on widespread views of Western superiority within the Arab world. Many musicians are interested in exploring genres from across the globe, and artists have incorporated Latin, jazz, flamenco, and Indian styles, to name a few, none of which fit into the Western music education that is usually taught in institutions. Gordon writes: Modernizing ideologies and modernization efforts in Egypt have produced two contrasting or contradictory outcomes that greatly impact Egyptian violin players. [1] Firstly, an emphasis on progress and development drove an interest in creating new, more systematic education structures that would transmit information in more uniform and organized ways…[2] Secondly…the increased, accelerated, and unequal contact of people from different parts of the world more recently had produced a self-reflexive subject able to imagine new possibilities for identification (Gordon 2014: 32). Cultural exchange is often imbalanced, as proven by the history of Arab music’s 27 H.S. Safford 28 25 October 2016 Westernization, but in the age of the Internet, global economics, and social media, communication and exchange across boundaries of language, culture, and power dynamics are not only possible but also inevitable. The modernization efforts described above have focused on standardization and institutionalized education, yet contemporary musicians and music teachers continue to create individual and national musical identities. Gordon mentions two possibilities of how musicians go about this (there are, of course, as many methods of innovation as there are musicians). First of all, “contemporary players can employ past musicians associated with historically grounded ideologies in their own presentations of self” (Gordon 2014: 106). There are several examples of this. For instance, Umm Kulthoum’s persona as both a singer and a political person has maintained her relevancy into the 21st century. Second of all, musicians may employ local sources of knowledge, local genres, and local conceptual understandings to develop and distinguish their music. This can separate music from its colonization and question the priorities of the modern state (Gordon 2014: 219-20). Globalization in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world has created a musical culture in which all potential influences are taken into account, and where innovation may arise from heritage and history. Standardization efforts beginning around the time of the Congress and persisting to the present continue to affect music and musicians today. Scott Marcus’ dissertation, though it was written over twenty-five years ago, demonstrates that the decisions made towards systematicity of Arab music theory have led to a common theory that is set apart from the theory that was outlined and employed for over a thousand years before the Cairo Congress in 1932: 28 H.S. Safford 29 25 October 2016 Over the last fifty years, as a greater and greater percentage of professional musicians and music teachers came to be products of the various music institutes, the new simplified, pedagogically-oriented theory spread so that it became, first, the predominant form of music theory and then, in time, the only ‘living’ music theory. Today’s musicians and music teachers, with virtually no exceptions, look back upon the theory that existed prior to the process of simplification with little or no comprehension…The present-day theory is not based on an analysis of previous generations’ theoretical treatises. Works written prior to the recent process of simplification are not commonly read; when they are read they are not generally understood. Thus, for all intents and purposes, the only theory that exists today is the present-day theory (Marcus 1989: 39). This is not to say that no one understands or uses the ancient texts, but musicians that do are the exception. In my experience, I did not encounter any musicians who exclusively use the pre-standardization texts. Returning to traditional theory, concepts, and pedagogical styles is a choice that some contemporary musicians choose to make, but the fact that this choice is active and marked proves that the old theory has all but vanished from common use. I want to emphasize that the study of Arab musics is fluid. Much like the rest of the world, the Arab region is in a state of constant change. In the past century, Arab nations and their peoples and cultures have been rocked by colonization, occupation, invasion, authoritarianism, radicalism, civil war, revolution, and diaspora. These events have, of course, affected the musical culture of the region. Studying contemporary Arab music and music pedagogy relies on scholars whose work is constantly going out of date. Jonathan H. Shannon’s beautiful book on Syrian musical practices, written in 2006, is a wonderful resource for understanding Syria’s reaction to the Cairo Congress, but it was written well before the outbreak of civil war in 2011, or the subsequent rise of Daesh (ISIL). Ruth Davis’s articles on Tunisia, which portray Tunisia’s response to the Cairo Congress, were written before the Arab Spring in 2011, as was most of Lillie Gordon’s dissertation on Egyptian violinists (though she was able to add some sections on 29 H.S. Safford 30 25 October 2016 the revolution later on). This is not to say their research is not useful or true, but rather that it cannot tell the full story up to the present moment. My personal connections with musicians in Jordan has allowed me to fill a small part of the gap between the works of these scholars and the current musical culture in the Arab world. An Overview of Arab Music Pedagogy Today – Conclusion of Part One Discussions of pedagogy do not exist in a vacuum devoid of performance, music theory, or history, which is one reason why I have provided an outline of history in this section. Before moving on to discussing my own research, I want to provide a short description of the timeline of changes in musical pedagogy in the Arab world. As was the case with my historical outline, Egypt will feature prominently, though not exclusively. Lillie Gordon’s belief that “performers, educators, and curricula constitute a feedback loop in which skills and practices valued as part of historical ideologies, aesthetics, and market demands continue to impact and shape each other” is highly useful here (Gordon 2014: 148). Studying how people learn can be complicated because it is so individualized. However, the feedback loop mentioned by Gordon sheds light on how tradition and innovation influence one another in a more general sense. Traditional methods of teaching music in the Arab World, which were prominent through the beginning of the 20th century, consisted of two primary aspects: tajwid and apprenticeship. Ali Jihad Racy defines tajwid as the “melodically elaborate recitation of the Qur’an” and he mentions that some church liturgies in the Eastern Christian tradition were used in a similar fashion to develop knowledge of maqamat and improvisatory intuition (Racy 2003: 26). I have already mentioned the master-apprentice relationships that characterized music education before institutionalization. The pedagogies of these relationships were built on memorization, repetition, 30 H.S. Safford 31 25 October 2016 practical experience, and extended amounts of time with musical role models. Pre-colonial methods of teaching employed the ancient texts of al-Farabi, al-Kindi, and others, which focus on descriptions of musical patterns and performance trends. Though it has been difficult to get a sense of exactly what pre-colonial Arab music education looked like, my conversation with Sakher Hattar implied that in some instances, students would hear a melody from a musical master and repeat it back adding their own ornamentation appropriate to the maqam of the piece. My friend Nemat Battah explained to me that individual pitches had unique names (e.g. Sikah = E or Mi half-flat) and these varied from octave to octave. According to Nemat, Arab musicians adopted the Western solfège system because of its monosyllabic nature and consistency from octave to octave. Today, most Arab musicians use fixed Do solfège (within both the Arab and Western musical systems). In pre-colonial times, however, musical masters referred to pitches using their unique names. While tajwid and apprenticeships are not always explicitly required for Arab musicians to be successful today, there is still a belief that recitation, improvisation, and exposure to mentors are important aspects in the development of a musician’s sense of tarab. The institutionalization of music education began with colonization in the late 18th century and continued through the middle of the 20th century, co-existing alongside more traditional models. The institutionalization incorporated Western musical practices, philosophies, and concepts. The presence of music conservatories in most major Arab cities built nationalist and pan-Arab identities that led to the standardization of music theory and pedagogy at the First International Congress of Arab Music in Cairo in 1932 and afterwards. In the years after the Congress, traditional methods of teaching became more rare, government subsidized musical institutions and ensembles were established, and the “new” music theory thoroughly replaced ancient musical resources. 31 H.S. Safford 32 25 October 2016 Perhaps the most obvious and ingrained change in Arab music was the incorporation of Western staff notation and solfège. These systems were adopted due to the widespread belief in Western exceptionalism and they were maintained by a belief in their convenience and efficiency. Accessible documents on Arab music theory and music pedagogy nearly all use Western notation and solfège. Music teachers use these two systems on both Arab and Western instruments, often in conjunction with modifying the maqamat to be more parallel to Western modes. During the course of my research in Jordan, there were several areas where I observed this widespread Westernized theory. While working with Nemat Battah, my friend and music theory tutor, many of the books we used employed solfège, Western notation, and terminology such as “tonic,” “dominant,” and “subdominant.” In my lessons with ‘ud master Tareq Jundi I also observed that the ‘ud method chooses to start students with the parallel of the Western major scale (Maqam Ajam), instead of starting with Maqam Rast, which was traditionally the most basic maqam. The method books I used to continue learning the ‘ud over the past eighteen months all use Western notation and solfège. I should note that the vast majority of these books are not written for Western students. They are written in Arabic, by Arabs, and they include exclusively Arab musical examples. Staff notation and solfège are no longer simply elements that Arab music uses as a tool for communicating musical concepts in educational environments. These two systems are completely assimilated into Arab music theory and pedagogy. ______________ Modern Arab musical pedagogy is not merely an appropriation of the Western system to accommodate Arab music, or vice versa. Both the Arab and Western systems have been modified to create a cohesive