Employing traditional Kurdish melodies in writing contemporary string orchestral works “A Breeze from the Homeland for Students” as a model

Abstract

It is an experimental field study and a scientific attempt to fill some gaps that appear in the concert programs of the orchestras, particularly in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Iraqi cities in general. It also attempts to compensate for some defects in the curricula for teaching ensemble lessons in the music departments in the Faculties of Fine Arts within Iraqi universities. The study presents a suitable scientific model for contemporary Iraqi-Kurdish musical compositions, whether for musicians, composers, or researchers in the field of contemporary musical composition. The researcher completed writing the piece “A Breeze from the Homeland” in a period of three years, and the time of the piece is about six minutes in total. In terms of musical composition, the researcher used traditional and popular Kurdish music to compose the piece. The aim of the composition is to meet the needs of this era by using traditional and popular Kurdish music, developing it, and reformulating it in a suitable contemporary scientific language. In terms of the performance level, the researcher attempted to write the piece for fourth-grade level students in music departments within Iraqi colleges, or at a relatively intermediate level (i.e., the sixth grade, according to the British Royal School). This was to enable students to perform in the fourth year of study within the course of group playing and also to allow opportunities for local orchestras in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq to perform as the composition as well.