In this 3-4 day residency, singer Lamiae Naki and flamenco guitarist/oud player Nat Hulskamp use the sounds and structures of traditional Arabic and North African music to teach compositional concepts of intention, progression, tension and resolution. Students are introduced to the many cultures that intersect in Morocco (descendents of "Moorish" pre-Inquisition Spain, Arabic, North and West African, and the indigenous Amazigh people). With instruments from the Middle East and North Africa, participants learn the basic tones of Arabic percussion and how to produce them to create original rhythms on frame drums. Going far beyond using Western music's major and minor scales to express mood, Arabic music has over 50 maqamat scales that each express a specific feeling (ex: cheerful, sad, tense). Students will be introduced to examples of maqamat on the oud (the Arabic precursor to the lute and guitar). Sessions are taught by two teaching artists.

Through the sessions, students will progress from accompanying Lamiae and Nat on frame drums to using their new musical vocabulary, original and traditional rhythms, and a few words in Arabic to compose a new song through their chosen progression of maqamat. 

The Arabic and Tifinagh alphabets (language of Lamiae's Amazigh heritage) are introduced and referenced during the residency, and depending on the class's area of focus, students could write their own names in Arabic or learn more Arabic and/or Tamazight vocabulary.