Dive deeper into the art of recitation and maqamat!

In our previous maqamat courses, we covered the fundamentals needed for one to begin their journey into the art of recitation and maqamat. With our recent mini-courses (Hijaz & Nahawand), the response and feedback we received has been overwhelmingly positive, with many students going from being complete beginners (knowing nothing about maqamat) to being able to recite with the tune at a basic level.

But many students have been asking me for more programs, especially opportunities to recite to me for feedback and coaching.

If you’re like these students - you don’t want to just be able to use the maqam at a basic, introductory level … perhaps you’ve gotten to a certain level with the mini-course, but want to take this further.

You want to ...

• Get in flow and recite in a tune without having to think too hard about it
• Be able to access the maqam automatically when you start reciting
• Have some degree of control over how you’re using the maqam, so that you’re able to go high and come back down smoothly
• Be able to recite expressively and convey meaning and emotion with your voice
• Ultimately be able to recite in a tune and feel the joy that comes with that, whilst at the same time truly feel that your heart is connected to reciting Quran and not that you’re just doing ear training or maqamat practice to no end. 

But unfortunately, where you are right now is a little bit different ...

Maybe you're totally new to this maqamat thing - you've learned tajweed but have no idea where to start when it comes to reciting with a tune. So you're hopping around from one maqamat video to the next on YouTube, hoping that you'll be able to somehow just figure it out.

Or perhaps you've already gotten started with one of our courses - perhaps you have somewhat of a grasp on a maqam, but you’re still struggling with getting in solid practice on your own. Maybe you just stopped practicing entirely since the mini-course, or maybe it’s been really on-and-off. Or you’ve tried to practice, but you’re not so sure you can trust your own ears - so it’s been rather discouraging, as you have no idea if you’re doing it correctly or actually making progress. As a result you default to your usual recitation style, and maybe you don’t really even bother trying to recite in a maqam anymore. 

Maybe you've found yourself running into these issues ...

• You struggle with ear training - you're not that sure about your sense of pitch and you're not even sure you're getting the basic maqam pattern right
• You can get the basic pattern, but you’re not always sure how to apply it everywhere you recite
• You still find it hard to get into the maqam automatically, without needing to hum the tune or think too much about it
• You can start off in a tune, but after a while you lose the pattern and just end up going back to your normal way or reciting
• You can recite okay with a simple tune, but there’s not too much variation so it sounds a bit repetitive and limited
• You’re not really sure how and where exactly should you go up in pitch to explore the higher portions of the maqam
• You might try to freestyle or recite in a way to convey meaning, but that gets a bit tricky and you might end up needing to continuously “reset” to get back into the maqam.

You know that you have the foundation, and that you can do so much more, but it’s been a struggle so far to try to do this on your own.

You wish you could just recite with a tune - naturally and effortlessly, and feel an intimate connection to the words and meanings you’re reciting, rather than feeling like you’re just forcing a maqam onto the Quran.

The good news - this might take time, but it is achievable ...

What if you could recite with a tune, and experience even some of the joy of reciting beautifully? What if you could recite with emotion, and actually enjoy the sound of your own recitation? What if you could carry a tune while reciting aloud in Isha, or maybe when you sit down with your mushaf after a long day at work?  

YES there a lot of pieces and things to work on, and YES this does take time, and YES it’s much easier said than done …

But I believe that through the right amount of coaching, practice, and accountability, you can begin to get there, maybe not overnight, but definitely over the course of at least several weeks & months.

Alhamdulillah for the past eight years or so, I’ve been teaching the art of recitation and maqamat - helping others like you to recite Quran beautifully. Today I want to tell you about my new coaching program, where I’ll work with you closely to help you recite with a beautiful tune - smoothly, naturally, and creatively - so that you too can experience the joy of reciting beautifully ... 

Program Overview:

• This is an ongoing program with a 4-month minimum commitment - because it does take more than just a few weeks to make meaningful progress
• Program begins week of March 8
• This program is designed with one goal in mind - to help you become extremely fluent with reciting in maqamat
• This is a smaller, more intimate group program with a lot of personal attention - I’ll be very personally involved in helping you and you’ll have a good amount of access to me to help you through difficulties you might be having.

This program includes several key components, each of which is included to help you make significant progress. Rather than have you just show up casually once a week for a reading, this program is meant to immerse you in maqamat and keep you training during the week.

So here, in a bit more detail, is how this program works:

Weekly LIVE Coaching Calls:

These are the main live sessions where I’ll work with you, listen to your recitation, and guide you in terms of your practice. This is where you get to recite to me to work out issues in your own recitation. The key with these sessions is that they give you immense clarity, so you know very specifically what you need to be working on. Sometimes your entire tune is off just because of one specific note. Or you're losing the pattern because of the way you're finishing off your ayat. So these sessions will give you clarity so that you know what to work on before coming back to me once again.

