If music feeds the spirit

Students at the Edward Said conservatory perform at a graduation celebration concert and ceremony on Saturday 28th May 2016, at the Naseeb Shaheen Auditorium – Birzeit University.

New Arabic music degree programme attracts Palestinian students

Birzeit University in the West Bank has launched a new bachelor’s degree programme that allows students to learn more than just music theory.

By Rasha Abou, trans. Pascale Menassa Jalal, Al Monitor/ Palestine Pulse
November 07, 2016

GAZA CITY — Palestinian university students can now enrol in classes specializing in Arabic music — a first in Palestine. Birzeit University, located just outside Ramallah in the West Bank, launched a bachelor’s degree programme in music to provide Palestinians with advanced music learning and place Palestine on the map of regional and international music study.

Classes in the newly created programme started on Sept. 26, and the degree includes 132 course-hours accredited by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education. The programme was launched in co-operation with the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music (NCM) in Ramallah, which is one of the main music institutes in Palestine aimed at spreading creative and vibrant musical culture among Palestinian youths.

The Bethlehem branch of the Edward Said conservatory. There are other branches in Ramallah, Jerusalem, Nablus and Gaza City with a total of around 1000 students.

This bachelor’s degree programme is part of Birzeit University’s faculty of literature, as the university has no fine arts department.

Bashir Abdel Razzaq, the administrative assistant of the dean of the faculty of literature, told Al-Monitor, “There are many universities and institutes that teach music in Palestine, but what is new in this programme is that it emphasizes musical performance rather than music education alone. Palestine is the third Arab country teaching the science of musical performance, after Tunisia and Egypt.”

Razzaq said that the programme was launched mainly to give students the opportunity to acquire new, refined skills in Arabic music and introduce them to the music of other Arab countries, while encouraging them to develop their talents. Therefore, the Arabic music programme at Birzeit University is suitable not only for Palestinian students, but also for Arab students.

Razzaq noted that students will receive theoretical and practical education during which they will learn to play several instruments, such as the oud, the buzuq and the qanun. He added that there are 15 students registered currently in the music programme, and the enrolment is set to rise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64x7pSrMpHs
Dawaween, a group of musicians and singers from across the Gaza Strip, were refused the necessary permits in order to travel to Jerusalem to participate in the Palestine International Festival for Dance and Music in Jerusalem.

He added that studying music opens the door for graduates to work as music teachers at music centres in the Arab world and allows them to create a competitive industry regionally and globally. Besides, it puts them on the road to composing and arranging music.

NCM Managing Director George Ghattas said that the institute wanted to launch this new academic programme — in co-operation with Birzeit University — to foster music culture in Palestinian society, which suffers from weakness and lack of interest in this field.

Ghattas told Al-Monitor, “The programme aims at elevating the music experience in Palestine by attracting music professionals from across the world to benefit from their experience and expertise, and pass them on to Palestinian students.”

Palestinian oud band Le Trio Joubran perform during an attempt to be recognized by the Guinness World Records at the Ramallah Cultural Centre in Ramallah, West Bank, Oct. 26, 2016. Photo by Abbas Momani/AFP/Getty Images

He added, “Launching this programme is the first step to forming a fine arts faculty in Birzeit. For this reason we supported this idea. Until then [the formation of a fine arts faculty], the students will be taught at the conservatory that is technically and artistically equipped.” He said that the special academic plan related to Arabic music was set by music teachers at the institute after four years of hard work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGQK1VYXaPg
The Taarshea music band demonstrates the main 5 instruments for Arabic music: Qanun (above, like a zither), Kamaan , violin, Oud (o’od), Naay (like a breathy tenor recorder), riq (a hand drum)

Charlie Rishmawi, a music teacher at NCM, described the Arabic music programme at Birzeit University as “a brilliant idea.” He told Al-Monitor, “Palestinian students can now learn Arabic music without needing to travel abroad.”

Rishmawi said that music institutes and centres in the Palestinian territories “teach students how to play musical instruments, but that this new programme allows them to enjoy scientific research to discover Arabic music patterns and develop them, and to entrench Palestinian origins of popular arts such as folklore.”

He added, “As teachers, we aim at offering students academic depth through this programme. We teach all aspects of oriental music such as rhythm and maqam [melodic mode] of Arab countries. We also teach them to perform individually and collectively and introduce them to music technology.”

Bands at the Palestine International Music Festival, 2016. Palestinian bands from Gaza in particular often can’t get the permits from Israel to travel to their festival.

Munir al-Jaghoub, a student at the business and economics faculty at Birzeit University, told Al-Monitor, “I am thinking about dropping out and joining the new Arabic music programme.” Jaghoub, 19, is passionate about music, but he complained about the high fee per hour for the programme compared to the fees for other degree programmes.

He said, “The university set the fee per hour in the Arabic music programme at 95 Jordanian dinars [$133]. This is a high price compared to the price per hour at the business and economics faculty, which is 48 Jordanian dinars [$67]. I think that this is a huge obstacle facing music students and music lovers like myself, and it impedes us from enrolling in this course.”

Razzaq commented on the high tuition of the Arabic music programme compared to other degree programmes, saying, “This programme relies on individual private teaching. The teacher dedicates time for each student to teach them individually how to play the instruments. This is where the high educational cost comes from.”

He added, “Nevertheless, the university wants to encourage this new programme, and it has decided to include it in the scholarship scheme that allows students to pay half the tuition only.”

This newly created bachelor’s degree programme in music at Birzeit University has the potential to spread advanced music culture among young Palestinians who are growing up in an occupied land.

See also Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, Facebook