Muscat,(ONA) - The Ministry of Arts Affairs represented by the Omani Society for Oud Amateurs will continue to implement the “Player” event and the mentoring program (Oud Amateurs Competition) via electronic channels, which are two programs within the training plan for this year. They are also considered a continuation of what was presented during the last period before the corona virus pandemic (Covid 19). Training in the two programs via electronic channels began on March 23, under the supervision of trainers Dr. Muddathir Abu Al-Wafa and Professor Khaled Al-Tuwaijri.
The “Player” training is a program in which the talents that have proven their presence, responsiveness and talent in the foundational program (which is a 16-day training course) are chosen. The program contributes, within its works and specializations, to sharpening the skills of the participants and training them on the maqamat, music dawaleeb and some different musical compositions. This program aims to enable talented people to play the oud, learn music theories, and write and read musical notes (Solfège). The number of participants in the training program, which consists of 6 hours per week, is about 20 trainees of both genders.
As for the mentoring program (Oud Amateurs Competition), it is a program for members who have previously participated in founding courses in playing the oud instrument and participated in the activities and programs of the society and have possibilities to play the oud instrument. The participant selects two different works from the oriental music templates, in addition to free divisions, and the committee formed by the society's professors, Dr. Muddathir Abu Al-Wafa and Professor Khaled Al-Tuwaijri, undertakes a preliminary evaluation 3 months after the announcement of the competition, and the names that qualify for the second stage, which are also 3 months, are sorted. At this stage, the musical templates will be unified between the contestants, and the committee will then select the first, second and third winners. This program aims to raise the capabilities of the contestants and the skills of playing the oud instrument and enable them to compete for the competition awards in a highly efficient way, up to professionalism.
Regarding the “musician” program, Professor Khaled Al-Tuwaijri says, “In this program, part of the curriculum has been accomplished, including technical exercises and training on some musical compositions. The participants were trained on a number of maqams and musical dawaleeb, which are Al-Rast, Al-Bayati, Al-Nahand and Al-Ajam. We train and provide lessons weekly to three groups (two groups of male trainees and one group of female trainees), two days a week for each group, using the Zoom program. All participants are interactive and at the end of the program, the musical compositions on which they will be trained will be presented.”
Dr. Muddathir Abu Al-Wafa indicated that the mentoring program is a competition for members for classic oriental works. “We, as a committee, have screened the applicants and currently we have a number of qualified members on the advanced positions”, he said. “We follow up and train with the various available technologies, and in conclusion, the first, second and third place winners are selected based on their competence and technique in playing the oud instrument.”
(ONA)