Most of us have time to listen to music, even if we just put on some background music.  But every little bit of time exposed to the music, even music in the background, makes a difference.  Give some thought to how you might listen to more Middle Eastern music.  Think about playing the original classics sung by Umm Khalthum or Abdel Halim Hafez.  The more you listen, the more you learn about phrasing and sentiment.

In the Resources section of the website, Suhaila has a list of her favorite Arabic singers, both classic and modern.  She has set up several public playlists in her Spotify account to help you hear more from these artists.  You can join with a free account and then search for “Suhaila Salimpour” to follow her playlists.

For those of you in the Certification program, you can also hear some of the music for your Personal Performance Catalogs.  Playlist “sets” have been created in Spotify to match some of the approved music sets.

Photograph:  Umm Khalthum.