The Oud

I found the oud to be a beast, (as an instrument that is).  I had this idea that I would study the oud here and expose myself to a brand new musical language.  That was the plan.

I found myself a teacher after a number of false starts, a young guy named Thaer Bader. A really great guy and a good player.  He even had an oud that he was selling (he has three or four instruments) and that I would be able to use.  But as I found out, the oud is a beast - 11 strings, tuned to 6 notes on a C octave.  The low C is a single bass string and the other five are doubled. Just tuning the instrument was a major undertaking for me. And that was just the start.

The oud is picked like a mandolin or guitar and has a fretless fingerboard like a violin.  In my hubris, I thought - I can play guitar, so my right hand should be ok with the picking and I can play violin, so getting good intonation without frets should not be too challenging...was I ever wrong!!

Thaer Bader - a great guy and a great player

I had difficulty grasping the non Western scales that Arab classical music uses - 24 tones, half flats etc.  It became clear to me after only a few lessons that I would have to devote a significant amount of time and effort to learn this instrument and the musical culture that goes along with it - more than I was willing to spend.  And the notion of playing western style music on the oud was not very practical.

The other thing I found was that the music just did not resonate with me (is it genetics?)  In contrast, the klezmer violin I am studying strikes an immediate and primal chord in my soul.

So Thaer and I came to the mutual decision that my quest to study oud just did not make sense. I will stick with the klezmer fiddle for my time in Israel (and maybe I will take up mandolin if I need another instrument to play :)