Informal poll: What length and width do you prefer for you rishi?
My horn rishis are about 6" long, 3/8" wide. I also have some plastic ones I made that are 4.5" long. These are a bit more comfortable
to hold, and I notice that some pro players I've seen use this length.
Risha
wfspark - 3-26-2004 at 06:34 AM
Hello Jameel. I think my rishas are about six inches long. They're the Turkish Yisi rishas that came with my oud. Personally I like mine on the
short and blunt side like guitar picks. I'm used to a loud and robust tone. Short and blunt rishas can do that. For the last week or so, I was
using a guitar pick, but I realized that's not triditional. But when I found out about cutting them back a little, I have started to do that.
William F. SparksZulkarnain - 3-26-2004 at 07:24 AM
Hi Guys
NEW POLL
Risha or Rishi - Which one is the right word?
Ronny Andersson - 3-27-2004 at 08:51 AM
My eagle risha is 130mm long and 5mm wide. My horn risha is also 130mm and the width is 10mm. My Nasser plectrum of plastic is 100mm long and 9mm
width.
About length: a longer risha than approximately 100mm is not necessary for functional reasons because the part that is covered by the hand is the
essential one if it's a flexible risha. An extreme stiff risha that doesn't show any flexibility can be much shorter than 100mm.
risha dimensions
LeeVaris - 3-27-2004 at 11:27 AM
I am currently using all plastic rishas that average about 6 inches long and roughly 1/4 inch wide. I personally like a fair amount extending out from
the back of the hand. A lot depends on how you like to hold the risha. There are pictures of Udi Hrant Kenkulian holding quill rishas that look to be
about a good 12 inches long - I imagine that extra length whipping about behind his hand while he was playing must have been quite a sight!
I think a more interesting question is what kind of stiffness do you prefer. There appear to be two schools of though on this, some prefer a fairly
hard stiff risha – I'm leaning in this direction now myself. Others prefer fairly soft "flexible" rishas. The eagle quill risha seems
like it might be both hard and flexible.
Anyone with thoughts on this - soft & flexible vs hard & stiff (no sexual jokes please)?Ronny Andersson - 3-30-2004 at 10:59 AM
Lee, the eagle risha comes only in one thickness that is not possible to adjust. The eagle risha is very durable
and also extreme flexible. I can't describe how it's to play with....
With a flexible risha you have greater control with the thumb ¨pressure¨ than with a stiff risha.
Some prefer to make the tip of the horn risha little bit thicker than the remaining part.Elias Al-Muntarib - 4-7-2004 at 04:13 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by Zulkarnain
Hi Guys
NEW POLL
Risha or Rishi - Which one is the right word?
Risha: as pronounced in formal Arabic.
Rishi: as pronounced with a dilect (mainly Lebanese).Elias Al-Muntarib - 4-7-2004 at 04:44 PM
I am very new at playing the Oud (but grew up listening to Middle Eastern music.)
Just recently I started to experiment a little with plastic rishas (or rishat) and here are my observations so far:
- A plastic risha extending about 2 cm past the end of my palm (away from the face of the Oud, when held in playing position) is more comfartable for
me than a shorter one.
- I made my risha by cutting up credit card material to 6 mm wide. This homemade risha I prefer over the ones that came from the store which are
softer and slightly shorter.
- The stiffer the material (to a certain extent with the stifness starting point being around credit card material) seems to improve the sound for my
ears by making it richer and seemed more energitic, maybe due to more momentum in a heavier plectrum and the fact that less of the energy from the
wrist movement is dissepated when the risha doesn't flex as much.
- I suspect that a very stiff risha will make it harder to play tremelo and probably shortens the life of the strings.
