Homework:
We will be starting with Sword in November. We will continue to warm up with finger cymbals to continue our practice, but then we will work on sword technique and dance combinations.
Below are some links for places to get swords. I recommend getting something less expensive and not sharp to start, so if you drop it you wont care as much if the sword gets bent and also so you wont be seriously injured either.
For example on this web page, I'd recommend any except the Turkish or Sultan Scimitars, (they are great swords but very dangerous): http://www.atlantabellydance.com/store/SwordsCanes.html
http://www.craftindia.net/products.php?cat_id=8&scat_id=26
http://www.saroyanzils.com/
http://www.ajantaenterprises.com/bellydancing/swords.htm
You can also just do google searches for "belly dance sword" or "belly dance scimitar" and lots of sites come up.
If you want to supplement your sword education with a video. I highly recommend Belladonna's Sword DVD:
Finger Cymbals Homework:
Practice your finger cymbals with movement. Practice your 3 tones: ring, clap and click.
Here are some finger cymbal patterns:
The Gallop: RLR, RLR, RLR, RLR or LRL, LRL, LRL, LRL or RRR or LLL, try varying the ring and the clap, ring-ring-clap, or clap, clap, ring or all rings, or all claps, then try all clicks.
Alternating: RLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLR woo-hoo!
Patterns for 4 count rhythms like Masmoudi Saghir (Baladi), Saidi and Maqsum: RLR, RLR, RLRLRLR. I'm going to change my counting with numbers, just start every 1 with your dominant and or right hand, so the pattern above will read: 123, 123, 1234567
next pattern 7-3-3: 1234567, 123, 123
next pattern 3-7-3: 123, 1234567, 123
next pattern 3-5-5: 123, 12345, 12345
next pattern 1-3-7: 1, 123, 1234567
next pattern 1-1-3-1-3: 1, 1, 123, 1, 123 - this last pattern should sound familiar since it is Masmoudi Saghir.
There are several more variations that you can do, but go ahead and start with these.
Learn Masmoudi Saghir aka Baladi rhythm and play it on your cymbals, distinguishing between the dums and the teks.
Masmoudi Saghir - the name of a common rhythm in folk and popular Arabic music, also sometimes called "Beledi". It is a 4 beat rhythm. You will often hear it as part of the Egyptian Beledi Taksim musical construct. "Saghir" means "little" in Arabic. So this is the "little masmoudi". You can listen to it in it's most basic form online at Al Siadi.com, you may also hear it filled on Jas's Middle Eastern Rhythms page, and you may hear the name pronounced and hear the rhythm in music samples at Maqam world. Here it is mapped out for you:
D represents the low Dum sound made by the Tabla, T the accented high Tek sound and t k are the tek and ka.
1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-|
D-D-__T-D-__T-__| basic form
D-D-tkT-D-tkT-tk| filled
on your cymbals that would be Clap, Clap, Ring-Ring-Ring, Clap, Ring-Ring-Ring or Ring, Ring, Clap-Clap-Clap, Ring, Clap-Clap-Clap, also try it will all clicks.
Watch this clip of local DC dancer Kawakib performing a finger cymbals only solo. Learn the different names:
Zills (Turkish)
Sil Sil (Arabic)
Sagat (Egyptian)
Salasih (Farsi)
Finger Cymbals (English).
Watch this clip of the famous Egyptian Belly Dancer Naima Akef in the movie Tamra Henna. She was famous for her skill with finger cymbals. You can buy the movie Tamra Henna quite cheaply from Rashid's, with English subtitles. The music from this movie includes very famous belly dance tunes that are still very popular with dancers.
Here are two additional video clips of two of my favorite sagat players: Ansuya, a very popular American performer, and Karim Nagi, another popular Egyptian-American performer. Listen to how Karim varies the tone as he plays. Notice how Ansuya's playing doesn't effect the beautiful shapes she makes with her hands and arms while dancing.
Resources for buying finger cymbals and rhythm recordings:
Here are some of my favorite finger cymbals:
Saroyan's Arabesque was the first set I got as a student. I still like them and use them, they come in silver and brass:
http://www.saroyanzils.com/
My second pair of zills was the FatChanceBellyDance Signature Series. That particular set might be too big to start with, but they also sell student sized:
My next favorite pair of sagat were the Sohaila exclusive:
http://www.sohailainternational.com/fingercymbals/
You could probably start with these comfortably as they aren't too large, although a little larger than the Saroyans.
Other brand names you can shop for:
Turquoise International is a very respected brand:
http://www.turquoiseintl.com/cymbals.html
El Coyote, I've been wanting for a while...of course their site says they're unavailable right now. Hopefully that will change:
http://www.fingercymbals.com/
Zildjian makes a good pair, but they are one holers, so a little more difficult to handle.
http://www.wwbw.com/Zildjian-Finger-Cymbals-1-Pair-i86439.music
Try not to get the cheapy dinkies that sound like crap. You have to listen to them so try and find a pair you like the sound of.
Once you buy them, you'll want to sew the elastic to fit your middle finger and thumb very snugly, with the seam on the inside, cut off the excess. You are welcome to buy a different color elastic at the fabric store if you don't want black.
Rhythms CDs I recommend (Some of which you can probably also get from Rashid if you happen to also be buying Tamra Henna, just shoot them an email or a phone call, they are super helpful):
The Dancing Drum by Issam - 14 Arabic rhythms & 3 nice drum solos by the drummer for the Belly Dance Super Stars.
Jalilah's Raks Sharki 4 - 23 Arabic rhythms & examples of them in classic songs.
Uncle Mafufo's 25 Essential Rhythms - 25 common belly dance rhythms including Arabic, Turkish, Greek, Armenian and Pakistani rhythms. He speaks the rhythm, then plays it.
Nourhan Sharif Presents Arabic Rhythms Volumes 1(Wahid),2(Eitneen),3(Talata) and Rhythms from Around the Arab World - a series of CDs full of a variety of Arabic Rhythms. There is introductory information about each rhythm. Each CD has 8-10 rhythms and 2 drum solos.
Souhail Kaspar's Awzan: Arab Rhythmic Modes - good variety of Arabic Rhythms some with other instruments as accompaniment.
Music
The music I've chosen to focus on in class will be: Ali Kurdi's "Adawiya 'Violin Takseem'" off the album Raksit Badia, when we finish this one I'd like to work with Zeina next. and the belly dance classic "Zeina". The version of Zeina I'll be using is off of Ashraf Zakaria's "Layali Zaman" album, put out by Sahra Saeeda. Just for kicks here is a youtube link of the famous dancer Samia Gamal dancing to Zeina in a movie. I picked these songs because they are the most condusive to learning to play our finger cymbals well.
Since several of you liked the more modern sounding Haifa Wehbe song "Metakhda" off her "Habibi Ana" album, here is a link to Haifa's Metakhda available for download and I've put the lyrics to this song here. I'd like to use this song for something in the future.
Choreography
I've put a video of the choreography we are working on in class on youtube for you to practice with. You can find it here: YouTube Essential Zills Choreography
If you don't see the choreography when clicking on that link then you will need to log in to your youtube account, send me a friend request and then email me and let me know what your youtube handle is, so I can give you permission to view it. My youtube account is here: Shems's YouTube Profile