Arab music theory that has defined the educations of the last two or three generations of Arab musicians. There are, of course, consequences. The standardization 32 H.S. Safford 33 25 October 2016 of maqamat has led to less frequent use of the quarter-tone (Gordon 2014: 174, Racy 1981: 10). Improvisations may be conceptualized using either maqamat or Western progressive harmony (or both). However, informal musical encounters are still viewed as necessary to cultivate tarab (Racy 2003: 31), and, most importantly perhaps, Arab musicians intuit the “Eastern”15 feel of Arab music and value this voice. The sense of the Arab aesthetic has endured through complete change of the Arab system of music theory and pedagogy. Part Two: Jordan Jordan holds a unique position in the Arab world. For nearly the last fifty years, Jordan has represented, according to the West, an oasis of stability. It is certainly easier to travel to Jordan than to many other places in the region, and the country’s economy relies on regional and global tourism. According to ‘ud player Sakher Hattar, Jordan’s heritage is a mix between nomadic Bedouin culture and farming culture. These communities have similar traditions (musical and otherwise), but they use distinctly different dialects of Arabic. Musical traditions in both communities did not tend to use complex iqa’at or a large range of maqamat, according to Sakher16 (pers.comm. Sakher Hattar 03/06/2016). In contrast to other major cities in the region, Amman (the capital city) grew from a village to a large metropolis in the last century, and the population of Jordan has increased greatly since the mid-20th century as a result of several refugee crises, including the current Syrian refugee crisis. A majority of the Jordanian population 15 This is sometime referred to as ruh sharqiyya and it is considered to be “one of the defining terms of the aesthetics of authenticity.” (Shannon 2006: 72) 16 I am on a first-name basis with all of the people discussed in my case studies. Therefore, I will be referring to them by their first names regularly. 33 H.S. Safford 34 25 October 2016 identifies as having ethnic roots elsewhere in the region (about half of the population identifies as Palestinian). Demographics aside, Amman’s relative youth has meant that many Jordanian musicians studied outside of the country in cities such as Damascus, Beirut, and Cairo; influence from diverse areas of the Arab world are all present in Jordanian art music and music education. Academic programs in music did not appear in Amman until the 1970s, much later than anywhere else in the region. (pers. comm. Sakher Hattar 03/06/2016) In 2015, my research in Amman centered around three case studies. I interviewed and observed the work of three amateur singers who performed mawwawil between each section of Jordanian choir Dozan wa Awtar’s performance of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. The poetry of the mawwawil dealt with similar themes to those of the Carmina Burana texts. Each of the mawwal soloists approached singing from a different musical background and process. I also met several times with Nemat Battah, one of the singers I worked with, and a music student at the University of Jordan. She explained the structures used in improvisation and taught me the basics of Arab music theory. I also took lessons on the ‘ud with Tareq Jundi, a well-known ‘ud player in Amman, and spoke to him about his teaching. Finally, I began looking into the history and development of Westernization in Arab musical systems. I approached the work from a series of questions regarding the singers’ approaches to improvisation and the words they used to describe their processes, the contexts of Western musical vocabulary in Arab music, and what Westernization means in the perspectives of young Arab musicians. When I returned to Amman in the Spring of 2016, I had a very limited time frame in which to complete my field work. With that in mind, I decided to retain the format of focusing my research around a small number of case studies. I interviewed several members of Dozan wa Awtar; two students at the University of Jordan, including Nemat; Nahla Mattar, an Egyptian 34 H.S. Safford 35 25 October 2016 composer teaching at the University of Jordan; and Sakher Hattar, the chairman of the Arab music section at the National Music Conservatory. I spoke to all of them about their musical backgrounds, preferences, and philosophies. Upon returning to my studies at Earlham College in the Fall of 2016, I also began lessons with Tareq Jundi over Skype to get a better sense of his teaching style and to improve my own musicianship on the ‘ud. All of my interviews (in both 2015 and 2016) were conducted almost entirely English because all of the musicians I interviewed are entirely bilingual. In Jordan it is common for people to speak in Arabic and English interchangeably, or in “Arabizi,” which combines both Arabic and English grammar and words. Arabic was used occasionally during my interviews to clarify definitions of Arabic musical terminology. I expected to find considerable variety in the pedagogical styles of the people I interviewed. However, I did not necessarily expect to see notable trends in my data, since musical preference and learning or teaching style can vary greatly on an individual basis. In general, my research supported the evidence that, for the last century, Arab music education has completely adopted Western notation and solfège, and this remains true in modern Jordan especially for professional musicians. While individual musicians and educators are developing non-Westernized methods of learning and teaching, they do not represent a large contingency of musicians. However, these individuals may influence the future trajectory of pedagogical philosophy of Arab musics in Jordan and elsewhere in the region. Amateur Singers In the context of this research, I will define “amateur” musicians as those I talked to who do not see themselves as having professional or formal education in music. While at least one of 35 H.S. Safford 36 25 October 2016 them, Hind Hamed, sings in for-profit environments and has produced a recording, she still considers herself to be an informal or casual musician and singing is not her primary occupation. Since my connections in Jordan were mostly, though not exclusively, formed through the Dozan wa Awtar choir, the singers in this section are all from that group. However, the three of them span a wide range of musical backgrounds and preferences. Sari Carmi, Basem Muna, and Hind Hamed are all in their thirties; they are older Millenials18 and younger Generation X-ers19. ______________ Sari Carmi: Sari is a bass in Dozan wa Awtar, and I interviewed him during Dozan’s annual retreat to the Dead Sea in March 2016. Sari grew up in a musical family; his father helped found one of the first choral groups in Jordan. He began singing in children’s choirs at a young age. I asked him questions about his musical preferences and how he tends to conceptualize and learn music. Sari told me that he particularly likes the music of composers who bridge the gaps between musical styles, and he mentioned Yanni’s music20 as an example of this. He prefers “different styles of music at different times,” though most of the examples he mentioned were Western musics and musicians. He conceptualizes music through its “style” based on both macro and micro distinctions (e.g. genre, period, composer, performer, etc.). In terms of learning music, his Western musical background indicated to me that he had training in Western theory; however, he told me that he had very limited formal training. He said he has greatly benefitted from music lessons on counting and reading in Dozan itself but that he still primarily learns by 18 The Millenial Generation was born between the early 1980s and early 2000s. Generation X was born between the early 1960s and early 1980s. 20 Yanni is a Greek New Age musician whose work incorporates “world music” as well as rock and jazz styles. 19 36 H.S. Safford 37 25 October 2016 ear. He also told me that if he were to improvise or even add ornamentation, he would not know “if it were correct.” My conversation with Sari was notable for several reasons: 1) he prioritizes Western music in his preferences, yet he learns music outside of the notated pedagogical style, 2) his descriptions of musical styles focus on the Western canon, and 3) he is not comfortable with improvising. These three characteristics represent one of the many ways that an individual may incorporate both Arab and Western musical cultures into their lives. In this case, Sari’s musical experience and perspective mostly fall into the Western category, yet his learning style and conceptualization of learning music fall more into the Arab pedagogical tradition. Overall, his background and priorities represent a highly Westernized Arab perspective. Basem Muna: Basem is a tenor in Dozan wa Awtar. He participated in Carmina Burana in 2015 as one of the three mawwal soloists. I observed Basem’s rehearsal process in 2015 and spoke with him then about his musical background and his improvisational style at various points during that process. In 2016, I interviewed him about his general musical preferences, goals, and perspective. In 2015 I spoke with Basem shortly after he received the poem he would improvise on for Carmina Burana. He came to singing and to improvisation fairly recently, by his own account. “Each year we do a Dozan [wa Awtar] retreat,” he told me. “There was one [last] February. We had a session, an improvisation session…Nedy [one of the directors of Dozan], he gave us a baseline or a note and we started building on it, so each one [of us] started improvising something different.” “Was that the first time that you improvised something?” I asked. 37 H.S. Safford 38 25 October 2016 “Yeah.” Basem prioritizes the emotional arc of the improvisation over anything else. I asked him what was different between singing improvising and singing pre-composed music. “Well,” he said, “when you’re improvising it’s something that you did and it’s your feelings. So I think that…is what makes the difference. When you’re doing improvisation, you try to put everything that you’re feeling into the improvisation. I think that’s the difference.” “So it’s your own feelings?” I asked. “Yes,” he confirmed. “And what do you want the audience to experience when you improvise?” “I would like them….to say ‘wow’ maybe, or say, ‘that was really good.’” “[Do you want them]21 to experience the same sore of arc that you’re feeling?” “Yes, yes!” He confirmed enthusiastically. Basem does not have much formal musical training, but he is very adept at learning by ear. His process for developing his improvisation is very much based in instinct. Often, he records what he is working on and plays it for someone who is more formally trained. Though he is not a professional singer, his learning experiences are similar to those of the historical Arab musical training system in which masters taught apprentices through repetition of melodies and patterns, rather than through notation. Most of his interview with me in 2015 dealt with topics of emotion. He found places in his vocal range that could communicate strong emotions. In meetings with Haleem Khatib, who accompanied all three mawwal singers on the qanun (the Arab zither) for Carmina Burana, Basem would use words such as “higher,” “lower,” “descend,” “ascend” to describe the 21 Brackets indicate implied words that were either omitted in conversation or inaudible on my recording. 