Riq Lesson Part 1 by Randy Gloss

Holding the Drum

There are two main playing positions for this tambourine. The two
positions are commonly referred to as the cabaret style and the soft
style. These lessons deal only with the cabaret style (see pictures #1 &
#2). For those people who have never played riq before, I will try to
take you step by step on how to hold the drum in this playing position.
It definitely helps to see this in person, so if you can, I recommend
taking a lesson. If not then refer to the first two pictures.
picture 1 - holding the drum
(front view)

1) Make a C shape with your left hand (if your right handed).
2) Rest the riq into the C with one set of jingles facing down through
the middle of the C.
3) Bring your thumb (bottom half of C) up to push against the back
jingle.
4) Your forefinger (and possibly your middle finger will hold the riq
where the skin meets the shell.
5) Moderately tilt the drum forward to rid yourself of any unwanted or
excess shimmer of the jingles.

picture 2 - holding the drum

(back view)

6) Your right hand will be used to play the drum sounds in this
position. Unlike other styles of frame drumming, your right hand
should not rest or pivot off of the shell. Keep it free to move. See
pictures #3, #4, and #5. 7) Likewise your left hand will be used (along
with your right) to play front jingles in your C. Use your ring finger in
each hand (on that same jingle). Practice alternating right-left-right-left
for a while to get the feel.

The Strokes
Doum
Open low pitched sound played with the index finger of your dominant
drumming hand. To minimize motion it may help to visualize turning a
doorknob to the left until your index finger strikes the drum head.

Tak; High pitched sound played close to the edge of the drum head.
Use your ring finger of your dominant hand. Again to minimize the
motion you may want to visualize turning a doorknob to the right until
your ring finger strikes the head.

Kat; Closed stroke played in the middle of the drum head. This stroke
can be played with all four fingers or four fingers and your thumb. It is
a relaxed stroke, so approach it with a mildly cupped hand.

The Jingles
This particular tambourine has very loud and active sounding jingles
(Which is why before we even begin to play we slightly tilt the drum).
These two lessons were prepared to teach some basic playing ideas, but
more importantly it will give you some ideas on how to control and
manipulate the jingles.
With your ring fingers in both hands alternate striking the jingle that
is closest to the middle of your C grip (same as step 7 on how to hold
the drum).
Shaking the tambourine back and forth. Imagine you are holding an
egg shaker or small maraca with your left hand. Because of the weight
of the riq, this motion will cause fatigue in your hand at first. Don't
push it. When you get tired, stop and rest. It is also common for people
to exaggerate the necessary motion at first. So, pay attention to keep
the gesture small (this will reduce the amount of work required). If you
are new at this tambourine, I recommend practicing shaking the riq
back and forth keeping the notes even (think egg shaker) before you
begin the lessons.
The triplet with the jingles is a side to side shake (more specifically a
left to right rotation).
Step 1 Place your drumming hand parallel to the surface of the drum
head.
Step 2 Rotate the drum to the left hitting the riq into your right hand
(first note of the triplet).

Step 3 With a slight amount of resistance from your right hand, push
the tambourine past your right hand, and follow through to the left
(second note of the triplet).
Step 4 Bring the tambourine back to the right, returning to the original
position (third note of the triplet).
Step 5 Repeat steps 1 through 4.

Lesson I
Lesson I is based on a very common middle eastern rhythm called Belladi(shown in I). The following
examples (labeled a through e) use this same rhythm for the drum, but varying ideas from the jingles.
Practice each one over and over for a while before moving to the next pattern.

Lesson 1

In a all of the sixteenth notes are filled in and played with our fingers alternating right-left.

Ia

In b the jingle is played by the left hand on the upbeats.

Ib

In c the jingle is played by the left hand on the last two sixteenths of the beat.

Ic

In d the jingles are activated by shaking the tambourine back and forth (think of the egg shaker).

Id

In e we are superimposing the side to side (left to right rotation) triplet over top of the belladi rhythm.
This is very difficult and requires that you have already mastered playing the triplet without drum
notes first.

Ie

Listen to Lesson I - Putting It All Together

Riq Lesson Part 2 by Randy Gloss

beladi (or baladi) maqsum felahi
Three rhythms? One rhythm? Quite frankly, yes to both.
The core, basic rhythm, is essentially the same. The primary difference is of tempo:
slow (baladi), medium (maqsum), and fast (felahi). However, not just tempo, but feel as well.
The ornamentation and the movement can be strikingly different.
This lesson will deal with some jingle ornaments on the riq for maqsum.
In the course of my own experiences as both a student and performer of this instrument I have

found three different basic frameworks for this rhythm:

video

video

video
Some people play it one way, some play it another. Everyone insists that theirs is the right way.
And of course, they may be rightafter all; Im from Philadelphia. So, I find that its in my best
interest to be able to adapt to their right way. This lesson is designed in a modular manner so
you can work through any of the jingle ornaments with any of three basic patterns above. I
recommend working on only one basic rhythm at a time.
Its a good idea to sing the syllables (i.e. Doum tek tek doum tek -) while working on this, it
will help with the feel.
The next step is to apply a decoration that is a very common / popular way to play this rhythm.
This one ornament (rhythm) can be played in many ways to change both color and dynamics.
We will discuss four ways (labeled A-D).
Here it is for the purpose of visualization, written with each of the basic rhythms.

