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I recently started to explore oriental and arabic music, and I do play some Maqams and some ornaments and slides, but I'd like to ask if there is a methodical book or some sort of overview of the various techniques on arabic violin?

BTW, I keep my violin tuned GDAE, when I wanna play higher octaves I either switch positions or make the quarter tones between strings (i.e. E on A string using 4th finger).

Thanks

Shimmy Weitzhandler
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  • Just a thought: you might enjoy an erhu: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erhu . – Carl Witthoft Aug 12 '13 at 11:23
  • Thanks but exactly what I don't want. I am looking to take out the most of my current instrument, I don't even want to change its tuning, surely not getting new instruments. – Shimmy Weitzhandler Aug 12 '13 at 14:03
  • What do you mean by "or" in your second sentence? "either switch positions or make the quarter tones between strings using the 4th finger" – Sergio Aug 12 '13 at 15:00
  • I'm looking for books that teaches the ornaments, slides, bow dynamics etc. – Shimmy Weitzhandler Aug 12 '13 at 15:05
  • Yes, I understand I just didn't understand what you meant on the second phrase. Btw, is this interesting? http://www.gswift.com/article.pdf – Sergio Aug 12 '13 at 15:11
  • Although I was targeting arabic/turkish music, this article might be useful. Anyway what I meant in my 2nd phrase is, there is Maqam (e.g. mode) that the E is half-flattened, so I have to make it with 4th finger, so I'm curious whether normally the arabic players play on all scales, because on the AE strings (western tuning) I have to make the quarter-tone with 4th finger which is a bit inconvenient. – Shimmy Weitzhandler Aug 13 '13 at 01:07
  • @Sergio, the link you provided is very helpful indeed! If you have more please include! BTW, I think you should post it as answer for further reference. – Shimmy Weitzhandler Aug 15 '13 at 03:54
  • @Shimmy, nice it was useful. I think you should include it in your answer, there is not much references about it in internet. Maybe better to make one good answer, I have not much more to add than the link. Although I play violin professionally, those violin cultures are kind of unknown yet. – Sergio Aug 15 '13 at 06:34
  • @Sergio, oh so here is one that you might also help me with. – Shimmy Weitzhandler Aug 15 '13 at 07:08

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I've found this article to be really interesting and it indeed enriched my knowledge on the subject.

Besides that, a book named Studies for Arabic Music by Georges Lammam is recommended in that page. I couldn't find the book on Amazon/eBay so far.

I also found a book A Guide to Arabic Violin Technique for the Classical Violinist: A octoral Essay by the University of Miami, but I'm not sure what its contents exactly is.

Shimmy Weitzhandler
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