Small talk about the weather
It's been raining four days during last the eight here, and while it's been snowing all over Turkey for a month now, Trabzon saw snow for the first time two nights ago. It came down in large heavy flakes, drenching everything to make the use of an umbrella necessary. As I trudged up the big hill (which is really the base of a mountain) to my apartment, I was soothed by the sound of water running towards the sea. Even though I was exhausted and cold, I felt I could breathe easier with the sound of water all around me. It was most relaxing.
Last night walking around was almost dangerous. It was snowing again, but this time the temperature had dropped and was making the fallen snow into slushy ice. I was wearing my sneakers and had my baglama slung over my shoulder, so I walked most cautiosly. This morning the cobblestone hill wasn't much better and I learned that going down slippery surfaces is much more difficult than going up. Everything was successful, though and I made it safely to my saz lesson.
Oh!
One of the main reasons I'm here is to learn more about the baglama saz (the 'g' in is silent--bah-lama). Seven years ago I was an exchange student at Marmara University in Istanbul and took about 3 months of saz lessons. What's a saz? Technically, saz means "musical instrument" in Persian, and the baglama is a member of the long necked lute family. It's the most popular folk instrument in Turkey and there are a variety of ways to play it and tune it. I'm still not clear on all the different styles, so as I learn more, I'll tell you more. Right now all I know is that when I hear someone playing it very well, my heart cries out in such a way that I nearly weep with joy. A few weeks ago I started taking lessons with a really good teacher, and I'm now learning the style of improvisation that many players use. The sound of the instrument is soft compared to that of the guitar, but nonetheless full. Check out these sites to learn more.
Here some photos of its loveliness.
Last night walking around was almost dangerous. It was snowing again, but this time the temperature had dropped and was making the fallen snow into slushy ice. I was wearing my sneakers and had my baglama slung over my shoulder, so I walked most cautiosly. This morning the cobblestone hill wasn't much better and I learned that going down slippery surfaces is much more difficult than going up. Everything was successful, though and I made it safely to my saz lesson.
Oh!
One of the main reasons I'm here is to learn more about the baglama saz (the 'g' in is silent--bah-lama). Seven years ago I was an exchange student at Marmara University in Istanbul and took about 3 months of saz lessons. What's a saz? Technically, saz means "musical instrument" in Persian, and the baglama is a member of the long necked lute family. It's the most popular folk instrument in Turkey and there are a variety of ways to play it and tune it. I'm still not clear on all the different styles, so as I learn more, I'll tell you more. Right now all I know is that when I hear someone playing it very well, my heart cries out in such a way that I nearly weep with joy. A few weeks ago I started taking lessons with a really good teacher, and I'm now learning the style of improvisation that many players use. The sound of the instrument is soft compared to that of the guitar, but nonetheless full. Check out these sites to learn more.
Here some photos of its loveliness.
posted by nicole @ 3:28 AM
1 Comments:
At 9:39 PM,
Yokhim said…
Hi there,
Came upon your site through my search for Baglama. There really aren't that much information about this instrument on the internet (compared to the guitar for example), and it's even fewer where people talks about how easy or difficult to learn to play the Baglama.
And it was good to land on someone's blog talking about it. It would be so kind of you if you can share some experience on learning this instrument, how difficult it is to learn? My musical knowledge is poor, almost to the degree of zero, and there's no one around town to teach it, so I'll have to be self -taught which makes things more difficult (I suppose?). So would be awesome if you can share some ideas, thanks!
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