38 H.S. Safford 39 25 October 2016 intentional arc of his improvisation, and then he and Haleem would work collaboratively to develop a more exact shape of the melody he sang in the performance. Haleem would often play an idea and Basem would repeat it, or vice versa, in order to ensure that they were on the same page. This process involved very little specifically musical vocabulary (for example, they did not talk a lot about maqamat, nor did they use Western solfège to describe the melody). The learning style used, however, is much more in keeping with the traditional Arab pedagogical method of internalizing appropriate melodic patterns from prolonged exposure. Basem’s approach to improvisation and singing involves an emotional basis for structural development and an excellent ear, as well as a desire to seek advice from friends with formal training in both the Arab and Western systems. When I spoke with Basem again in 2016, I asked him what he enjoys most in music, how he improvises in his free time, and about his musical goals. “What I most enjoy to sing,” Basem said, “are Arabic songs, specifically old, old songs, classical songs. The reason is…there is something about the old songs that has more tarab. I enjoy that, and also it gives you more space to improvise and add your 3rub22 more than anything else. So with the songs that we hear recently they are fast, so you cannot add your own touch, or you cannot add 3rub or something like that. So I really prefer the old songs. When I do improvise…I usually do it either at home or when I’m driving.” “When you’re improvising in the car for example, what are you thinking about?” I asked him. 22 This is a word for which I do not have a clear definition. From the context Basem gave me, I assume it means specifically Arab ornamentation, or ornamentation that can elicit tarab. 39 H.S. Safford 40 25 October 2016 “Well basically when I start to improvise…if I’m listening to a song on the radio or whatever and I find a place that it’s nice to improvise on I turn it down and I do something random, so that’s how it happens.” “So you’re elaborating?” “Exactly! Yes, and I sometimes record it.” He is grateful for the vocal training he has received in Dozan, particularly breathing exercises and warm ups. “Everything I learned [about singing] was from Dozan,” he told me. “I really enjoy doing Arabic songs with Dozan because they have the quarter tones and the 3rub and these things you don’t have in Western music. You have a lot to experiment with.” Basem went on to say that he would like to improve his Arabic singing technique and sing more Arabic music with the choir. Another of his musical goals is to learn to play the qanun. In some ways, Basem could be seen as being the opposite of Sari in terms of his musical perspective. Basem prioritizes Arab music and musical training over Westernized styles. He recognizes that notation and solfège are, today, integral parts of Arabic as well as Western music education, but his preferences and goals focus around improvisatory vocal training outside of the Westernized paradigm. Musical prowess, to Basem, is about cultivating tarab and the ruh sharqiyya, something that cannot be manufactured using standard Western techniques of musical understanding and teaching. Hind Hamed: Hind was a soprano in Dozan during my first trip to Jordan. She was another mawwal soloist for Carmina Burana. Because she did not sing with Dozan during the 2016 season, I was unable to catch up with her then. However, she talked at length about her musical background and preferences when I worked with her in 2015, so I gained a fairly complete image 40 H.S. Safford 41 25 October 2016 of her musical perspective. Hind told me she does not remember the first time she improvised something. Music has been an important part of her life since she was very young. Her father took her to concerts to see a wide variety of artists, both Arab and non-Arab, while she was growing up. She mentioned being impressed by Yanni’s music in particular. She has never had any formal training in Arab or Western musical styles. Similarly to Basem, Hind follows her instincts regarding the melodies of her mawwal and learns entirely by ear, often recording herself and listening to what she’s come up with, then repeating and memorizing it. I asked Hind what makes an improvisation successful, and for her it came down to the text. “[A good improvisation links] the meanings of the lyrics to your heart before it goes to your mind,” she explained. “Opening the heart gate will just give it a different feel. It can reach people more quickly. The first thing I look at [in approaching the mawwal for Carmina Burana] is the lyrics themselves. Especially as I don’t have a very strong musical background [and] I’m not familiar with all the maqamat, it’s just my heart that goes wherever it goes. I cannot give enough time to study music academically, especially the Arabic part of the music. So I follow my heart, [and] the lyrics come first.” In addition to talking about the lyrics, Hind also brought up phonetics as an important component, explaining the importance, to her, of many words with long vowels that can be drawn out over melismas in her melody. Her formal musical vocabulary is limited, but in conversation with Haleem (the qanun player), she tended to use more musical terminology than Basem. The Arabic names of various maqamat often came up in conversations, as did Western musical terms such as “tonic” and “dominant.” Though Hind does not read Western notation or know the specifics of the maqamat, she is fairly familiar with the language used to describe the structures of vocal improvisation. This is a clear example of how Western terminology permeates 41 H.S. Safford 42 25 October 2016 Arab music. Sonically and conceptually, Hind’s melodies are entirely Arab, but her use of terminology seems to be equally based in Arab and Western systems. Hind approaches her improvisations from an almost purely emotional level. However, if she is talking about what she’s doing with her melodies, her vocabulary tends to incorporate both Arab and Western words. Her method of learning by ear, similar to Basem’s, is much more related to Arab traditional pedagogy than to the Western tutoring system. ______________ All three of the amateur singers in this research employ older Arab styles of learning music. Though their musical backgrounds and preferences vary (from more Western to more Arab), they all learn by ear. Rote learning exemplified the master/apprentice pedagogical style that was prevalent through the Ottoman-era in the Arab world. Obviously, a major piece missing from modern rote learning is the “master” of the master/apprentice relationship. Hind, Basem, and Sari are apprentices who lack a distinct teacher from whom to learn. Instead, they utilize technology to record themselves and others and listen to a wide range of music from all over the world. Music Students The two students I interviewed were in the same year at the University of Jordan. They both graduated in 2016, shortly after I was in Amman for the second time. Amman has several higher-education music programs, but until recently, most young musicians have chosen to study at institutions in Cairo, Beirut, and elsewhere due to their historical prestige. Despite the fact that they choose to study closer to home for their undergraduate degrees, many of those in the current generation of music students at Jordanian universities and music colleges go abroad (to Europe 42 H.S. Safford 43 25 October 2016 or the United States) for further education following their undergraduate degrees. Nemat, for example, is now pursuing a world music master’s degree at the University of Gothenberg in Sweden. Though many young musicians seem to be moving away from Jordan, those who are still in Amman participate in a wide range of performance opportunities in both the Western and Arab styles. ______________ Yara Nemer: I met Yara through Dozan wa Awtar in 2016, but I chose to interview her about her studies in music at the University of Jordan (UJ). She recently graduated with a degree in composition, and when I spoke with her she was working on her final projects in preparation for graduation. Before one of Dozan’s rehearsals, I asked Yara about her musical background, her compositional process and style, and her musical preferences. “I started to read notes three years ago, [so] not so long ago,” she told me. “I entered the University [of Jordan] knowing nothing about notes23. I used to sing at the [National] Conservatory with the Arabic Orchestra…it’s not really organized as much as the [Western] classical orchestra, so it’s much easier to sing with them without notes. I started trying out the piano and composing things and I figured out that I love to do that. And I went to the University to study. I started to study notes and I found that I really like the Arabic maqam and to use it in a [Western] classical way. So actually in my composition this is what I do: I take a classical form, like a binary form…and I just do something like harmonic minor, so it sounds like [Maqam] Hijaz…I’ll do this sort of [thing] in it, and even in my improvisation I’ll do that also. If I want to sing, I’ll [find out] about a [Western] scale and I’ll go back home and [try it with different maqamat] and I’ll find something in between.” 23 “Notes” in this context refers to both notation and fixed-Do solfège. 