Introduction
In November 2007, Musicians For Harmony launched its Mentorship Program
in Iraq. Its principal features are:
- Talented young musicians from Baghdad have live, one-to-one music lessons
with distinguished American teachers
- Music students from Baghdad’s prestigious Music & Ballet School,
ranging in age from 14 to 21 years, are selected by a rigorous process
and must obtain permission of their parents (if they are under 18)
- Each student is then matched with a prominent and highly dedicated music
teacher in the U.S. who has been carefully selected for the program
- Teachers and students are required to have the following equipment: personal
computer, high speed internet service, simple webcam device attached to
their computer
- Assistance is provided for those who do not have this equipment
- Teachers give “lessons” via webcam (with both video and sound
hookup) via internet communication programs such as Skype or Yahoo Messenger
- Video lessons take place 1 – 2 times per month which last approximately
one hour apiece
- Teachers email or upload sound files and scanned-in sheet music, providing
students with access to recordings and study materials that are not available
in Baghdad
- Additional mentorship is given through periodic emails and online chat
sessions
Plans for Expansion
Musicians For Harmony (MFH) was founded on the principles of cultural exchange
and diplomacy. For this reason, we strongly believe that exchanges between
two cultures should “go both ways,” i.e., to foster equality
on both sides.
Our Iraqi-American Mentorship Program currently engages students in Baghdad
with teachers in the U.S. in the study of classical Western music. We plan
to balance this with a project where prominent musicians in Baghdad teach
young Americans about traditional Iraqi music, using the same means as our
current program.
Key Points
- Identify Baghdad’s premiere folk musicians – oud, maqam,
jowza, qanun, santur
- Identify high school music students in New York City who wish to learn
about Iraqi music
- Arrange video webcam “master classes” between Iraqi masters
and NYC students
- Engage Arab-American music specialists in NYC to help facilitate lessons
- Sessions could include high school students from
- Baghdad’s Music & Ballet School (MBS) who would “meet” their
American counterparts during these lessons, possibly performing for each
other and interacting via webcam
How It Will Work
- Six sessions, one hour per week, with a different Iraqi master musician
each time
- Sessions to be “hosted” (if possible) at the MBS in
Baghdad, with selected Iraqi students from their school participating
- Sessions
to be “attended” in NYC by American students from MFH’s “Music
of the World” workshops (a program designed to teach high school students
in Brooklyn about music from other world cultures)
- Engage Iraqi artists with
the assistance of the directors of the MBS, the Iraqi National Symphony
Orchestra and the Iraqi Ministry of Culture
