Dear friends,
I have 7 quality ouds that I acquired over several years. I play each one for a few weeks, then switch to another, and so on. During a conversation
with a respectable oudist friend, he suggested that I should stick to playing only one oud. He mentioned that frequent switching of instruments does
affect my progress as a player.
What do you think?
Salamaat,
Hatem MatthewW - 6-19-2011 at 05:35 AM
Hello Hatem- lucky you with 7 quality ouds to choose from !
IMHO I am not sure if switching instruments in the way you are doing would seriously affect your progress- if each oud was built to a different scale
length that might mean getting used to various spacing distances between each note on each string and where you finger a note from one oud to
another, which might or might not slow your progress down, or if the width of the fingerboard varied significantly from oud to oud that might cause
one to have to adjust to note/string spacing also...perhaps it also depends on each persons abilities as a musician. Fadel, one of the forum members,
is an excellent player and we see him using various ouds in his youtube clips....I think if you feel fine with how you are playing and your own
progress, then enjoy the ouds. regards, MWHatem_Afandi - 6-19-2011 at 06:53 PM
Hi Matthew,
Thanks for taking the time to answer my question. I tend to get the same instruments in terms of measurements.
I have to admit that I do enjoy the change because each one has its own personality and feel.
BTW, I don't believe that I am lucky. My therapist thinks that it is "The Multiple Oud Syndrome"
Best Regards,
HatemArarat66 - 6-20-2011 at 12:54 AM
In that case now you know the problem - ditch the therapist and buy more ouds with the money saved
... my work here is done ...
LeonHatem_Afandi - 6-20-2011 at 04:14 AM
Good one, Leon )
I already ditched the therapist. My "boss" is the one who put her foot down.ameer - 6-20-2011 at 05:13 AM
Hatem,
In my opinion switching ouds and even switching scale lengths does slow progress down for a while; how long depends on the player. The reason is
you're preoccupied trying to acclimate to a new environment. In my experience however once you have developed the ability to acclimate on the fly
progress picks up, possibly faster than before. I know for me it took a solid month or two to get used to switching from 60.5 to 62 CM on the fly.
Hope this helps. Good luck with your oud collection; I hope to have a similar one some day. MatthewW - 6-20-2011 at 06:05 AM
In that case now you know the problem - ditch the therapist and buy more ouds with the money saved
... my work here is done ...
Leon
well said Leon, best therapy is more ouds in oudsville.
Hatem-
any chance of posting a group photo of your 7 ouds?Microber - 6-20-2011 at 06:36 AM
Hatem,
I can't sincerely answer you because I have only ONE oud (still my first one).
But something I can say is that I love to play on other ouds just for the pleasure to experience a new colour of the sound. That's the reason why I
really would like to have one more. Quiet different from the one I have (Turkish Saadettin Sandi).
Or I have a proposition : send 2 or 3 of your 'supernumerary' ouds. I promise to play on all of them during hum 1 or 2 years. And then I tell you and
all the other members my testimony.
RobertArarat66 - 6-20-2011 at 07:53 AM
Seriously Hatem
I love our UK oud meetings because we are all constantly and pretty freely able to pick up each others ouds of all scale lengths and tone, feel etc.
I'm certainly not the most gifted player in the world but never find a problem adjusting to different scale lengths and have noticed that to be true
of others also ... which is amazing when you think about it.
Its also really good to have ouds played by others (as long as they are not rough players).
Of course it takes longer to really get to know any particular instrument deeply.
LeonHatem_Afandi - 6-20-2011 at 11:36 AM
Hi Ameer,
Thanks for confirming Matthew's reply and my prerogative.