Homework:

Focus Topic - Zills and Drills

Finger Cymbals homework:

Practice your finger cymbals with movement. Practice your 3 tones: ring, clap and click.

Here is notation for practicing the maqsum and malfuf rhythms at home on your finger cymbals, use clap for dums and rings for everything else, then try the opposite: 

I pulled this notation right off of Jas's Middle Eastern Rhythms website: http://www.khafif.com/rhy/

walking maqsuum 4/4

1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-|
D-T-k-T-D-k-T---| [MIDI]
D-T-k-T-D-k-T-tk| [MIDI]with the bridge

                

The couple of beats you are finding near the end of some of these variations are known as a "bridge" or "chain" -- they are not basic to the rhythm, but are often played as a pick up into the next measure. 

and here it is for malfuf:

malfuuf 2/4=3+3+2

1-+-2-+-|
D--T--T-| [MIDI]
DkkTkkTk| [MIDI]
D-kT-kT-| [MIDI]

Here are some basic finger cymbal patterns:

The Gallop: RLR, RLR, RLR, RLR or LRL, LRL, LRL, LRL or RRR or LLL, try varying the ring and the clap, ring-ring-clap, or clap, clap, ring or all rings, or all claps, then try all clicks.

Alternating: RLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLR woo-hoo!

Patterns for 4 count rhythms like Masmoudi Saghir (Baladi), Saidi and Maqsum: RLR, RLR, RLRLRLR. I'm going to change my counting with numbers, just start every 1 with your dominant and or right hand, so the pattern above will read: 123, 123, 1234567

next pattern 7-3-3: 1234567, 123, 123
next pattern 3-7-3: 123, 1234567, 123
next pattern 3-5-5: 123, 12345, 12345
next pattern 1-3-7: 1, 123, 1234567
next pattern 1-1-3-1-3: 1, 1, 123, 1, 123 - this last pattern should sound familiar since it is Masmoudi Saghir.

There are several more variations that you can do, but go ahead and start with these.

Masmoudi Saghir - the name of a common rhythm in folk and popular Arabic music, also sometimes called "Beledi". It is a 4 beat rhythm. You will often hear it as part of the Egyptian Beledi Taksim musical construct. "Saghir" means "little" in Arabic. So this is the "little masmoudi". You can listen to it in it's most basic form online at Al Siadi.com, you may also hear it filled on Jas's Middle Eastern Rhythms page, and you may hear the name pronounced and hear the rhythm in music samples at Maqam world. Here it is mapped out for you:

D represents the low Dum sound made by the Tabla, T the accented high Tek sound and t k are the tek and ka.

1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-|
D-D-__T-D-__T-__| basic form
D-D-tkT-D-tkT-tk| filled

on your cymbals that would be Clap, Clap, Ring-Ring-Ring, Clap, Ring-Ring-Ring or Ring, Ring, Clap-Clap-Clap, Ring, Clap-Clap-Clap, also try it will all clicks.

Watch this clip of local DC dancer Kawakib performing a finger cymbals only solo. Learn the different names:
Zills (Turkish)
Sil Sil (Arabic)
Sagat (Egyptian)
Salasih (Farsi)
Finger Cymbals (English).

Watch this clip of the famous Egyptian Belly Dancer Naima Akef in the movie Tamra Henna. She was famous for her skill with finger cymbals. You can buy the movie Tamra Henna quite cheaply from Rashid's, with English subtitles. The music from this movie includes very famous belly dance tunes that are still very popular with dancers.

Here are two additional video clips of two of my favorite sagat players: Ansuya, a very popular American performer, and Karim Nagi, another popular Egyptian-American performer. Listen to how Karim varies the tone as he plays. Notice how Ansuya's playing doesn't effect the beautiful shapes she makes with her hands and arms while dancing.

 

Resources for buying finger cymbals:

Saroyan's Arabesque was the first set I got as a student. I still like them and use them, they come in silver and brass:
http://www.saroyanzils.com/

My second pair of zills was the FatChanceBellyDance Signature Series. That particular set might be too big to start with, but they also sell student sized:

My next favorite pair of sagat were the Sohaila exclusive:
http://www.sohailainternational.com/fingercymbals/
You could probably start with these comfortably as they aren't too large, although a little larger than the Saroyans.

Other brand names you can shop for:

Turquoise International is a very respected brand:
http://www.turquoiseintl.com/cymbals.html

El Coyote, I've been wanting for a while...of course their site says they're unavailable right now. Hopefully that will change:
http://www.fingercymbals.com/

Zildjian makes a good pair, but they are one holers, so a little more difficult to handle.
http://www.wwbw.com/Zildjian-Finger-Cymbals-1-Pair-i86439.music

Try not to get the cheapy dinkies that sound like crap. You have to listen to them so try and find a pair you like the sound of. 

Once you buy them, you'll want to sew the elastic to fit your middle finger and thumb very snugly, with the seam on the inside, cut off the excess. You are welcome to buy a different color elastic at the fabric store if you don't want black.