Community-based teaching

Over the past decade, I have had the opportunity to teach various group workshops and private lessons in a number of different settings. These have included general informational classes on Middle Eastern music and culture, performance-based classes on Middle Eastern music, percussion workshops for drummers and belly dancers, and private lessons on the nāy (Arab reed flute) and ‘ūd (Arab lute).

O Conjunto do médio oriente de cabo verde

One of the community-based musical education projects of which I am most proud is the Middle East Ensemble of Cabo Verde (O Conjunto do Médio Oriente de Cabo Verde), an ensemble that was initially an outgrowth of classes and lessons that I taught during my tenure as the director of the music program at the University of Cabo Verde. What began as a university ensemble, later became a community-based ensemble in the city of Praia, which I directed from 2021-2022. We performed in numerous venues around the city of Praia as well as in the city of Tarrafal, and introduced Middle Eastern music and dance to many Cabo Verdeans for the first time.

University teaching

Casa da Música - The University of Cabo Verde

From 2021 to 2022 I served as the director of Casa da Música, the music extension program of the University of Cabo Verde (Uni-CV), the national university of the Republic of Cabo Verde in West Africa. During my tenure as director I oversaw the transition of the program to a new university campus, introduced new classes on non-Western musics, formed a Middle East music ensemble, taught a class on music education, and had the honor to host visiting artists including Spanish classical guitarist Rafael Serrallet, the tradicional Galician music troupe Pandeireteiras Sen Fronteiras, and the Portuguese group Duo Invicta.

The University of California, Santa Barbara

As an instructor in the Music Department of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), I had the privilege of being able to design and teach my own courses on music and popular culture in North America, and world music. As part of that wonderful program I was able to host a number of world-class artists in my classroom including Ensemble Basiani—the State Folk Singing Ensemble of Georgia, Chinese sheng-player Wu Tong, Galician bagpiper Cristina Pato, Indian percussion virtuoso Zakir Hussain, Indian sitar-player Niladri Kumar, Hawaiian slack-key guitarists George Kahumoku Jr., Nathan Aweau, and Kawika Kahiapo, Kurdish-Iranian Kamanchech-player Kayhan Kalhour, Palestinian-American oud-player and violinist Simon Shaheen, Gamelan Çudamani—the premiere gamelan ensemble of Bali, Indonesia, Chinese pipa-player Wu Man, and others. In addition to these exciting and engaging classes I have also taught two 10-week courses on Middle Eastern percussion at UCSB, and served as the percussion director of the UCSB Middle East Ensemble in 2014.

The University of Texas at Austin

From 2011-2022 I also served as the percussion director of the UT Austin Middle East Ensemble “Bereket.”