Unveiling Ceremony of Children’s Book and Santoor Held / A Look at the Importance of Music’s Role for Children
According to the Iran Book News Agency (IBNA), the unveiling ceremony of the children’s book and santour, written and made by Davood Shirazi, was held on November 7th (16 Aban) at the Arasbaran Cultural Center. The event was attended by Ardavan Kamkar, Arjang Kamkar, Reza Zhaleh, Hengameh Akhavan, Javad Bathaei, Ali Tahriri, Milad Kiaei, Reza Parvizzadeh, Mahyar Tamaskani, Pedram Derakhshani, Pouya Saraei, Mohammad Reza Zadeh, Keyvan Taleb, Babak Dashtinejad, Reza Mahdavi, Amir Rahmani, and Christian Barnard, head of the Swiss Ambassador’s office.
At the beginning of the ceremony, Fariborz Rostami, a music researcher, spoke about the creation of the children’s santour: ‘First, I congratulate Davood Shirazi because he had the courage to break free from conventional molds and create such a santour. The value of his work lies in the fact that he has created the first melodic instrument with which Iranian music can be played simply. This greatly helps children’s music classes and introduces children to Iranian musical intervals, as the application and function of this instrument are very important.’
He continued: ‘We need to understand the role of music in a child’s life and education. Based on studies, research, and over 25 years of experience, I understood that four important elements are crucial in children’s educational lives. One is balance. Children sometimes lack balance; their walking has no rhythm, or they don’t jump correctly, or their two hemispheres haven’t reached equilibrium. When we aim for skill, balance is very important. Second is movement, which children greatly need, as in this state, the brain is busy giving commands. Third is the strengthening of fine and gross muscles, which is important for music education and is worked on in educational workshops such as painting, pottery, and crafting. Finally, the fourth item is a child’s expression, meaning their ability to articulate their desires and feelings. Care must also be taken in conveying concepts. We must be creativity-centered. A child should not lose creativity, so we must be pattern-oriented rather than method-oriented.’
Ehsan Tamiz, manager of Fafa Technology City, also stated at the event: ‘This program is hearing the pulse of the future. Tonight, we are hosting an event where two valuable treasures are unveiled: the children’s book and santour. Davood Shirazi is the creator of these works, and he should be congratulated. He has made these works accessible with love and precision to create a bridge between the ancient and new generations. Our children no longer need to start music with Western instruments, and this is a special event for the future of the country’s music. I hope future talents will use this instrument.’
After playing a video introducing the Santoor Research Center, Davood Shirazi, founder of the Santoor Research Center and creator of the children’s book and santour, came on stage and said: ‘When I was teaching santour, I saw that children around 5 years old who came to me for santour lessons saw this instrument as a monolithic entity, and the intertwined strings caused confusion for them. At that time, children first had to learn the flute and glockenspiel and then return to the santour, and many never returned! It was painful for me that we had no Iranian melodic instrument, and I felt that perhaps one day the roots of Iranian music would dry up. I decided to do something, and today we have reached the unveiling of the children’s book and santour. In this instrument, I removed the yellow string bridges of the santour and arrived at this version of the santour in these dimensions. My goal was not to make a small santour! In a small santour where the bridges are close together, even a professional player cannot perform. I removed the bass bridges so that the child sees a series of separate lines and can distinguish the strings. I placed the center-to-center of the bridges exactly like a normal santour so that when the child transitions to the main santour, they can play easily. This instrument can be a transitional and prerequisite instrument. An instrument that even if a child wants to play the tar or kamancheh, they can initially experience Iranian intervals, rhythms, and melodies through it. I designed the plectrum (mezrab) to be double-sided. One side has felt, and one side is unfelt, and I also removed the ring.’
Davood Shirazi introduced Ala Afkhami as the instructor for children playing the children’s santour and invited young artists to perform pieces from the children’s book using the children’s santour on stage.
Mohammad Reza Faraji, Mehrsam Hamedani, Liana Taheri, Avisa Sobouti, Ayah Esfahani, Sofia Taghavi, Noja Bonyadi, and Diana Safaei were the young artists of this ensemble performance, who were honored at the end of the musical performance.
The children’s santour was designed by Davood Shirazi at the Santoor Research Center. This instrument was designed by simplifying the santour so that children can learn music using Iranian instruments instead of Western instruments like the glockenspiel and Western methods like Orff pedagogy.
Furthermore, the bridges of these instruments are designed in color, only the left-side bridges are used, and some of the santour’s strings have been reduced in this instrument so that the child can easily learn to play the instrument.
Also, the ‘Children’s Santoor Book’ has been published by this artist with the aim of teaching music to children using Iranian instruments. In this book, published for teaching this instrument, by simplifying the notes, children can even learn some ‘radifs’ (traditional Persian melodic figures) with specially designed poems.
