The Mukhtar Method Oud Ensemble I & II - 3rd edition

This book provides students with the opportunity to further progress their performance skills while adding ornamentation to popular pieces of music. The maqamaat covered in the first book are: Maqam Ajam, Nahawand, Rast and Bayat. While the maqamaat in the second book are: Hijaz, Kurd, Saba and Segah. These maqamaat will be explored in depth. They will be played transposed, on two strings and using several left-hand positions. This will help develop the strength of your fingers, prepare you to play more complex trills and produce a variety of different sounds that will significantly improve your oud playing skills. Many ornamentations will also be explored. These include, long and short tremolos, vibratos, trills, qarar and jawab, grace notes and a combination of ornamentations played at once. As part of exploring more ornamentation, some pieces will be played transposed to allow for more room for adding different forms of ornamentations while other pieces will be played on a different octave. Acquiring all these skills will set you on your way to becoming a proficient solo oud player.