Oud LessonsIn accordance to El-Farabie, the Oud dates again to the times of Lamech a sixthgeneration
descendant of Adam. Lamech was acknowledged as the “Father of the Oud
players”. The very first physical appearance of the Oud was 3000 BC. The desecrated
skeleton suggested the type of the Oud. Oud is acknowledged as the very first stringed
instrument in background.
The oldest pictorial report of the Oud dates back again to the Uruk interval in Southern
Mesopotamia (Iraq), above 5000 years in the past on a cylinder seal obtained by Dr.
Dominique Collon and the seal is at the moment housed at the British Museum..
As the Oud becomes the quintessence of earlier chordophones, it also
constitutes their functional synthesis. In the ninth century, Miwardi, the jurist of
Baghdad, extolled its use in treating illness, this sort of as King David did through his
lifestyle with his Oud. The Oud was in the palms of Egyptians and Iraqis when the
Israelites came out of Egypt. They took the Oud with them to the Holy Land. The
Oud still maintains its Egyptian and Iraqi attributes and musical stylings. The Oud
was performed in sacred locations this sort of as the temples of Egypt.
In the 1st hundreds of years of Arabian civilization, the oud experienced 4 classes (one particular
string for every course – double-strings arrived later) only, tuned in successive
fourths. These had been referred to as (for the most affordable in pitch) the Bamm, then came
(larger to optimum in pitch) the Mathnā, the Mathlath and the Zīr. A fifth
string (optimum in pitch, least expensive in its positioning in relation to other strings),
referred to as ḥād ("sharp"), was sometimes extra for theoretical functions,
generally to enhance the double octave.
The neck, joined to the entire body, is explained as 'unq ('neck') in classical writings
and the raqba ('neck') or zand ('wrist') nowadays. It extends the higher portion of the
instrument by some twenty cm and is inserted into the soundbox up to the
soundhole. This duration, which has been much talked about, is essential in the
instrument's development, identifying the amount and place of the intervals
and as a result impacting the modes. In early 19th-century Egypt, Villoteau gave the
measurement as 22.4 cm a century later, also in Egypt, Kamil al-Khula'i gave it
as 19.5 cm. In modern Egypt, the size of the neck might differ amongst 18
and twenty.five can. It is standardized as 20 cm in Syria, but a duration of 24.five cm might
be located on Moroccan models, he 'ud 'arbi (Arab 'ud). If the 'ud 'arbi is the
descendant of an archaic product of Andalusian provenance, the higher portion of the
instrument may have grow to be shorter. The neck not often has
4. Types of the 'ud
(i) Two-string 'ud:The thesis of its existence has been upheld by musicologists
from Europe and Iran it envisages the archaic 'ud as a counterpart of the tanbur,
obtaining two strings like that instrument. The argument rests on the names of the
strings, two of which are Iranian terms (bamm and zir) and two others of Arab
origin (mathna and mathlath). There is no circumstantial documentary proof
to assistance this hypothesis.
(ii) 4-system 'ud: The Arabian 'ud qadim (historic lute), in specific, invited
cosmological speculation, linking the strings with the humours, the temperature,
the elements, the seasons, the cardinal details, the zodiac and the stars. The
strings may be tuned bass to treble or treble to bass. Bass to treble tuning is
represented by al-Kindi (9th century), who advocated tuning the least expensive program
(bamm or very first string) to the cheapest singable pitch. Putting the ring finger on a
mathematically determined size of this string, one moves on to deduce the
pitch of the 3rd open training course (mathna), then that of the 2nd (mathlath) and
ultimately the fourth (zir). (This system is also utilized to the five-training course 'ud and is
nonetheless employed as a tuning method, adhering to the sequence 1-four-two-three-five or one-4-two-5-3.)
Adherents of the opposite college (Ikhwan al- Safa') tune from treble to bass. The
intention, inherited in component by the Turkish 'ud, entails pulling hard on the zir (substantial)
string, so that as it approac