43 H.S. Safford 44 25 October 2016 “Do you usually improvise singing?” I asked. “Yeah. I’ll record it, and then I’ll try to do it better. I improvise a melody and then I think about it, [as in] maybe it’s better if I go up now or something like that. But [basically] I record it, I listen to it, and then I work on it.” “So it’s structured improvisation?” “Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I write it on Sibelius – most of the time I do that – just to see all the ways I could do it. Then I pick one I find [best.]” “So you’re doing transcriptions of yourself?” “Yeah! It’s just to have fun and learn more and find the perfect mood for what you want to do.” “Do you usually start with a maqam?” “Actually I find something in my mind and then I go figure out what the maqam is, and then I improve it in an academic way. I start it in a non-academic way, just to sing it. Then I try it and figure out the maqam or the scale, and then I’ll work on it.” “What kind of music did you grow up listening to?” I asked. “Tarab music, like Umm Kulthoum…And also I used to listen to Pink Floyd – very different things.” Her current musical preferences are similarly diverse. She explained, “lately I’ve been listening a lot to [Western] classical music because I need it to study…I like jazz. I can relate to jazz a lot. I think – I hope – I can do something [that is] Arabic and jazz, to do something new…I listen to many kinds of music and then try to figure a relation between them, in terms of harmony and in terms of style. In harmony you can find a relationship in a [direct] way…The style helps 44 H.S. Safford 45 25 October 2016 me find the mood…You can relate Muhammad Abd al-Wahab to jazz…I feel like it’s [emotionally] the same.” Yara’s ideas represent a type of very intentional fusion music that relies on the Arab/Western dichotomy. She manages to balance Western and Arab ideas and terminology both in her music and in her vocabulary regarding music. Her music education is based in institutional music education, so it could be said that her compositions are representative of the results of the institutional pedagogical models for music education. However, the results of institutional music education in the Arab world can vary greatly from student to student based on what they choose to study. To me it seemed that she chooses to prioritize Arab and Western music equally in her preferences and compositions. Her education in music theory is based around notation and solfège (for both Arab and Western styles), yet she also uses improvisation and rote learning to develop her own compositional voice. She uses a combination of Arab and Western learning techniques to study and produce music in both the Arab and Western styles. Nemat Battah: Nemat received her degree in music performance from the University of Jordan in 2016. Of all the musicians I interviewed and worked with in Jordan, Nemat was the one with whom I formed the closest connection. Since she is now a student of world musics and is the same age as I am, she and I had a lot to talk about, and we have become good friends since we originally met during Dozan’s Carmina Burana in 2015. Nemat was the third mawwal soloist for the performance, and my first conversations with her focused on that, but she also tutored me in Arab music theory and music history, helped me purchase an ‘ud, and provided me with hundreds of resources to expand my knowledge of Arab musics. I observed her rehearsal processes for Carmina Burana and her teaching style in rehearsals with Atfal Dozan (the 45 H.S. Safford 46 25 October 2016 children’s choir connected to Dozan wa Awtar) in addition to our conversations on theory and pedagogy. In 2015 I spoke with Nemat about her structured improvisation for the mawwal. Nemat approached her improvisation from the perspective of being a trained musician in both Arab and Western styles. “Today I was thinking,” she said, “that I don’t really analyze when I’m modulating [in an improvisation]. It just comes…from hearing a lot of music and getting to know a lot of styles. This [mawwal for Carmina Burana] is going to be the first time for me to improvise based on a method, since I have to end on a specific note [to lead into the next movement]. One of the most important keys is to know where to modulate to, or how to do that smoothly, or someone will be like ‘oh my God, what the hell did she do?’ [It’s also important] to believe in what you are singing. I really, really love singing in Arabic, in the Eastern style.” I asked Nemat how she was approaching her semi-improvisational piece for Carmina Burana. “I don’t think the lyrics fit with [Maqam] Nahawand. [Nahawand] is so light and the words are very strong; they need a strong maqam character. You can’t sing about Spring and butterflies with [Maqam] Rast, for example, because it’s heavy. I had some trials on the [mawwal] today. I started with [Maqam] Hijaz and I guess [Maqam] Nakriz might work also because it’s similar to Hijaz. It’s a bit heavy and you can modulate easily to one of the tetrachords that has quarter-tones. I ended up [modulating to] [Maqam] Bayati on E.” Nemat uses Western solfège to conceptualize the maqamat, for the most part, and she is acutely aware of aspects such as smooth modulation between maqamat and maintaining the traditional structure of the mawwal song form. Nemat’s conversations with Haleem in rehearsals were more theoretical and less emotional; however, she feels that a successful performance of an improvisation requires deep emotional connection to the poetry and the melody; in fact, this was 46 H.S. Safford 47 25 October 2016 one idea that all three mawwal singers mentioned. In a way Nemat’s case is much more straightforward, even though she employs the Arab and Western musical systems in more combinations than the other mawwal singers. Nemat’s rhetoric regarding her work and her experience as a student support the assertions that Western musical pedagogy is totally integrated into institutional Arab music education. When I returned to Jordan in 2016, I observed Nemat’s rehearsals with Atfal Dozan. Working with the children, Nemat used repetition and memorization to teach both Arab and Western songs and melodic and rhythmic games. She used a mixture of Arabic and English musical vocabulary and examples from both the Western and Arab musical canons to teach key concepts. Nemat and I also talked at length about the effects of Westernization on Arab musicians and how these effects manifest themselves.24 I also asked her about her opinions on which pedagogical methods are most effective for learning Arab music. She addressed these topics in four main points: 1. Western notation is useful, but limited. Notation (and solfège) from the Western system is essential for preserving Arab music. An enormous quantity of Arab music has been “lost to time because of the lack of notation.” However, Western notation cannot fully communicate tarab and necessary ornamentation. “It is important to think about how to explain Arabic music to someone who is unfamiliar with the Arabic system” in order to maintain clarity on where Western notation falls short. Though parallel language can be useful and essential, it is equally essential to be able 24 Unfortunately, this conversation took place in a crowded food court at a mall, so I was unable to make an audio recording of this conversation. However, since Nemat and I are close friends, she helped me write my notes to closely reflect her perspective. I also included direct quotes in my notes. 47 H.S. Safford 48 25 October 2016 to clearly explain the difference between “scale” and maqam, among other definitions. 2. Aspects of Western instrumental or vocal technique can be useful. Vocal pedagogy in Arab music, for example, lacks “teaching or precedent for breathing technique” and other technical elements that seem essential to most Western singers. Using Western ideas to benefit Arab singers is useful. The same could be said for aspects of Western violin technique being applied to Arab violin. Just as with notation, however, it is necessary to acknowledge the limitations of Western technique when they arise. 3. Learning through listening to canonical performers is essential. Using vocal music as an example again, the most important thing to understand is melodic cadences. Listening to tajwid (recitation) and singers such as Umm Kulthum increases an artist’s understanding of how to render these cadences within various maqamat. This is essential for developing a sense of tarab. In Arab music in general, hearing and recognizing the quarter-tone in the canon and in daily life helps cement it. “Some people (even Arabs) do not notice the quarter-tone and may not be able to sing it consistently” since it has fallen out of use to some degree since the standardization movement after the Cairo Congress of 1932. 4. Arab musicians practice different methods of incorporating aspects of Western theory. This goes beyond simply using solfège or notation to discuss maqamat. Some artists, such as ‘ud player Tareq Jundi, talk about modulation in maqamat using Western harmonic concepts (e.g., leading tones, dominants, harmonic cadences). “A taqsim (improvisation) may be purely emotional, it may be thought through 48 H.S. Safford 49 25 October 2016 completely within the Arab system, or it may be conceptualized using Western progressive harmony or other concepts.” Musicians can choose to use a variety of these techniques. Nemat’s musical perspective is a balance between Western and Arab. Her considerable knowledge of both theoretical systems allows her to develop nuanced opinions and styles of how each should be used to benefit her own understanding of music, to enhance her students’ experiences, and to develop strong communication with fellow musicians. ______________ Both Yara and Nemat demonstrate a type of inbetweenness that sits near to the theoretical focal point between Arab and Western both in terms of musical background and musical learning or teaching style. Since Yara and Nemat are also the two youngest people I interviewed, their position close to the middle of the Arab/Western spectrum could be due to their age as well as to their status as students. However, their stories have some key characteristics that demonstrate how their studentship is really what drives the quality of their inbetweenness: they are both very self-aware in how they employ Western and Arab styles. Yara uses notation software and improvisation to make decisions on maqamat and scales in her compositions; Nemat recognizes the usefulness and limitations in using Western elements within the Arab system. Teachers and Professionals The professional musicians I interviewed are all people who make their living in some sort of musical environment; they are all teachers. Sakher Hattar and Tareq Jundi represent the older and younger generations of ‘ud playing, respectively. Sakher is on the older end of Generation X, while Tareq is an older Millenial. The differences between them may be partially 49 H.S. Safford 50 25 October 2016 explained by age. However, as I will demonstrate, professional musicians tend to have more polarized positions on the Arab/Western spectrum. This has to do with finding niches in their various fields that tend to be more Western or more Arab. Nahla Mattar is an Egyptian composer who is currently teaching in Jordan. Including Nahla in this study does not compromise the Jordanian-ness of the research, because her music and ideas are making an impact on Jordanian music through her teaching, and because Jordan’s music scene has drawn on the experiences of many musicians who studied in Cairo, Beirut, and elsewhere. ______________ Tareq Jundi: During my time in Jordan in 2015, I took lessons on the ‘ud with Tareq Jundi, and I continued lessons with Tareq using Skype in Fall 2016. Tareq is in high demand in the art music scene in Amman and he is active on social media, with more than 11,000 followers on Facebook. Tareq was trained in both Arab and Western music at the University of Jordan and at the National Music Conservatory. He has travelled all over the world playing the ‘ud and he has studied with some of the most prominent ‘ud players of the day, including Sakher Hattar. He was a very supportive teacher as I began learning the ‘ud. He gave me demanding practicing assignments, met with me multiple times per week, and held high expectations of my abilities. The books we used were mostly in English and they relied on Western notation, solfège, and presentation styles (e.g., students learn a maqam in its scalar form