THE PERFORMING AND TEACHING PRACTICES OF IRANIAN TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS IN CANADA by Solmaz Shakerifard Department of Music Research, Music Education McGill University, Montréal August 2014 A thesis submitted to McGill University In particle fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS © Solmaz Shakerifard 2014 II Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ II Figures ......................................................................................................................................... VII Tables ........................................................................................................................................... VII Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... VIII Abstrait .......................................................................................................................................... IX Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... XI Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study............................................................................................... 1 Purpose of Study ......................................................................................................................... 1 Importance of Study .................................................................................................................... 1 Sub-problems .............................................................................................................................. 3 Limitations .................................................................................................................................. 4 Personal Background................................................................................................................... 5 Definition of Terms ..................................................................................................................... 7 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 2: Background Information and a Review of Literature ................................................. 11 Brief Introduction to History of Music in Iran .......................................................................... 12 History of Iranian Music ........................................................................................................... 12 Why Iranian music and not Persian music? .......................................................................... 12 Music in Iran before the advent of Islam. .............................................................................. 13 First centuries after Islam. ..................................................................................................... 13 The Safavid Empire (1501-1722). ......................................................................................... 14 The Qajar dynasty and the modernization of Iranian society (1785-1925). .......................... 16 The Pahlavi dynasty (1925-1979).......................................................................................... 18 III The Centre for Preservation and Propagation of Iranian Traditional Music. ........................ 21 The 1979 Revolution. ............................................................................................................ 21 The Tradition/Modernity Binary and the Case of Iranian Traditional Music ........................... 24 Canada, Immigration, and Multiculturalism ............................................................................. 27 Transforming immigration policy: growing ethnographic diversity. .................................... 28 Immigration, multiculturalism and the issue of acculturation/integration. ........................... 29 Immigration and coping with the trauma of displacement. ................................................... 30 Iranian Communities in Canada ................................................................................................ 32 Iranian emigration. ................................................................................................................. 32 Iranian communities in Canada. ............................................................................................ 33 Iranian community‟s cultural activities and the presence of Iranian music in Toronto. ... 37 Iranian community‟s cultural activities and the presence of Iranian music in Montreal. 38 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 38 Chapter 3: Methodology ............................................................................................................... 40 Review of Literature.................................................................................................................. 40 Interviews .................................................................................................................................. 42 Interview questions. ............................................................................................................... 43 Recruitment of participants. .................................................................................................. 43 Locations: Montreal and Toronto. ......................................................................................... 44 Montreal: Saeed Kamjoo, Siamak Nasr, Pooria Pournazeri, Kiya Tabassian. ................. 45 Toronto: Shahin Fayyaz, Nima Rahmani, Sepideh Raissadat, Araz Salek ....................... 46 Consent forms. ....................................................................................................................... 48 Video-recording and photography. ................................................................................... 48 Trust. ................................................................................................................................. 49 The transcription and translation of the interviews. .............................................................. 50 IV Other Fieldwork ........................................................................................................................ 51 Other Sources ............................................................................................................................ 52 Oral sources and field-notes. ................................................................................................. 52 Visual and web-based sources. .............................................................................................. 52 Coding and Analysis of the Data............................................................................................... 52 Triangulation of the data. ....................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 4: Presentation of Findings and Discussion .................................................................... 54 Teaching Experiences ............................................................................................................... 55 Learning music. ..................................................................................................................... 55 First musical experiences and the influence of family. ..................................................... 55 Participants‟ own learning experiences and their teachers‟ pedagogy. ............................ 57 Concerns and criticism. ................................................................................................. 57 Group lessons. ............................................................................................................... 59 Teaching music in Iran. ......................................................................................................... 60 Students: their age, level and motivation for taking lessons. ............................................ 61 Teaching methods, material and the structure of lessons. ................................................ 62 Absence of appropriate, effective teaching methods for Iranian instruments. ............. 64 Theory as a pedagogical tool. ....................................................................................... 68 Teaching music in Canada. .................................................................................................... 68 Students: their age, level and motivation for taking lessons. ............................................ 71 Students‟ age. ................................................................................................................ 71 Students‟ level. .............................................................................................................. 71 Students‟ motivation for taking lessons. ....................................................................... 73 Teaching methods, material, structure of lessons, and group lessons. ............................. 76 Teaching by rote or with the score? The use of recording and written method books. 76 V Music theory: a pedagogical tool for instrumental instruction.