Tanbour Education Peyman Sayyadi
Lesson 1. According to the description from Britannica encyclopedia, Tanbur (or Tanbour, Tanboor) is long-necked lute played under various names from the Balkans to northwestern Asia. Closely resembling the ancient Greek pandoura and the long lutes of ancient Egypt and Babylon, it has a deep, pear-shaped body; a fretted neck; and 2 to 10 double courses of metal strings fastened with front and side tuning pegs without a pegbox. As mentioned there are several types of Tanbour in several countries, thus from now on, by saying Tanbour, we mean Tanbour of Kermanshah, Iran (previously called Tanbour-e Baghdadi); Kermanshah is one of the western provinces of Iran in which most of the population of Yaresan (Yarestan or Ahl-e Haqq) people reside. Yarestan (Ahl-e Haqq or Yarisan) is a unique religion with the fundamental teaching that the power of God, following the original stage of nothingness or absolute oneness, manifests itself in a cyclic manner in seven layers. This sevenfold power of God is called the Haftan1. (Continued) Description: Terminology of Tanbour components are as Illustrated in the following figures.
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P. Hooshmandrad, Performing the Belief, Sacred Musical Practice of the Kurdish Ahl-I Haqq of Guran, University of California, Berkeley, 2004.
Tanbour Education Peyman Sayyadi
Tanbour Education Peyman Sayyadi Tuning: Tanbour strings are generally tuned in lower pitches than Tar and Setar. The white coupled strings are usually tuned on G, G# or A and the yellow string is tuned on a forth or fifth reverse interval from the white strings (i.e. if white strings are tuned on G, this string must be tuned on C for fifth interval and D for forth interval). Holding the instrument: In playing musical instruments, one of the most important things to learn is how to hold the instrument. Imitation is the best way to learn this. When playing Tanbour, spine must be right and the shoulders must be level. The right hand stands the most of the weight of the instrument; that's because left hand is moving between frets (Pardhes). The key lesson for playing any technique correctly is to relax every unused muscle. Rast Mezrab: Mezrab (pick) is the way the player of a stringed instrument plucks the strings. Tanbour has three main Mezrabs, Rast, Chap and Riz. The best way for learning Mezrabs will be imitation. Rast is the first and the most important pick in Tanbour. Rast is generally played by scratching four nails of the right hand over the strings of the Tanbour. This is performed by rolling of the wrist, having an angle about 30 degrees inward. When hand is positioned properly, it is released and moves on the strings. Notice that this movement must not be forced, hand must be just released. When playing this Mezrab, take care not to make extra movements; the movements must be smooth. In this mezrab back of the fingers will inevitably touch the top sheet of the instrument which is a source of noise. The player must relax the fingers as much as possible to reduce this noise. Remember that in different styles the location which Rast is performed on the strings varies between the bridge and the beginning of the neck. However the region near the neck (see the films) will result in least noise and most familiar Tanbour voice.
Tanbour Education Peyman Sayyadi Chap Mezrab: As mentioned before, Tanbour has three main Mezrabs, Rast, Chap and Riz. Chap is the second most important pick in Tanbour which is widely used, especially in high-metered pieces. Chap is generally played by rubbing skin of the right hand first finger over the strings. It is much similar to the movement of hand when one Rast mezrab is played and hand is going back to its original position. The difference is in touching or not touching the strings, and small variation in angle of the wrist (and first finger); the angle of wrist (and first finger) is a bit closer than the angle when the right hand comes up without touching the strings. So when hand is coming up, first finger and wrist are each a little bent inward. Just like Rast, in chap and other mezrabs, the movement of hand shall be smooth and extra movements of any type must be avoided. Every muscle shall be relaxed except the ones directly used in playing the mezrab. The key to play Chap correctly as well as the other mezrabs is to position the hand and the Tanbour correctly. Every component must be located in a way that all the conditions above are fulfilled. Riz Mezrab (Shor2): Playing a number of notes in short time with equal timing is called Riz. In Tanbour there are some Mezrabs called Riz whoever Riz can be performed by repetition of one single Mezrab. In Riz Mezrab, generally the notes must have equal time spacing. Several Riz Mezrabs are used by the Tanbourists in different regions of Iran but the basic Riz Mezrab played in Kermanshah is the four-finger Riz. The movement of the wrist is generally the same as Chap Mezrab but the four fingers of the right hand are released so that they touch the body of the Tanbour, and then hit the white strings and then go to the original state where the fingers have before any Mezrab. The point is not moving the fingers intentionally, and let the interaction between the fingers and the body of the Tanbour deflect the fingers one by one. So like other Mezrabs the claw must be as relaxed as possible. If the
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Riz in Sahneh, one of the main regions of Tanbour world in Kermanshah is called shor.
Tanbour Education Peyman Sayyadi angle of the wrist is adjusted, then the movement of the wrist will do every thing. Riz can be played in different regions of the top sheet of the Tanbour but in the Riz played in the film (which is the most common Riz Mezrab), the fingers touch the edge of the junction of the top sheet and bowl of the Tanbour in the vicinity of the neck. Other forms of the Riz Mezrab are five finger Riz in which all of the right hand fingers are used, and Gol-Riz in which one-finger Riz is added to a four-finger Riz so that the player can extend the duration of the Mezrab as long as desirable. Some players perform the Riz Mezrab by repetition of Do-Tak3 Mezrabs.
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Figure 1- The assumed naming of the fingers.
3
A double Chap Mezrab in which the first and last finger are used. In Goran region players play Do-Tak by first and second fingers, or thumb and first finger.