and then learn short pieces in that maqam). At first I was not sure whether this was how Tareq taught all of his students or whether he was using this method with me since I am American and Western-music trained. After speaking with Tareq and Nemat, who took lessons from him, I learned that he uses this Westernized method for all of his students. I spoke with Tareq using Facebook messenger (his preferred form of communication outside lessons) about his use of the Western system. He told 50 H.S. Safford 51 25 October 2016 me that the Western system is almost always used in ‘ud method and that he uses this method with all of his students. In lessons he told me that solfège is simply an efficient way to explain maqamat. His answers to my questions demonstrated a common opinion that I encountered both in Jordan and in my historical research: the Western system is clearer and more efficient. This was the same idea behind the standardization of Arab music teaching and theory after the Cairo Congress of 1932. Scholars at the conference believed that by adapting the Arab system to exist within a Western paradigm of rules and structures, Arab musical education would become more accessible and sustainable. In a conversation with Nemat in 2016, she explained that the only place where Tareq uses a more Arab pedagogical style is when he coaches students in improvisation. When learning how to improvise in the Arab style, it is necessary to understand how and when to modulate between maqamat. Tareq uses imitation-based instruction to assist students with learning improvisation. Nemat told me that this contrasts to the rest of his teaching style; even when using imitationbased instruction, she says that Tareq tends to lean towards Western harmonic ideas. He explains the improvisation process in terms of Western progressive harmony using chords and terminology such as “dominant” and “leading tone.” In Nemat’s view, this amount of structure can lead to rigidity in the end result. (pers.comm. Nemat Battah 03/12/2016) In a way, Tareq’s approach is a structuralization of tarab. He absolutely has a sense of the ruh sharqiyya, but he achieves it via a Westernized model of music theory, whereas the traditional Arab method would involve a more organic approach revolving around intuition of the maqamat. Tareq’s musical background and experiences are very much on the Arab end of the Western/Arab musical background spectrum. However, his pedagogical processes place him on the Western end of the teaching/learning range. In fact he is quite polarized in each of these 51 H.S. Safford 52 25 October 2016 categories. He rarely combines Arab and Western perspectives. His background is almost entirely Arab and his teaching is almost entirely Western. This is an example of how inbetweenness does not necessarily mean both Arab and Western at the same time. Sakher Hattar:25 Born in the early 1960s, Sakher Hattar is the oldest person I talked to.26 I have admired Sakher’s work for years ever since he played several concerts in Minnesota in the early 2000s when I was in elementary school.27 His ‘ud playing is virtuosic, complex, and thoughtful, and it was an honor to meet him. I asked Sakher to speak to me on three topics: his perspective on his own improvisation and musicianship, Westernization in Arab music, and Jordan’s unique position in the musical landscape of the Arab world. In this section I will discuss the first two topics. Most of what he told me about Jordan itself can be found in the introduction to this section. Sakher grew up the youngest in a large family in a rural village. He told me that his community did not have electricity until around 1968 and televisions arrived around 1970. Before the electricity came, battery-powered radios brought new and some music through the national radio station. Sakher remembers that the village was quiet enough that some nights he would listen to a neighbor’s radio from very far away and still be able to hear the programs. When televisions arrived (about 20 years after TV arrived in Amman), the evening news at 25 The information in this section comes from an interview I conducted with Sakher Hattar on 6 March 2016 at the National Conservatory of Music in Amman. I did not make an audio recording of the conversation because it was clear that it would have disrupted the flow of Sakher’s words. I took extensive notes instead, including key quotes. 26 I would have liked to talk to someone a generation older than Sakher. However, I was unable to connect with anyone older within the scope of this study. Comparing Sakher’s views to those of an older ‘ud player could be a starting point for continuing this study. 27 I connected with Sakher through Russell Packard, an elementary music teacher from St. Paul who is the choir director at the church in which I grew up, as well as an accomplished musician in the Arab style. He and Sakher have played together in both Jordan and Minnesota. 52 H.S. Safford 53 25 October 2016 8:00pm was the last news of the day and, since the village tended to sleep early, Sakher’s father would turn off the television after the final news broadcast. One time, Sakher recalls, the program on after the news featured a large music ensemble. He begged his father to leave it on, but his father did not think the musical program was “important.” Around the same time, Sakher began learning the ‘ud with encouragement from his older brother. One day when Sakher was upset, his older brother took him for a walk in their village and taught him the first five notes of a popular song on the ‘ud. Sakher spent the next days finding each successive note until he learned the whole song. Within two or three weeks, he had mastered several songs and began playing them for small groups of people. He was only seven years old, so the community encouraged him and recognized his talent. Over a few years, Sakher learned many Jordanian folk songs. Later he also absorbed music from the radio and the television. He particularly enjoyed hearing performances of muwashshahat. The professional music programs on the Jordanian radio and television began to expand. The Jordanian stations and channels began purchasing programs from Lebannon, Syria, and Egypt. Sakher’s musical perspective expanded along with the technology. As he grew up, Sakher pursued his desire to study music. An ‘ud player who heard him play offered to teach him because of the clarity of his self-taught playing. Sakher studied with him for two years. This teacher (Sakher did not give me his name) taught him to read music and assigned him pieces to learn. The lesson schedule was based around how long it took Sakher to master each piece he was given. The expectation was not only to learn the notes, but to infuse the songs with ornamentation and personal emotions. Sakher and his teacher became good friends and he spent two years learning from him. Years later, he still credits that first teacher with giving him his foundation in playing the ‘ud. In 1991, Sakher began studying music at Yarmouk 53 H.S. Safford 54 25 October 2016 University in Irbid, Jordan and graduated in 1995. After playing and touring for some time, he went back and received a master’s degree from the same university. Now he is the head of the Arab music department at the National Conservatory of Music in Amman. I asked Sakher to describe his process of improvisation and playing with tarab as if her were speaking to one of his students. He explained that improvisation is something that comes from deep inside oneself, from both the mind and from the heart. He told me that the mind of the musician must hold certain knowledge. First, the musician must have a repertoire and a sense of the canon. The musician also must have control over taabi3 and know many maqamat. Second, the musician must have a sense of how to use the maqamat. They must have control over how to modulate, transpose, and explore each maqam. There are different taabi3 elements for the tetrachord of each maqam. The heart controls the other elements of the taqsim. The musician’s emotions push and pull the tempo, create complicated or simple rhythmic motives, and control when the modulations between maqamat occur. The structure of a taqsim is very important. Musicians tend to stick to a specific format. Sakher described this in a step-by-step process. First, the musician should linger on the first tetrachord developing as many variations as possible around those first few notes. Second, the modulations should be executed while maintaining a clear sense of the tonic and ghammaz of the previous maqam and the next maqam. Third, each succeeding tetrachord must be explored fully. Fourth, most taqsim will eventually circle back to the original maqam, so it is important to keep that maqam in mind at all times. To explain this process more fully, Sakher handed me his ‘ud. He walked me through the exploration of a maqam using solfège – the only time I heard him use Western elements in his teaching style, with the exception of sticking to the tetrachordal model of maqamat. He started out by giving me specific notes, then he would tell me where to go and 54 H.S. Safford 55 25 October 2016 allow me to choose notes between point A and point B, finally he let me close the improvisation in any way I wanted while maintaining the emotional character of the piece. While I was playing he used a lot of imagery to improve both my musicality and my technique. As a beginning ‘ud student, I am still developing an intuitive sense of the wrist movement required by the right hand. Sakher helped me with this by saying, “Close your eyes and imagine yourself sitting on the end of the risha. In front of you are the strings and you can reach up and play them.” He demonstrated this with a motion similar one a cat would make sharpening its claws against a door frame. He also described improvisation as “swimming in space.” This kind of imagery characterized our conversation. “This is real,” he said, referring to the use of imagery, “many people do not understand the necessity of craziness for musicians.” Sakher holds a position on Arab music that is more or less anti-Westernization. I think his comment to me about the importance of “crazy” imagery was a subtle way of explaining the necessity of learning to play outside of the highly structured Western model, whether or not that model includes literal Western theory elements. The emotional connection of a musician to their playing comes from these abstract ideas that do not exist within the theory or the pedagogy of any specific musical system. Applying imagery and abstraction to technical elements extends the emotional connection of the musician to every aspect of their playing, not only to the aspects normally associated with emotion (e.g. dynamics, tempo, etc.). Sakher uses visual and sonic imagery to explore highly concrete aspects of playing. In the 1980s, Sakher told me, Jordanian media promoted the rise of Western popular music in the region. Western and Arab pop music styles began to replace the traditional music usually played at weddings and other societal events. The shababa (Bedouin nay) and the rababa (Bedouin bowed stringed instrument), once indispensible fixtures at