In 1990, five Palestinian musicians and music teachers conducted a study on the status of music in Palestine. The group, Nadia Abboushi, Suhail Khoury, Ameen Nasser, Salwa Tabri and Rima Tarazi, came out with one significant and undisputed conclusion; the desperate need to establish a music school to teach music to Palestinian children and to fill the huge gap in music education in the Palestinian society.
It took the pioneering group three years of work to get things on the road. During that time the musicians approached Birzeit University (BZU) to adopt the project under its umbrella and, although not a university programme yet, the project of establishing a music school appealed to BZU. In 1993, the Board of Trustees of the University made a formal decision to establish The National Conservatory of Music (NCM), with the status of an affiliate to the University, and appointed the five establishing musicians as the board of supervisors to the project. It was in October of that same year that the first branch of the Conservatory opened in Ramallah, headquartered at the BZU Board of Trustees’ building, with 40 students, three part-time teachers, a secretary and a volunteer director, Mr. Ameen Nasser. Two more branches were later established; one in Jerusalem based at the YWCA and the other in Bethlehem situated in the International Centre of Bethlehem (Dar Annadwa). In September 2001, the central administration moved to the Jerusalem branch.
Dedicated to teaching music to Palestinian children and youth regardless of their financial situation or background, the NCM, now a decade later, boasts more than 350 students enrolled at its three branches, in addition to the students in its outreach programme, being taught by 17 teachers. Through either sponsorship or scholarship programmes, many underprivileged children and youth have the opportunity to study at the NCM.
Stemming from the strong belief that the arts are of major significance to a nation’s development, the NCM had put forward a number of objectives to develop and enhance musical life in Palestine. To do so, it was incumbent upon it to reach out to all sectors of the society through its academic and non-academic programmes running all year round, in addition to the outreach programme being implemented in a couple of schools in Jerusalem and Ramallah.
The academic programme, designed to give students a broadly structured instrumental and theoretical musical education, consists of three levels: preparatory, elementary, and intermediate, each of which, except for the preparatory level, consists of four grades. The programme consists of training in an Arabic or Western instrument and is set up in such a manner that it gives students the broadest possible education on both Arabic and Western musical cultures. Students get to learn the instrument of their choice: oud, qanoun, buzuk, piano, flute, clarinet, saxophone, guitar, violin, viola, cello, contrabass, etc., and their education in one of these instruments is complemented by classes in theory, ear-training, history and appreciation of Arabic, classical, jazz and world music, group playing, choirs and Arabic group percussion.
After successfully completing the three levels and taking examinations in eight grades (elementary and intermediate levels), each of which can be completed in a maximum of 20 months, the students will be eligible for a diploma that will qualify them to university level programmes if they wish to continue with their musical education, whereby they will eventually be trained to become professional musicians.
The NCM also offers an amateur programme for music lovers who do not wish to comply with the regular curriculum or to sit for exams. Amateur students are given private lessons in the instrument of their choice, and in some cases may register for other group courses subject to the approval of the teacher of the course, provided that the students are at a level at which he/she could benefit from it.
In 1996 the NCM started an educational programme which brings music to children in their own environment, with programmes in refugee-camps schools and other governmental and community schools which had never had the opportunity of offering musical education, thus contributing to the development of future generations of Palestinians. The programme was first implemented at the Rawdat Al-Zuhour School in Jerusalem and Al-Bireh Girls’ School in Ramallah, and it soon expanded to include the Jalazone Girls’ School in the Jalazone refugee camp where teachers from the NCM give music lessons to children interested in studying either the oud, the qunoun or percussion.
In addition to the outreach programme that is being slowly introduced in schools, the NCM organizes the education concert, which aims at exposing and reviving oriental instruments and music in the Palestinian community and attracting new, talented students to the oriental music section at the NCM. A five-member oriental ensemble “Takht” holds 45-minute performances in schools. During the performances, NCM teachers and students exhibit the different oriental instruments, explain about the various methods used in Arabic music and allow the children to sing along while playing famous folk tunes.
As part of its curriculum and in its effort to keep its students as active as possible, the NCM is always keen in putting on various activities. During the academic year, professional musicians are brought in to hold workshops and master classes with students, where the latter are taught different forms and skills on their respective instruments as well as new improvisation methods. In the summer, students can participate in a 10-day camp where they get serious training in music and focus on the development of their individual musical skills, together with regular and extensive contacts with professional educators and musicians, group work, chamber music and interaction between students of different instruments.
Holding competitions is yet another activity aimed at enhancing the students’ musical and performance skills and enriching their musical education. In 1999, the famous Lebanese musician Marcel Khalifeh donated to the NCM the financial part of the musical award he received from the Palestinian Ministry of Culture, and during the year, the first “Marcel Khalifeh Competition” was held in which NCM students competed in different instruments, including piano, strings, winds, oriental and guitar. Two more competitions are scheduled for this year: the National Oud Competition which will involve musicians from all over Palestine, and the School Choirs Competition.
At the end of December 2002, a series of four oriental music books and one piano book were published by NCM. The oriental books, Sharqiyat: Examination Pieces for Oriental Instruments, are a collection of Arabic music compiled, transcribed and edited by Ahmad Khatib, and are targeted toward oriental music students from beginner to advanced levels. The piano book, Let’s Play: Arabic Melodies for Piano Beginners, was arranged for piano by Dia Rishmawi and edited by Adriana Ponce. Let’s Play is a compilation of popular Arabic melodies which will hopefully be enjoyed by both children and adults worldwide. Both books were launched at a ceremony in Jerusalem at the beginning of February of this year, during which both students and teachers demonstrated the contents of the publications as they performed various pieces from each of the books. Another book series is expected to be published by the end of this year. The book, in Arabic, is geared toward theoretical courses at the NCM and will include music theory, sign-reading and singing, rhythmic reading and aural skills.
The NCM is constantly forming new ensembles and choirs of different musical genres. The groups are formed from students and teachers of the NCM and they often perform locally in the concert series organized by the NCM or upon invitation from other cultural organizations in Palestine or in other countries. Among the most prominent groups are The Oriental Music Ensemble (OME), Karloma, Awj and Shams, a children’s choir. The end result was the production of two CDs, one for the OME and another for Karloma. A third CD, Palestinian Sounds, was a joint production with Yabous Productions in Jerusalem and is a compilation of music and songs from Palestine.
The NCM has also been involved in organizing concerts throughout the year in Jerusalem, Ramallah and Bethlehem. From October until the end of December, and again from March until the end of June, audiences in each of these cities look forward to weekly concerts featuring local or international musicians performing oriental and western classical and contemporary music or jazz. These concert series have dramatically changed the musical scene in central Palestine, and for the first time a regular and consistent concert programme of professional quality is organized. Some of the most prominent musicians who had performed in these concert seasons include Daniel Barrenboim, Simon Shaheen, Wissam Boustany, Salim Abboud and Suleiman Erguner, to name a few.
For more information on the NCM or any of its activities, visit www.birzeit.edu/music.
Source: This Week in Palestine