A) very staccato short closed sound. From the fingers. Can be played either as Left Left or
Right Left. Basic I with A
B) Open sound, splashy. Also from fingers. Can also be played as Left Left or Right Left.
Can either play off the jingle (with the striking finger) to allow them to
open, or remove thumb from the back jingle and allow jingles to splash off of each other. Basic
IB
C) Back and forth shake. Discussed in greater detail in the first lesson. Basic II C
D) Side to side shake. First shake is away (a turn to the left), the second is towards you (a turn
to the right). Basic III D

This exercise actually becomes twelve different patterns, by working through playing basic
pattern I with jingle patterns A, B, C, and D. Basic rhythm II with A, B, C, D. Basic rhythm III
with A, B, C, D.
Next, you can make tek substitutions on the riq. Meaning, instead of playing tek literally, as a
high rim sound, instead substitute another sound in its place.
Try Substituting:

tek for pa or ka sound IB with pa as tek substitution

tek for a jingle struck with finger
tek for an edge sound. Strike edge of shell to get a splash (no drum sound). ID with edge
as tek substitution
tek for a slap sound

This now brings us to a total of sixty different patterns to experiment with so far.

Exercise 1:
To get comfortable with both the riq as well as a common form of four bar phrases, try playing
(with either basic rhythm I, II, or III) A four times, B four times, C four times, D four times and
repeat.

Have fun, think musically. Try to build, crescendo. On repeats try to incorporate tek
substitutions. Mix and match, experiment.
Demonstrated: Basic Rhythm I with A four times with tek played on jingle, B four times with
tek played as pa, C four times, D four times with tek played as edge sound Excercise 1 video
Next as a way to build in intensity, we will fill in all of the subdivisions with a constant 1/16th
note jingle sound.

E) very staccato short closed sound. From the fingers. Alternate right left filling in the blanks.
IIIE, IIIE with tek substitution played on jingle
F) Open sound, splashy. Also from fingers. Also played right Left filling in the blanks. Can
either play off the jingle (with the striking finger) to allow them to open, or remove thumb from
the back jingle and allow jingles to splash off of each other. IIIF
G) Constant shaking back and forth while playing the basic rhythm. IIIG
Work through the three basic rhythms with these three jingle techniques.
In reality this is an addition of nine more patterns (plus thirty-six including the tek
substitutions). This brings us to a total of one hundred pattern possibilities discussed so far.

To build in intensity, next we can add rolls.

A common way to roll on the riq is using the fingers on the jingles.
Here are two ways to play a 5-note roll with the fingers.
The first way is using Right and Left alternately, ending with the right (RLRLR-), labeled H.
The second fingering uses a triple stroke roll in the right hand ( striking the jingle with the third,
second, and first fingers on the right hand), followed by left, right, labeled I. Demonstrated on
the following video.

video
Heres how it can be applied to the three basic rhythms: H and I*Demonstrated are IH, and 1-I
with tek substitution on jingle.

Basic Patterns I, II, III with roll:

Another technique for rolling is to literally shake the riq. More specifically rest the fingers of
the right hand against the edge and simply flutter your hand in a relaxed manner. Try to make
this an even sound. Experiment with dynamics (try to build, crescendo. Or get softer,
diminuendo).

video
Demonstrated below is pattern IJ with tek substitution played on edge.

video

Exercise 2:
Building from the last exercise of four bar phrases. This one is to play a pattern three times,
followed by a one measure (four beat) improvised drum break, then switch pattern and repeat.
Improvised drum break meaning that you make it up. Keep it simple and solid with regard to
tempo.
Demonstrated is 1I (w/ tek substitution played on jingle) played three times, a one bar drum
break, followed by IJ (w/ tek substitution played on edge), a one bar drum break, and then form
is repeated. video
This lesson, after completed, should give you enough of the basic tools to be able to play along
with belly dance CDs, and even to give you the tools necessary to provide basic
accompaniment for live dancers.
Good luck, and have fun.

http://www.handsonsemble.com/lesson/riq_lesson2/riq_lesson2.htm