The Arab Music Performance
Workshops

 for Taeksung 

In Living Memory 

In the United States, Arab music have historically been placed under the all-encompassing basket referred to as World Music or Ethno-Music. At the university level, this area of performance is typically found on the margins of ethnomusicology. While the mechanisms of preservation in Arab music require participation of instrumental and voice students, there is little overlap between these two areas of study. The Arab Music Performance Workshops depart from this traditional mold with semester-long performance courses that introduce Arabic Songs, Instrumental Genres, and Performance Practices to predominantly classically trained musicians in university settings. This work is the result of 14 years of course development at the University of Pennsylvania where Dr. Khuri obtained his PhD in Ethnomusicology. It builds on extensive training and teaching in western classical violin and a performance career in the Arab and the Western musical traditions.

 

The inspiration to develop these performance workshops was interest from mentors, colleagues, teachers, and performers of classical music who sought introductory performance courses in Arab music. A violinist from the Curtis Institute of Music wanting an introduction to this musical tradition, coupled with an interest from a violin school teacher wanting to learn ornamental techniques in Arab music, led to the Art of Ornamentation in Arab Music. My work in university settings with students who come with basic musical training inspired the Arabic Song Workshop. A student of voice wanting to learn Arabic songs to include in his repertoire inspired the development of the Advanced Arabic Song Workshop.

 

I am grateful to all my students who participated in the development of these performance courses, my mentors Professor Timothy Rommen and Professor Carol Muller, my supervisor Dr. Michael Ketner and the many practitioners and colleagues who assisted in designing this program. Most importantly, I am grateful to my wife, parents, brothers, and in-laws for their support in this journey.