wedding parties, all but 55 H.S. Safford 56 25 October 2016 disappeared from most communities. Sakher said that, while he understands the appeal of something new, the popularity of Western music has led to “forgetfulness” regarding Jordanian musical traditions. Western instruments, many of which cannot accommodate maqamat, led to a decline in the use of many maqamat. Now, Sakher said, many songs have Arabic words and Arab musical foundations, but the way they are played fits more into Western practice. Sakher belongs to a group of (mostly older) tarab musicians that perform purely Arabic music. They play a salon-style concert every Tuesday at the Al-Hussein Cultural Center that also houses the Conservatory. Sakher said his group is one of the last remaining takht ensembles in Jordan. Sakher represents what is sometimes referred to as a “purist” style and outlook: he avoids Western theory as much as possible, he actively dislikes the increasing amount of Western music presented by Jordanian media, and he chooses to teach his students using abstract imagery instead of applying harmonic ideas to maqamat. Sakher understands that some students respond better to the structure of the Western system and he understands where it can be useful. He also understands why Western music is popular in the Arab world. His style of teaching does not necessarily represent a purely Arab model in that he does not operate in a master/apprentice setting or in repetition based teaching. Rather, he uses emotion and imagination to fuel musical development and understanding in his students. Though this does not literally reflect the Arab pedagogical style described by A. J. Racy and others, it represents the same principle: that the development of tarab is the most essential element of Arab musical learning. Nahla Mattar: Nahla Mattar’s life, music, and current projects are an excellent example of how in-between space may be used to achieve a musical end. Despite coming from a distinctly Westernized musical background and pedagogical experience, Nahla is forging new pathways in 56 H.S. Safford 57 25 October 2016 pedagogy that intend to focus on entirely non-Western teaching methods. Though she is from Egypt, Nahla’s now lives and works in Jordan, and her music and research form a distinctive part of the Jordanian musical landscape. I first encountered Nahla’s music while studying twenty-first century Western music and composers. I interviewed her about her life and music for a biographical study. Before studying at the Faculty of Music Education at Helwan University in Cairo, Nahla was primarily selftaught on the piano and in Western music theory using European method books. She grew up in a small Egyptian town with a non-musical family. After entering university, Nahla told me, “I was top of my class for five years, which is boring.” Her experience at university was typical of the Egyptian institutional music education system in that it was almost exclusively Western. Despite the fact that the Cairo Congress of 1932 recommended that Arab and Western musics be taught in equal measure, students studying Western music were not required to study Arab musics to the same degree. Nahla achieved masters and doctorate degrees in music theory and composition before receiving a scholarship to do custom programming and commissioned composing at the University of Arizona for five years. Her musical inspiration comes from a wide range of artists and topics. She continues to be inspired by the music of Mona Ghoneim, the Wester-trained Egyptian composer whose work incorporates both Arab and Western elements, and by George Crumb, the avant-garde American composer. She experiments with the “architecture and textures of music,” with different types of timbre and color, and with Arab elements such as mythology, maqamat, and quarter-tones. Nahla’s music is characterized by intuitive inbetweenness. She told me that she does not like fusion, but she does incorporate both Arab and Western elements. This is a good example of how fusion and inbetweenness are different. Fusion would create music where the final result 57 H.S. Safford 58 25 October 2016 would not fit comfortably within either the Western or the Arab system, whereas Nahla’s music is still markedly Western while incorporating Arab elements. This is similar to how Tareq Jundi’s improvisations on the ‘ud are still distinctly Arab even though he incorporates Western progressive harmony in the conceptualization of the taqasim. One of Nahla’s pieces, al-Ain, sounds atonal to a Western ear. However, it is actually an exploration of maqam Nawa Athar, presented in clusters and counterpoint throughout the piece. Nahla hears the maqam itself as “enigmatic”, representing the enigmatic thematic material (in this case, The evil Eye in Egyptian mythology and Arab culture). According to Nahla, her exploration of Arab and Western is an expression of authenticity. It is neither imitative nor planned, and it taps into a deep desire to understand the self and one’s own psychology. She told me, “it just happens because it’s me. The misunderstanding of either culture is in me somehow.” Before I returned to Jordan in 2016, I found out that Nahla was now teaching at the University of Jordan, and would be there for at least the next year. We met twice over lunch to talk about her teaching and her projects. Nahla is teaching a wide variety of subjects at UJ, including Western music history and music theory. She told me she was impressed by the dedication of the Jordanian students, even though it was a much smaller program than those in Egypt and that the students in general had less formal training. We also talked about the Cairo Congress. Nahla told me that, right now, it is popular to study the Congress to look at effects, but it is less common to look at the original intent of the Congress, which has led to many programs remaining Western-centric. Finally, we discussed Nahla’s current project: developing a pedagogy for children from grade 3 to grade 6 that will teach maqamat in all of their complexity, with the ultimate goal of being part of creating a distinct Arab music pedagogy. 58 H.S. Safford 59 25 October 2016 Nahla’s program for music education teaches children to feel the maqam, and therefore incorporates an understanding of tarab. She explained this as teaching all the “colors of the maqam,” rather than just the tetrachords. In the first year of the program, children would learn the part of a few maqamat and how those maqamat function, recognizing that the Arab musical system is “dynamic and sensitive.” Each aspect of the maqam would be explained using a movement connected to a metaphorical word. For example, the “earth” would represent the tonic, the “heart” would be the ghammaz (the dominant), the “sky” would be the upper octave. These different elements would be taught through improvisation, where the teacher would improvise (probably on the ‘ud) to explain these different elements and then ask the children to identify where each of these is occurring in subsequent improvisations. In the second year and beyond, students would learn more about combining different tetrachords to create the wide variety of maqamat that do exist. In addition, the instructor would explain how maqamat may behave differently in ascending and descending patterns by incorporating the imagery from year one. For example, ascending Maqam Rast may be conceptualized as a “shimmering between heart and sky,” while the descending version could be described as a “sunset.” Each maqam would be approached differently in order to teach the wide range of colors communicated by the Arab musical system. Through this pedagogical program, Nahla hopes to refute the commonly held belief that “music education is just teaching instruments” by tapping into the “ability of children to connect sound, movement, and ideas.” Developing a good ear, looking beyond lyrics, imbibing musical appreciation, and connecting with chakras in the body are some of the many goals that Nahla hopes to achieve with this program. “It’s not 1932 anymore,” she says, and yet, there was never a “revolution of knowledge…[Arab musicians] can’t take theory from anywhere else and expect it to be 59 H.S. Safford 60 25 October 2016 functional [in the Arab system]. Tarab is not old-fashioned or useless. Tarab is about enjoyment.” More than anyone else I interviewed, Nahla has an explicit musical philosophy. Despite her highly Westernized background and compositional style, her philosophy and well-designed instructional program is distinctly non-Western. It taps into a uniquely Arab use of metaphor and image30, the importance of tarab and improvisation, and a realization that taking a long time (several years) to help children acquire instinct and intuition about maqamat will pay off in their lasting understanding of Arab music in all its complexity. Children in this program will not automatically use Western or Westernized terminology (e.g. tetrachord, quarter-tone, etc.) to describe maqamat. Instead, they will be able to create their own vocabulary through experiential learning. ______________ Tareq, Sakher, and Nahla all demonstrate a trend among professional musicians that I want to emphasize. In both their musical backgrounds and preferences, they tend to be mostly Arab or mostly Western on the spectrum, and this is also the case for their pedagogical philosophies. However, having a more Arab background does not necessarily indicate a more Arab pedagogical style or vice versa. Nahla, for example, has the most Westernized background of the three of them, and yet she is working on a pedagogical program that is entirely nonWesternized. Inbetweenness, therefore, cannot be defined as a single aspect for any individual. Rather, individuals craft their musical identities from different types and degrees of inbetweenness. Returning to the linguistic analogy I used in the Introduction, this is similar to 30 Many common Arabic phrases are difficult to translate because of their metaphorical content. For instance, the common greeting used in the same situations as “good morning” in English is “sabah al-khair,” which literally translates to “morning of blessing.” The response is “sabah alnoor” (“morning of light”). 60 H.S. Safford 61 25 October 2016 how a multilingual person switches between languages rather than speaking multiple languages simultaneously. Switching may be employed to enhance vocabulary and achieve connotations that are not available in one language alone. Inbetweenness for Arab musicians is a similar phenomenon. All of the musicians I work with are, to some extent, “bi-musical” (Racy 2003: 2930), and this may be used to enhance their own and others’ understanding and creation of both Arab and Western musics. Synthesis As I stated in the Introduction to this research, the people I worked with are individuals whose lives and music(s) simultaneously conform to and diverge from both Arab and Western musical identities. Their musical choices and creations are not examples of fusion, nor is any one of them completely isolated from either Arab or Western perspectives. Indeed, they represent the type of inbetweenness expressed throughout Lillie Gordon’s dissertation on Egyptian violinists. I decided to turn my data into a brief quantitative study to provide myself with a potential visual of trends in my research. Though this was originally an entirely personal motive, I realized that this quantitative analysis had the advantage of breaking down the Western-Arab binary in a very actualized way. By using spectrums in two dimensions, I avoided a pure binary and showed how a musician’s Arab and Western influences vary in different categories. In this case, I used their background and their pedagogical practices. I found that many musicians I spoke with used more Western elements in one category and more Arab elements in the other. This quantitative research greatly informed the discussion of my case-studies, and I believe it could be a steppingstone towards further research on this topic. 