Improvisation through Arabic Aesthetics
A Five-Week Class with Huda Asfour
Sundays, 2-3:30 pm: 9/20, 9/27, 10/4, 10/11, 10/18

What can Arabic musical aesthetics contribute to contemporary improvisation?

This track explores Arabic music not as a repertoire or theoretical system only, but as a way of thinking about melody, rhythm, memory, language, and musical interaction.

Participants investigate:

• Maqam as an aesthetic rather than merely a scale

• Taqsim as a process of musical thinking

• Melody as form

• Rhythm emerging from speech

• Listening practices

• Repetition and variation

• Musical storytelling and regional aesthetics

• Individual improvisation

Exercises include:

• guided melodic improvisation

• listening analysis

• vocal exercises

• maqam exploration

• rhythmic language exercises

• transcription by ear

• collective listening

• solo improvisation

Suitable for:

• instrumentalists

• singers

• composers

• jazz musicians

• classical musicians

• experimental musicians

• electronic musicians

About Huda Asfour:

Composer, multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, educator, and cultural organizer based between Cairo and Brooklyn. Her artistic practice spans composition, songwriting, improvisation, film, and multimedia performance at the intersection of classical Arabic music, SWANA folk traditions, and improvisational practice.

Her recording work includes two studio albums: Mars, Back and Forth (2011), funded by Al Mawred Al Thaqafi (Culture Resource), and Kouni (2018), supported by the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), alongside a wide range of international collaborations.

Her latest solo project, Naqus, explores repetition and resistance through melodic looping and was featured on Democracy Now!. Her scoring credits include the award-winning films This Day Won't Last (2020), Blue Dive(2012), and Ship of Fools (2025).

She is co-founder and member of the Cairo and Brooklyn Improv Orchestras, where she develops conducted improvisation for medium- and large-scale electroacoustic ensembles. She also teaches workshops on Arabic music aesthetics and the relationship between language and melody, supported by a Mophradat Artist Grant (2019). Huda holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University and brings over a decade of experience as a researcher and educator in electrical and biomedical engineering. More on hudaasfour.com

Before you register:

Despite the rising costs and lower funding streams that are affecting cultural institutions, Jalopy still wants to be a home for everyone seeking to learn and develop their musical practice. Therefore, this semester, we are offering the classes based on a sliding scale, inviting each student to choose a price based on their income level. Those of you who can afford to pay more than the breakeven cost, will be making it feasible for Jalopy to give scholarships to those who cannot afford the courses.

Please note that these numbers are only suggestions, and you are free to pay what feels manageable and appropriate for you based on all your life's circumstances, not just annual income. As usual, you can inquire and apply for financial aid by emailing lynette@jalopytheatre.org.

Sliding Scale Chart based on Annual income:

$0 - $20k / year: scholarship (partial or full depending on availability)

$20k-$30k / year: $281.25

$30k - $40k / year: $328

$40k -$50k / year: $375

$50k -70k / year: $422

$70k and up: $468.75

Beyond Maqam with Huda Asfour - A Five-Week Class

Beyond Maqam with Huda Asfour - A Five-Week Class