Etsy
RAV Vast B Arabian Night
on the market
warranty
Description
The B Arabian Night RAV Vast will bring you into one of the fairy-tales from the book 1001 Night Tales. Some will find themselves at a Middle Eastern fair where the air is filled with the sickly-sweet smell. Others will imagine the rustling sand of the desert and the caravans that are always on the move.
The scale reproduces the Arabic Maqam – the traditional system of melodic modes and improvisation techniques. The Arabian Night scale has its own very specific voice that differs from the rest of RAV drums (although it can have some sound similarities with B Onoleo). The tongues are tuned in 2nd, 3rd and 4th octave with the central Ding in B2. The B Arabian Night is not a versatile scale but it adds a very unique flavour to your playing.
This step can be tricky for a beginner but the advanced players will find it captivating as it has a lot of half-steps and is more open-ended when you are playing. This is one of the most popular scales to record music videos and it’s definitely good for meditative play.
The name of this RAV Vast stands for the famous Arabian scale or the Double harmonic B minor (the name you are more likely to meet in western tradition) is very typical for Middle Eastern music but can sound unusual if you are not familiar with it. You can also find this scale called the Gypsy Major due to the increased gaps between the notes of the 2nd and 3rd octave.
The B Arabian Night RAV Vast has a very mysterious voice and is close to jazz-sounding scales. What makes this scale differ from other Middle-Eastern scales? The rav Arabian Night can seem to have some similarities with another RAV Vast scale - the B Onoleo. But the B Onoleo has a lot of resolution to it and allows you to close up easily the melody. With the Arabian Night you’ll have to know the tips to tie the phrases that you are playing together.
There’s a good tip for playing the B Arabian Night. The highest 3 notes bring into the unique mood of this scale. However, if you skip playing the note F4, you’ll have a little more resolution to it. You can start adding F4 into your play when you feel yourself a little bit more confident and get the sound which is quite similar to traditional Arabic maqam.
For whom this scale will work
If you are looking for a harmonic minor scale among steel tongue drums then there’s no doubt that it will be B Arabian Night that will steal your heart. However, keep in mind that the B Arabian Nights is a challenging scale as it has a lot of half-tones. Avoiding dissonance while playing half-tones is a big headache for any musician. But the Arabian Night makes real magic as the half-tones don’t cause negative crosstalk on this scale.
Playing it requires skills, so this scale will appeal to intermediate or advanced players when choosing a RAV Vast scale.
Due to its calming minor sound RAV Vast Arabian Night is the perfect scale for meditation and sound healing practices. Take your seat, start playing and let the scale hypnotize you. Allow the drum to take your mind to a more relaxed and peaceful state.
Arabian scale
What makes Middle Eastern music so recognizable? It’s all thanks to the Arabian scale. Although it’s a traditional scale that came to us from ancient times, it is widely used in rock, hip-hop, pop and electronic music by oriental artists today.
Still, the Arabian scale is not only used in the Middle East. There are multiple classic western music compositions that you’d never thought to use this scale. The relative Hungarian gipsy scale was commonly used by Franz Liszt in its Hungarian rhapsody and Battle of the Huns and the Bizet’s Carmen.
Blog
|
As a complete drum novice, I was hesitant to start with the Arabian Night because of the information listed in its description...but I fell in love with the beautiful and exotic tones and knew, at the very least, that I would be able to enjoy its sound. Once home, was immediately able to improvise beautiful meditative music and now, a few months later, am beginning to play with the use of a lot of online videos! I am familiar with the sound of Middle Eastern music through my work as a dancer and find it to be a creative challenge to create all different types of moods through this magnificent instrument.
‘This has been one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever given myself...and the ordering process was really very fun. I also want to give a round of applause to the Rav team for answering my questions and preparing my drum for delivery...from Russia to NJ in 3 days door to door!! Amazing!! Thank you!! |
|
Do I ever love my Rav drums. I will spare the story of the first time I heard a street musician in Barcelona playing one and how captivated I was. I got my first (DMajor) in Feb 2020 as a brain stretching exercise. Something I do every year is to pick something I know absolutley ZERO about and stretch my brain, body and thinking...but it does have to be something that I think i will love. My Febuary purchase was love and first strike. I then bought a B Celtic Double Ding for my south residence. Both are versatile and "easy" to learn. I have taking lessons with David Charrier's Master the Rav Vast course EXCELLENT!
When i heard the Arabian Night I had to have it, and with the sale that was going on during Covid I couldn't pass it up. This is scale is NOT as easy. But the sound is amazing. I am learning my way around it and am delighted I bought it. If you are on the fence about getting RAV go for it, I doubt you will be disappointed! |