61 H.S. Safford 62 25 October 2016 In this analysis, I am continuing to use the terminology of “Arab” and “Western” in the ways I described in the Introduction: “Western” refers to the notated musical and pedagogical models used in conservatories that teach Western art music. “Arab” refers to the pre-colonial musical practices as described by Ali Jihad Racy and others, and it may also refer to any contemporary musical practices of Arab musicians (which therefore means that all of the musicians presented in this data are equally “Arab” regardless of the amount of “Western” or “Arab” elements they incorporate). On this scale, the “Western” end of both the musical background or preference axis and the musical pedagogy axis includes elements such as notation, solfège, progressive harmony, polyphony, and the tutelage system of learning music. The “Arab” ends of the axes include elements such as maqamat, improvisation in the Arab style, knowledge of the pre-colonial musical lexicon, and the apprenticeship-master learning system. The quantification of qualitative data is an imperfect process. However, I decided to graph my case studies in order to create a potential visualization of the trends in my data. In the process of synthesizing my research, I looked at the qualitative gap between a musician’s background (including informal and formal training, performance experiences, and musical preferences) and their pedagogical style (including how they learn and how they teach – if applicable). In this study, musical background is represented by the x-axis of a four-quadrant graph, and pedagogical style is represented by the y-axis. The domain and range of the graph operated within -10 and 10 (-10 ≤ x ≤ 10 and -10 ≤ y ≤ 10). On each axis -10 represented an almost completely Westernized perspective and 10 represented an almost completely Arab perspective.31 I developed this idea out of a desire to avoid purely binary statements of Arab and 31 I should note that the use of (-) and (+) do not indicate “bad” or “good,” respectively, in any way. I put “Westernized” on the negative ends of the axes so the x-axis would line up with maps that generally place West to the left and East to the right. I should also note that in Amman 62 H.S. Safford 63 25 October 2016 Western, since no one I encountered in my research existed at either extreme in all categories of their musicianship. Indeed, the cycle of hybridity has fully incorporated originally Western elements such as notation into Arab music, and therefore the use of notation does not exclude the authenticity or “Arab-ness” of Arab music. I assessed each person in my study on a series of questions with scaled answers (see Appendix Two for the questions and the scaled answers). On every question, a score of 0 meant either that a) the question was not relevant to the conversations I had with that person, or b) the person fell exactly between Arab and Western. After each participant was plotted on the graph, I observed several trends: 1. There were no participants who scored as being more Westernized in both categories – (-, -) 2. Amateur musicians (Sari Carmi, Basem Muna, and Hind Hamed) all scored on the Arab side of the y-axis – (-, +) or (+, +). 3. The students I interviewed (Yara Nemer and Nemat Battah) ended up near the center of the graph, meaning their scores on both axes were closer to 0. Yara’s coordinates were (0, 0). 4. Professional musicians (Tareq Jundi, Sakher Hattar, and Nahla Mattar) tended to be furthest from the center of the graph. While I cannot draw definitive conclusions from this data since the number of people involved is very small, I think some of the trends I observed represent more general realities based on the today, it would be difficult to find someone whose perspective was completely Arab or completely Western on the scale I developed. I also should reiterate that the incorporation of Western elements into a musical perspective has no bearing on a musician’s Arab-ness, or on the Arab-ness of their music. This comes back to the idea that “Arab” may refer specifically to the tarab tradition or to any music made by an Arab person, therefore making an extensional rather than intensional adjective. I am using it in both of these contexts because this reflects the reality of how the musicians with whom I worked referred to Arab musics. 63 H.S. Safford 64 25 October 2016 historical and general aspects of my research. Amateur musicians in the Arab world may not be exposed to Western theory; however, they are generally familiar with Western music, and may prefer it. In learning music, amateur singers tend to learn by ear and use other techniques that are characteristic of traditional Arab pedagogies, though they may not be aware of this. Students of music are familiar with both Arab and Western systems. They use each system separately to benefit their understanding of both and therefore end up near the center of the graph. Professional Arab musicians are more diverse in their results because of varying degrees of Westernization in their educations. They may have ended up further from the center of the graph because their niches are more cemented within the Arab or Western categories, and their pedagogical philosophies are more fully developed into being more Arab or more Western. I believe that these conclusions are supported by historical and academic evidence. The institutionalization and standardization of music education in the Arab world, the subversion of the colonial internal inferiority complex, and the prevalence and inevitability of inbetweenness all point to musical perspectives that are both Arab and Western in the same moment, without being a fusion of the two systems. In a larger scale study, I believe that the trends I observed in my visual interpretation would remain mostly true. Jordan’s music pedagogy is defined by both tradition and innovation: students and teachers make decisions as individual agents within and outside the framework of a Westernized pedagogical norm. Musicians in Amman exist in spaces of in-betweenness that cultivate diverse musical and pedagogical practices and preferences. 64 H.S. Safford 65 25 October 2016 Appendix One: Glossary of Terms Iqa’at (s. iqa’) are the Arab rhythmic modes. They are often described as a series of strong and weak beats that repeat in a standard fashion throughout a piece of music. The ancient definition of Arab rhythm, however, is more general. According to Ehrenkreutz, “rhythm, as described by al-Farabi, is not conceived in terms of a normative, somewhat extended, rhythmic duration that is subdivided or multiplied so as to derive other durations. In other words, Arabic rhythm is additive…For the medieval Arabs, the standard rhythmic value was an ‘atomic,’ shortest possible, rhythmic duration, which was combined with more of these same durations to obtain larger units. The length of the shortest rhythmic duration was the length of time between two attacks such that no attack could be inserted between the two” (Ehrenkreutz 1980: 261). The ghammaz is the second-strongest note (the qarar, or first note of the tetrachord, is the strongest) of a maqam. It is similar to the dominant in Western music, though it is not a uniform relative frequency above the tonic. Some ghammaz are the top note of the maqam, others are the second highest note, and some maqamat do not have a clear ghammaz. They can act as the starting note (tonic) for the second tetrachord, or they can be the note below that. Maqamat (s. Maqam) are the Arab melodic modes. They are based on tetrachord-like sequences that can be combined to create larger sequences of notes that usually encompass something around an octave. Today they are often described as scales or modes in the Western sense. However, this description fails to communicate the flexibility and malleability of maqamat within a song or improvisation. According to Maalouf, “With its more than one hundred maqamat today, Arabic music uses an average of twenty-four named notes within the octave. In each maqam, certain notes are used under restricted rules of practice, and when organized theoretically in a sequence, these notes form a scale in the sense that they form – in theory – a specific catalog of notes. But the twenty-four total notes do not all belong to one scale in practice, and some of them never occur in a sequence” (Maalouf 2011: 229). Mawwawil (sing. mawwal) are un-metered songs, improvised or semi-improvised vocal melodies often sung before metered pre-composed songs. They are in colloquial Arabic, though the examples I looked at were Classical Arabic texts sung in the style of mawwawil. Muwashshahat (s. muwashshah) are lyric poems that may incorporate both Classical and colloquial Arabic. Many of the muwashshahat performed today date back to al-Andalus (medieval Arab Spain). They have their own meter and rhyme classifications and themes that differ from other Arabic poetic styles. The nay is the end-blown flute. Differently sized flutes are used for different maqamat. The qanun is the zither. It includes levers on the sides that adjust the tuning of the strings to play in various maqamat. The qarar is the tonic of a maqam. It is the bottom note of the tetrachord. Most Arab musicians use “qarar” and “tonic” interchangeably. 