I am teaching at Sheque’s Touch the Earth Tent in the Marketplace on Aug 8, 9, 10, and 11.
Sunday August 8th 12-2 PM - Galloping Is For Horses, Get the Zill Skillz to be a Musician. Yes there is more to zilling than LRLRLRLRLR. Allow me to give you some helpful hints on what to play on your zills with the song, so it doesn’t sound like a fire alarm going off! I will not teach any dance moves, only zill patterns that work with songs. I will cover Fire Dance, Hadouni, Garoon, Uskudara, Aziza and Enta Omri. However, the skillz you get in this class can be applied to any song you dance to! Melody musicians and percussionists – please help me out by playing music in the class, thanks! I don’t want to use a CD player….
Monday August 9th 12-2PM – New Hafla Songs for Middle Eastern Ensemble! All instrumentalists (non-period included) and all percussionists welcome! The new songs will be Hicaz Oyun Havasi, Hicaz Dolap, Mastika, & Samra Ya Samra. We will also work on some songs from last year just to refresh our memories. Sheet music can be purchased in advance at www.Bellydancesheetmusic.com or can be purchased at Pennsic. $3 per single sheet, books are $45.
Tuesday August 10th 1-3PM – Art of Taksim with Basic Makam Theory and HOW TO MODULATE! All instrumentalists are welcome (non-period included). Many of us have no experience with improvisation! Let’s get some! Remember that I was a band dork for years and years and was not allowed in Jazz Band because I played clarinet. If I can taksim, SO CAN YOU! Taksim isn’t the mystery that it appears to be. There are some easy to follow thought processes that will help musicians become better improvisationalists. I will cover the important notes in a makam, the difference between a taksim in a fast tempo song, a slow tempo song and a taksim that is a solo introduction to a song. Stylistic feedback will be given. Patient drummers are needed to accompany this class.
Wednesday August 3rd 1-3PM – Lead the Band! We play so often as one large group at Pennsic, what happens when there is only 3 musicians? Someone has to lead. Let's get practice each leading the band and giving cues. Drummers, this is your chance to play as a duo of percussionists. Learn how to be the strong lead drummer in an ensemble. Our large group will be split up into small groups to give everyone a chance to lead.
Heloise and Alexandre of Akeru Thunder are co-teaching Middle Eastern Ensemble for all instruments and percussion at Sheque’s Touch the Earth Tent, covering songs that I have taught in the past. This class is for folks who missed some of my sessions in past years and want to work on songs I am not covering in my classes this year. Heloise and Alexandre will be using my sheet music (available at www.BellydanceSheetmusic.com) and will have extra copies available to purchase or to borrow. They are well established SCA musicians, have taken many workshops with me, attended multiple Jalsahs and are “Certified By Ishtar”. I thank Heloise and Alexandre for helping me out this year!
If you have any questions about ***anything***, please email me at MELISSA@ISHTAR-MUSIC.COM
