The Oud Ensemble I book provides students with the opportunity to progress their performance skills while adding ornamentation to popular pieces of music. Maqamaat covered are: Maqam Ajam, Nahawand, Rast and Bayat. The ornamentation skills applied to the repertoire provided are: the tremolo, trill and the use of qarar and jawab. The Oud Ensemble II: book covers Maqam Kurd, Hijaz, Saba and Segah. Learners are guided through the application of musical ornamentations that have been previously covered on a new set of maqamaat and pieces as well as adding more complex skills such as the glissando and vibrato. Learners will also be expected to practice playing more than one ornamentation simultaneously within a maqam scale and musical piece.

This book has been written for learners who know most technical and theoretical techniques used on the Oud. Such skills include: playing accurately in all three positions; playing a maqam or a song in only the 2nd or 3rd positions; using ornamentation in the 2nd position and sometimes the 3rd; knowing maqam transpositions from main notes and open strings; and understanding different kinds of technical transpositions. In this book, most of the pieces studied are very well-known master pieces. A masterpiece is a pieceof music that combines high technique with a high level of expressing the feeling, spirit and soul of the music being played. This feeling is known as rouhiyyah in Arabic. The material in this book will guide you through these masterpieces and simplify the way they are played to help you progress using correct playing techniques.

The Oud Advanced book has been designed for students who are comfortable playing the Oud using a high level of technique and wish to further advance their playing skills. Students are required to have completed the Upper Intermediate book with a high level of achievement and be able comfortably read music notation without the use of tablatures. This book will cover multiple techniques of oud playing including a high level of applying ornamentation patterns such as: qarar and jawab, the use of trills. Modulations, secondary maqamaat and the use of all three playing positions will also be practiced. These techniques will be practiced and applied while playing a variety of complicated repertoires providing students with a challenging set of skills to improve their playing.

The Arabic Music Theory I book guides students through the basics of music literacy. Students will have acquired the essential skills needed to read musical scores and use solfege exercises. Topics covered will include: Basic rhythms, note names, time value, key signatures and accidental notes. Arabic Music Theory II is designed to guide students through learning the basic elements of the maqam system. Students will learn to fine-tune their ear to recognize each of the main maqamaat and understand the ways in which each of them is constructed, transposed and intertwine with one another. Complex and syncopated rhythms will also be explored.

This book has been written for oud students who have completed the Oud Beginner Book. The principal maqamaat will be further analyzed with a higher level of risha and fingering technique such as the addition of a second octave and playing in the second position. New traditional instrumental oud pieces and songs have been added to the repertoire. The book begins with Maqam Rast, Bayat, Saba and Segah to emphasise the importance of quarter-tones.