The Art of Musical Improvisation with Musicians from The Temple

Join musicians from Dubai’s creative musical force, The Temple, for this 90 minute interactive workshop exploring music as a form of conversation—an expressive, fluid exchange much like spoken language. Through the art of improvisation, participants will learn to listen, respond, and communicate using melody, rhythm, and dynamics, cultivating a deeper awareness of musical dialogue. Participants will also engage in call-and-response, learn to shape emotion through sound, and develop spontaneity in their playing. By the end of the session, attendees will gain confidence in improvising, understanding how to weave musical phrases into expressive, meaningful exchanges—whether in solo performance or with others.

This workshop is open for up to 10 intermediate to advanced musicians, 18 years and older. Interested musicians must have been part of at least 5 improvisation sessions, whether live or in a studio.

NOON

NOON are the kind of band you might expect, or rather hope, to encounter in the UAE – an audio approximation of the Emirates’ cluttered cosmopolitanism and contemporary, borderless ethos. Made up of three players, drawn from different cultural and musical backgrounds, the instrumental trio bravely embody, and certainly enliven, the hackneyed idea of East/West musical fusions. Up front is the sound of the oud, the most typical international marker of all things Middle Eastern. But sonically framed by electric bass and drums – and freed by the improvisatory impulses of jazz – NOON’s collective sound is distinctly global. Shades of funk groove, African and Indian percussive rhythms and electronic effects pepper this sonic stew. The effect is a little like a proggy, jazz-rock power trio, only with an oud where the electric guitar is supposed to be. They call it “experimental Oriental” – a knowingly exotic abstraction, for sure, but of the very best kind.