You'll also get to learn from listening to feedback given to your fellow students as well. Sometimes you can’t hear something very well when you’re the one doing it, so it’s helpful to be in a class where you can hear and learn from other students’ recitations.

These sessions are currently held twice - Sundays at 11am Eastern, and Tuesdays at 4pm Eastern. Students can join either session. This is a flexible program - based on student enrolment, we are able to add sessions or adjust timings to accommodate new students.

Within the four months, there may be up to two off weeks, as needed.

Monthly Workshops:

Once a month we'll connect for a more in-depth training or discussion to cover material or topics that you might not necessarily be working on during a particular week. These topics will help you increase your depth and breadth of knowledge regarding maqamat and the art of recitation.

For example you might be spending most of your practice time week-to-week on maqam hijaz - but maybe you also want to start to explore other maqamat. Or you were interested in learning more about the permissibility of maqamat, or perhaps you would love to have a session to help with your breath control, or maybe you want to explore the idea of conveying meaning through your recitation. Or maybe you just want to try reciting in the mujawwad style, so we could get together and I could guide you through that.

Community of people who "get it":

For the duration of the program, we’ll also have a WhatsApp community where you can connect with your fellow students, share recitations, ask questions, and help support and motivate each other to stay on track. Not everyone will "get it" if you tell them you're learning maqamat, so it's helpful to be part of a group so you're not in this all alone. So far this group has been super-engaging, with students helping each other, sharing and discussing recitations, and just overall sharing in their passion for recitation.

Accountability Check-ins:

Ever take a program where you slowly (or very quickly) fell off track and never recovered? With this program, you’ll check in with the group once a week to let everyone know how you’re progressing, what you’re working on, and where you’re having difficulty. This will help keep you on track and stay accountable, and also enable us to better help you. 

How will you benefit from this program?

Clarity & Structure

Nothing saps your motivation and impedes your progress like not knowing what to do. With the guidance of an experienced teacher, you'll gain much needed self-awareness, and you'll quickly figure out the few things around which you can structure your progress. InshaAllah, "what exactly am I supposed to be working on?" will be a question of yesterday.

Consistent Practice & Accountability

On and off practice doesn't work - it's like going to the gym two days in a row, then skipping a week, then going again. With a program like this, lessons are ongoing, so you'll get continuous and repeated practice. Plus, you're not going at it on your own - having a teacher provides a level of accountability - you're somewhat "forced" to do the work, if only to save face. This alone will give you a huge advantage in developing and strengthening your application of maqamat. Remember: practice makes perfect!

Personalized Lessons & Immediate Feedback

These lessons are personalized and tailored to your particular level, as well as your individual voice needs and recitation goals. You might want to focus only on building fluency with one or two maqams for your personal recitation. Or perhaps you're an Imam and want to cover all the main maqams with me. Or maybe you dream of mastering mujawwad, and you want to work on transitioning smoothly between maqamat and developing aspects of style? All this is possible, with lessons tailored to your needs. Alhamdulillah, I've worked with students at all of these levels.

What can you expect to learn?

In every session we have together, you should expect that I will push you out of your comfort zone, to get you to try new things in your recitation and expand your vocal repertoire. There will be times where I recite to demonstrate, however the overall focus is on YOU reciting rather than me speaking or lecturing. My role is primarily to provide critiquing, coaching, and guidance. Between lessons, you are expected to continue practicing and doing these exercises.

Here are some things that we’ll work on with you in our coaching calls and practice exercises.

We’ll help you:

• Train your ear so that you can easily hear the spacings (intervals) of the maqam
• Be able to apply the tune appropriately regardless of where you’re reciting
• Memorize a cue/prompt so that you can start off in a tune instantly whenever you need to
• Learn how to feel where you tend to fall out of the maqam, so that you can pay attention to those trouble spots and recover so that you can stay in tune
• Gain control over the maqam so that it doesn’t sound too basic, for example building up your sense of where and how to go up and back down, or when to start an ayah high vs low, etc.
• Push higher and do more with your voice than you might otherwise be accustomed to doing when you recite on your own.
• Learn how to recite expressively so that you can recite in a way that is in tune with the meaning - once you practice this, you’ll feel your entire relationship with recitation change

Important note: Because this is a coaching program rather than a course, a lot will depend on your individual level coming in to the program, how long you remain in the program, and how much practice you put in. For example if you’re having difficulty with the basic pattern, we’ll first work with you on that, rather than trying to go too advanced with topics like conveying meaning.