65 H.S. Safford 66 25 October 2016 The rababa is a Bedouin bowed string instrument. The risha is the long, thin plectrum used to play the ‘ud. Ruh sharqiyya, literally “Eastern soul,” is the distinctly Arab sound or aesthetic that is achieved in tarab music and detected by Arab musicians. The specific aspects that define this voice are elusive. It may be recognized even when Western elements are employed during either the learning or performance process. It is considered to be “one of the defining terms of the aesthetics of authenticity” (Shannon 2006: 72). The sama’iyyat (s. samai) are used to teach specific iqa’at and several related maqamat in each piece. The sama’iyyat of the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries are still used as solo and ensemble repertoire in art music contexts. My teacher, Tareq Jundi, has assigned me several sama’iyyat to learn on the ‘ud. The shababa is the Bedouin end-blown flute, or the Bedouin nay. Taabi3 can mean “postage stamp,” but it can also refer to a specific personality, character, or impression. In music it refers to short sequences of notes, similar to licks in jazz improvisation. These “stamps” make up a vocabulary with which to build an improvisation. Each maqam has its own specific taabi3. Tajwid is the “melodically elaborate recitation of the Qur’an” that may be used to teach improvisational intuition (Racy 2003: 26). Takht ensembles were small (mostly) instrumental groups comprised of an ‘ud (the Arab lute), a nay (the Arab end-blown flute), a qanun (the Arab zither), a violin, and Arabic percussion. They played traditional forms of Arabic music (often series of pieces set in the same maqam), some songs that used solo or ensemble singing, and taqasim (improvisations). Takht groups are the primary example of tarab music ensembles. Taqsim is the term used to describe a (usually) solo-instrumental improvisation. The piece generally explores several maqamat, starting and ending in the same maqam. It is usually unmetered, but it may be metered when another instrument (often percussion) is used to maintain the iqa’a. A taqsim may occur in isolation or as part of a bigger piece of music, where it may be placed at the beginning or in the middle. It may be accompanied by a drone from another instrument. Tarab is usually defined as musical ecstasy experienced by the performer or the audience. It is a deep, emotional reaction to the music being played and it is often considered to be an essential element in authentic Arab musical aesthetics. In my experience, I have found that tarab cannot be represented in English as a single emotional word. It is a combination of deep, pure (yet complex) feelings such as joy, heartbreak, love, yearning, etc. 66 H.S. Safford 67 25 October 2016 The ‘ud is the unfretted lute known as the “Kind of Instruments” among Arab musicians. It is usually strung with a single low-C string, with five sets of double-courses that are usually tuned G, A, D, G, C. ______________ Appendix Two: Quantitative Study – Graph and Questions Sari Carmi (amateur) (-6, 3) Basem Muna (amateur) (5, 3) Hind Hamed (amateur) (4, 3) Yara Nemer (student) (0, 0) Nemat Battah (student) (3, 2) Tareq Jundi (professional) (6, -8) Sakher Hattar (professional) (10, 9) Nahla Mattar (professional) (-5, 4) 67 H.S. Safford 68 25 October 2016 X-Axis: Musical Background and Preferences Familiarity with Western notation and/or solfège -2 = Considerable comfort and technical reading ability; -1 = Some familiarity (does not necessarily know note names or durations, but uses notation contours regularly); 0 = N/A, or uknown (uk); +1 = No familiarity. -2 -1 0 +1 Institutional/formal musical education -2 = A lot of Western institutional education/formal Western-style lessons; -1 = Some Western institutional education/formal Western-style lessons; 0 = N/A, equal amounts of Western and Arab formal education; +1 = Some Arab institutional education/formal Arab-style lessons*; +2 = A lot of Arab institutional education/formal Arab-style lessons.* * Arab-style lessons could also indicate an apprenticeship or something similar, since institutionalization itself is part of the Western paradigm. -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +1 +2 Comfort with improvisation -1 = Expressed discomfort; 0 = N/A, unknown; +1 = Some comfort; +2 = Considerable comfort/Prefers improvisation over other styles 68 = = -1 0 H.S. Safford 69 25 October 2016 uk Recreational preference (e.g. listening preference) -2 = mostly Western music32; -1 = more Western music; 0 = N/A, equally prefers Western and Arab music; +1 = more Arab music; +2 = mostly Arab music33 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 uk Compositional style -1 = More Western compositional style (even with Arab influence); 0 = N/A, both equally; +1 = more Arab compositional style (including improvisation) -1 0 +1 = 32 This category is drawn from extensional definitions. Some examples of Western musics that arose in interviews with musicians were: Euro-American art music composers from J.S. Bach to George Crumb, popular musicians such as Pink Floyd, and Yanni (who incorporates aspects of world musics but whose style tends to draw on various European and American musical traditions). 33 This category is drawn from extensional definitions. Some examples of Arab musics that arose in interviews with musicians were: Umm Kulthoum (and other “Golden Age” musicians such as Muhammad Abd al-Wahab), Fairouz, and tarab music. 69 H.S. Safford 70 25 October 2016 Knowledge of theoretical systems -3 = Considerably more knowledge of Western theory; 2 = More knowledge of Western theory; -1 = A little more knowledge of Western theory; 0 = N/A, knowledge of each system is equal; +1 = A little more knowledge of Arab theory; +2 = More knowledge of Arab theory; +3 = Considerably more knowledge of Arab theory. -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +2 +3 = = = = Expressed goals (learn theory, play an instrument, improve technique, etc.) -1 = Goals in Western music; 0 = N/A, goals in both categories; +1 = goals in Arab music. Performance experience (instrumental, vocal, composition, etc.) -3 = Professional Western performance experience; -2 = A lot of performance in Western music; -1 = Some performance of Western music; 0 = N/A, equal amounts of performance experience in each system; +1 = Some performance of Arab music; +2 = A lot of performance in Arab music; +3 = professional Arab performance experience. 70 -3 -2 -1 0 +1 -1 0 +1 = = = = H.S. Safford 71 25 October 2016 Y-Axis: Pedagogical Philosophy and Learning/Teaching Style Learning style -3 = almost always learns using notation; -2 = uses notation a lot to learn; -1 = uses more notation to learn; 0 = N/A, uses an equal amount of notation and ear learning; +1 = learns by ear more often; +2 = learns by ear a lot; +3 = almost always learns by ear. -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +1 +2 +3 uk Teaching style -3 = almost always teachers using notation; -2 = uses notation a lot to teach; -1 = uses more notation to teach; 0 = N/A, uses an equal amount of notation and ear teaching; +1 = teaches by ear more often; +2 = teaches by ear a lot; +3 = almost always teaches by ear -3 -2 -1 0 n/a n/a n/a Theory to conceptualize/explain the other style -1 = Uses Western theory to conceptualize Arab music; 0 = N/A, unknown, equal; +1 = only uses solfège or uses some Arab theory to conceptualize Western music; +2 = actively avoids Western theory in conceptualizing Arab music -1 0 = 71 +1 H.S. Safford 72 25 October 2016 = = Theory within composition/improvisation in the other style -2 = Uses a lot of Western theory in Arab composition and improvisation; -1 = Uses some Western theory in Arab composition and improvisation; 0 = N/A, unknown, equal; +1 = Uses some Arab theory in Western composition; +2 = Uses a lot of Arab theory in Western composition -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +1 +2 = Pedagogical philosophy -3 = exclusively Western pedagogy; -2 = mostly Western pedagogy; -1 = more Western pedagogy; 0 = N/A, unknown, equal; +1 = more Arab pedagogy; +2 = mostly Arab pedagogy; +3 = exclusively Arab pedagogy. -3 -2 -1 0 n/a n/a n/a 72 +3 H.S. Safford 73 25 October 2016 Appendix Three: Primary Resources Interviews Battah, Nemat. Interviewed by Hope Safford. Personal Interview. Amman, Jordan, 25 May 2015. Battah, Nemat. Interviewed by Hope Safford. Personal Interview. Amman, Jordan, 12 March 2016. Carmi, Sari. Interviewed by Hope Safford. Personal Interview. Balqa, Jordan, 12 March 2016. Hamed, Hind. Interviewed by Hope Safford. Personal Interview. Amman, Jordan, 27 May 2015. Hattar, Sakher. Interviewed by Hope Safford. Personal Interview. Amman, Jordan, 6 March 2016. Jundi, Tareq. Interviewed by Hope Safford. Personal Interview Online. Amman, Jordan, 31 May 2015. Mattar, Nahla. Interviewed by Hope Safford. Personal Interview using Skype. Mahtomedi, MN and Cairo, Egypt, 3 November 2015. Mattar, Nahla. Interviewed by Hope Safford. Personal Interviews. Amman, Jordan, 9 and 14 March 2016. Muna, Basem. Interviewed by Hope Safford. Personal Interview. Amman, Jordan, 29 May 2015. Muna, Basem. Interviewed by Hope Safford. Personal Interview. Amman, Jordan, 14 March 2016. Nemer, Yara. Interviewed by Hope Safford. Personal Interview. Amman, Jordan, 14 March 2016. Music Theory Books and Other Resources Al-Luizi, Juzef. Ghinaiyyat. Beirut: Beirut National Conservatory of Music, 1997. Farah, Antoun G. Solfège En Musique Orientale Arabe. Beirut: Beirut National Conservatory of Music, 2006. Gholmieh, Walid, and Tawfiq Kurbaj. Nazariyyat Al-musiqa Al-sharq 'arabiyya. Beyrouth: La Conservatoire National Supérieur De Musique, 1996. Muallem, David. The Maqam Book: A Doorway to Arab Scales and Modes. Kfar Sava: Or-Tav Music Publications, 2010. 73 H.S. Safford 74 25 October 2016 Bibliography Currey, Nancy E. "History in Contemporary Practice: Syria's Music Canon." Middle East Studies Association Bulletin 36, no. 1 (2002): 9-19. Accessed May 31, 2015. www.jstor.org. Danielson, Virginia. The Voice of Egypt: Umm Kulthūm, Arabic Song, and Egyptian Society in the Twentieth Century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997. Davis, Ruth. “Cultural Policy and the Tunisian Ma’luf: Redefining a Tradition.” Ethnomusicology 41, no. 1 (1997): 1-21. Accessed June 2, 2015. www.jstor.org. Davis, Ruth. "Traditional Arab Music Ensembles in Tunis: Modernizing Al-Turath in the Shadow of Egypt." Asian Music 28, no. 2 (1997): 73-108. Accessed June 2, 2015. www.jstor.org. Ehrenkreutz, Stefan. "Medieval Arabic Music Theory and Contemporary Scholarship." Arab Studies Quarterly 2, no. 3 (1980): 249-65. Accessed January 23, 2015. www.jstor.org. Gordon, Lillie Sarah. "Egyptian Violinists and the Negotiation of In-Betweenness." (Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2014). Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. New York: Routledge, 1994. Kraidy, M. M. “Hybridity in Cultural Globalization.” Communication Theory 12, no. 3 (2002): 316-339. Maalouf, Shireen. History of Arabic Music Theory: Change and Continuity in the Tone Systems, Genres, and Scales. Shelbyville, KY: Wasteland Press, 2011. Marcus, Scott L. "Arab Music Theory in the Modern Period." (Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1989). Racy, Ali Jihad. "Music in Contemporary Cairo: A Comparative Overview." Asian Music 13, no. 1 (1981): 4-26. Accessed May 31, 2015. www.jstor.org. Racy, Ali Jihad. "Historical Worldviews of Early Ethnomusicologists: An East-West Encounter in Cairo, 1932." In Ethnomusicology and Modern Music History, edited by Stephen Blum, Philip V. Bohlman, and Daniel M. Neuman, 68-91. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1993. Racy, Ali Jihad. Making Music in the Arab World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Shannon, Jonathan H. Among the Jasmine Trees: Music and Modernity in Contemporary Syria. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 2006. 74 H.S. Safford 75 25 October 2016 Stross, Brian. “The Hybrid Metaphor: From Biology to Culture.” The Journal of American Folklore 112, no. 445(1999): 254-267. Weiss, Sarah. “Listening to the World but Hearing Ourselves: Hybridity and Perceptions of Authenticity in World Music.” Ethnomusicology 58, no. 3 (2014): 506-525. www.jstor.org. 75