Music Education Special Interest Group
Research Seminar Announcement
A double-bill from Jordan
The Development of Contemporary Arabic Music in Jordan: The Modernised
Use of Oriental Modes (Maqamat) in Keyboard and Orchestral Composition
Dr. Haitham Sukkarieh, University of Jordan
Teaching Western Music in Jordan: an Anglicised-Russian-Jordanian perspective
Dr Anna Galakhova, National Music Conservatory and University of Jordan
Tuesday 17th October
4.00 – 5.30 pm
Room: tbc
Further details from David Baker, david.baker@ucl.ac.uk
All are welcome
The Development of Contemporary Arabic Music in Jordan: The Modernised
Use of Oriental Modes (Maqamat) in Keyboard and Orchestral Composition
This will be a workshop presentation with musical illustrations,
incorporating an introduction to Arab Maqamat (modes), the
harmonization of Maqamat, and relationships with contemporary
classical composition. Maqamat are divided into two kinds: with
quarter tones (3/4 quarter interval) and without quarter tones ( 1/2,
1, and 1.5 intervals). Dr Haitham will explain all the main Maqamat
and their branches, playing examples on his own keyboard, and showing
how oriental instruments play music in different styles. He will
discuss how contemporary Arab composers use oriental Maqamat in
orchestral works.
Teaching Western Music in Jordan: an Anglicised-Russian-Jordanian perspective
It feels just like yesterday: on my first arrival at the Institute of
Education, back in October 1992 as a full-time MA student arriving
from Jordan, I encountered the local part-time MA students from London
being left completely astounded when I told them I was a full-time
teacher of Western classical music in Jordan! The question still
reverberates in my ear: 'How could you possibly teach music in Jordan
if I cannot convince my Moslem students in girls' schools in London to
attend music lessons, because their father say music is 'Haram' and it
is a sin to be involved in any musical activity?" In fact I have
taught music in Jordan since 1984 at some well-established private
bilingual schools and specialist music institutions. I have indeed
frequently faced some restrictions being placed on my professional
skills. However, the position of music teaching in Jordan certainly
cannot be compared to, for example, its position in Saudi Arabia,
Yemen or Iran. In this presentation I will discuss the development of
music education in Jordan between 1984 and the present, from an
Anglicized-Russian expatriate classroom music teacher perspective;
socio-cultural conflicts within Western music teaching in Jordan;
Trends and issues encountered teaching classroom music to Jordanian
teenagers; and problems observed in teaching classical Western piano
to young adult beginners in Jordan.
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A Jordanian composer and conductor, Dr. Haitham Sukkarieh has had many
orchestral compositions performed in Jordan and other countries. He is
Associate Professor of Music Composition in the Faculty of Arts and
Design, The University of Jordan, and Head of the Music Department. He
earned a doctorate in the Department of Composition and Conducting
with honours from the Higher Institute of the Music Academy of the
Arts, Cairo, in 2011, as well as many awards and honors. He has
published widely on the development of Oriental music, and has created
a new oriental mode (Maqam).
Dr. Anna Galakhova's music teaching experience in Jordan between 1984
and the present covers one-to-one piano teaching, student choral
training, International General Certificate of Secondary Education
music, and general classroom music to various age-groups of school and
university level students at several well-established private schools
and music institutions in Jordan. Currently, Dr. Galakhova is teaching
History of Music to BA Music students at the National Music
Conservatory and piano to BA Music students at the University of
Jordan and the National Music Conservatory. With piano training based
in her native St Petersburg, Anna is a trice British Graduate with her
LRSM in Piano Teaching, (ABRSM, 1991), MA in Music Education
(Institute of Education University of London, 1992-93), and PhD in
Music (Canterbury Christ Church University, University of Kent, 2009).
Besides having staged several charity piano concerts in Amman, such as
a Piano Concerto by Grieg with the orchestra of the National Music
Conservatory in December 1994, she has participated in the First
Jordanian Song Competition as an accompanist to the orchestra and
choir of about 100 musicians in September 2001, and composed and
conducted the Conference Hymn for the thirty-second International
Girl-Scouts Conference in Amman in June 2004, to mention but a few
activities. Dr. Galakhova has worked on several full-scale school
musical productions in Amman, such as 'The Wiz', 'Ruddigore', 'You're
a Good Man Charlie Brown' and 'Oliver' and, has directed 'My Fair
Lady' under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture of Jordan in May
2015.
