ICMC/25/d6/0900 Papers/9/B/04 Preparation for Improvisation with Oud and Interactive Electronics
Preparation for Improvisation with Oud and Interactive Electronics
10:10 — Cultural and Musical Context of the Taqsim
- Slide from Matthew Wright’s talk defines taqsim (Arabic: التقسيم) as the idiomatic form of instrumental improvisation in Arabic, Turkish, and Greek music traditions.
- Root meaning: "to divide" — related to Arabic terms for division, split, partition, etc., shown via Google Translate sidebar.
- Key points:
- Taqsim uses pitch material from the maqam system.
- Provides space for virtuosity and expression of individual style.
- Aims to evoke ṭarab/طرب: an Arab aesthetic of musical enchantment—intense, joyous, secular ecstasy.
- Reference cited: AramcoWorld article on Tarab and the Art of Music (https://www.aramcoworld.com/articles/2017/tarab-and-the-art-of-music).
#Author
Dr. Matthew Wright
- #Pic
- #Bio/Short
- Composer and performer
- Known for works combining acoustic instruments with electronics
- #Bio/Long
- Dr. Matthew Wright is a media systems designer, improvising composer/performer, computer music researcher, father of an energetic 8-year-old, and the Executive Director and acting Technical Director of Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (Uni/Stanford/CCRMA). His computer music career began in 1990 as an undergraduate in a class from David Wessel at UC Berkeley’s Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT), where he joined the staff as a researcher from 1993-2008, before and during his CCRMA PhD. He later worked at the University of Victoria and UC Santa Barbara. His research has included real-time mapping of musical gestures to sound synthesis, helping develop and promote the Sound Description Interchange Format (SDIF) and Open Sound Control (OSC) standards, computer modeling of the perception of musical rhythm, and musical creation with technology in a live performance context. As a musician, he plays a variety of Middle Eastern and Afghan plucked lutes, Afro-Brazilian percussion, and computer-based instruments of his own design, in both traditional music contexts and experimental new works.
