Gems Instrumental Pieces

Title	Gems Instrumental Pieces
Author	Mimi Spencer
ISBN	None
Publisher	Self-Published
Category	Music Education
Shira's Rating

What It's About

This book is a valuable educational resource on Middle Eastern music for both musicians and dancers. It is a companion to a collection of musical recordings called Gems of the Middle East that Mimi Spencer made with Mary Ellen Donald which I have reviewed elsewhere on this web site.

For 23 songs, it offers sheet music, including a recommendation of which rhythm to use for each. In addition, Mimi includes introductory comments for each song indicating who wrote it, which artist popularized it, and other valuable background information.

The songs included are:

Song Title	Nationality
Lailet Hob	Egypt
Toutah	Egypt
Alf Lailah wa Lailah	Egypt
Hijaz Baladi	Egypt
Ya Sitti Ya Khityarah (Perom Pom Pom)	Arabic
Ahwak	Egypt
Nibtidi Mneen al-Hikaya	Egypt
Bint al-Balad	Egypt
Tamrihinna	Egypt
Cleopatra	Egypt
Mazamir	Egypt
Spectacular Rhythms Finale	Lebanon
Tafta Hindi	Arabic
Akhud Habibi D'Ana Yamma	Arabic
Sahara City	Egypt
Fakkaruni Finale	Egypt
Anta Omri	Egypt
La Gardienne des Cles	Lebanon
Ya 'Ain Mawlaytin	Lebanon
al-'Albi Ya'shaq Kulli Gamil	Egypt
Princess of Cairo	Egypt
Longa Riyadh	Egypt
'Andah 'Alaik	Egypt

Several appendices include excellent supporting information about Middle Eastern music. They include:

Guide to which of Mimi Spencer's books (including this one) contain sheet music and lyrics for each song in the Gems of the Middle East series of songs that Mimi recorded with Mary Ellen Donald.
Maqam scales
Basic rhythm patterns
Glossary of musical terms
Bibliography
Discography of sources and other recordings of interest
Suggested vendors and web sites
About the author

If you're a musician who plans to use the sheet music to learn how to play these songs, please read the Introduction carefully. Mimi includes an explanation of the notation system she has used, and it's important to read that in order to understand how to interpret it.

Its Good Points

I liked this book very much because:

The songs selected to be included are good choices. These are not obscure pieces, but rather well-known ones that are quite appropriate to include if you're studying the music of the eastern Mediterranean.
Because the book is a companion to a set of musical recordings done by Mimi and Mary Ellen, a dancer can use the two together to learn more about Middle Eastern music.
It contains sheet music to help musicians add these songs to their repertoire.
It provides tips on the Table of Contents page suggesting which part of a dancer's routine each song might be suitable for (entrance, slow, finale, etc.)
For a musician, the plastic spiral binding would probably be convenient because it allows the book to lie open on the desired page while playing.

On The Negative Side....

As a non-musician, I found the plastic spiral binding to be a bit inconvenient because I can't tell which book is this one by looking at the spines on my book shelf -- all I see is plastic spiral binding of several books side by side. I have to pull them out to see which book is which.

In Conclusion

I like this book very much because of the rich education it provides in Arabic music. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to know more about music from this part of the world. I wasn't familiar with all these songs before they were released in the Gems of the Middle East series of music, but most like Ya Sitti Ya Khityarah and Anta Omri are classics that I've heard played many times.

Where To Get It

To purchase a copy, contact:

Mary Ellen Books
P.O. Box 411562
San Francisco, CA 94141-1562
U.S.A.

Phone: (+1) (510) 654-DRUM, or (+1) (510) 654-3786

Web Site: www.maryellendonald.com