Not currently getting the most out of the oud you have gone to great lengths to acquire? Why not take some lessons? After all, what’s the point of having an instrument if you aren’t going to play it? If your oud is currently more of a decorative item or a novelty instrument used to entertain party guests, here is your chance to make use of it the way you have always intended. Eagle Rock Music Studio offers private lessons to those who are interested in playing the oud; players of all skill levels (and ages) are welcome. If your child is itching to play the instrument, or if you are a professional (or aspiring professional), Eagle Rock’s capable instructors are knowledgeable and flexible enough to offer pertinent lessons to all.
History
No one today can quite pinpoint where the word “oud” comes from, but the instrument the word describes is old — really old. The earliest artistic representation of the oud that still exists for us to see today is more than 5,000 years old, making the instrument one of the world’s oldest. Indeed, evidence indicates that the oud has a history of use throughout the development of civilization in one of humanity’s oldest settlements: Mesopotamia, which is now Iraq.
Appeal
The oud still appears as part of Eastern European, Middle Eastern, North African, and Western Asian music and is specifically connected (or has been connected) with Arabic, Greek, Turkish, Persian, Jewish, Byzantine, Azerbaijanian, Armenian, North African, Somali, and Middle Eastern music. A pear-shaped, stringed instrument, the oud is not just important to many heritages today (still), but is also likely one of the earliest precursors of the modern guitar. As such, it remains essential to world music.
Lessons
All of our oud lessons are private: we recognize that everyone is different and responds to various teaching styles differently, so we tailor our lessons specifically for each student — we believe this achieves the best results. At Eagle Rock Music Studio, we guide your hopes and dreams towards reality — and we love it when our students take the necessary action to surpass the goals they set for themselves because they love playing their instrument so much.
At Eagle Rock, our mission is to guide you from dreaming toward doing. We offer two course paths for those who wish to learn the oud: one for those seeking to play professionally (or competitively in the case of younger pupils), and another for those seeking to just play for their own enrichment. We believe it is important to encourage our students to develop their own musical voices, and because of this we also believe students need to be in a supportive, friendly, and engaging environment where their ambitions can be achieved in an active manner.
Both the professional and recreational paths, though, start with the identification of your goals as a musician and working with your instructor to create a detailed action plan to effectively reach those tangible goals. In the case of an aspiring professional oud player, practice is enormously significant for increasing the level of proficiency with your instrument. But actually refining and perfecting these skills under the training of an instructor — who can help you work towards fulfilling your goals every step of the way — is critical to your development, too.
Eagle Rock Music Studios is located just north of downtown Los Angeles between Glendale and Pasadena. We look forward to seeing you come by. For more information or to set up a lesson, please call us at 323-309-8467.