The santour is an Iranian stringed musical instrument. Variations of Santour can be seen in Eastern Europe, Germany, Austria, India, Iraq, Turkey. As time passed, each country in the East changed and developed its unique model. Every state has a new version of santour that suits their musical tunes and chords.

The santour is a trapezoid-shaped box, often made of walnut, cypress or blackberry with seventy-two strings. The strings are made of brass and steel and secured in groups of four, with each group creating the same pitch. The special-shaped mallets (mezrab) are lightweight and held between the index and middle fingers. There are two different styles of Iranian santoor based on the bridge numbers (nine and twelve kharak). A typical santoor has two sets of bridges, providing a range of three octaves. The santour can be tuned by turning the pegs with a special wrench, similar to tuning a harp. The santour is suitable for both solo performances and accompaniments.

Learn how to play the santour through one of our comprehensive methods that takes you through a progressive approach addressing technique, musicality, and so much more.

Program Information

The santour is a very in-demand instrument, and we will offer you many new and exciting musical opportunities. The Farabius Academy of Music provides one-on-one instruction and group sessions on multiple Iranian instruments. All students are taught basic instrumental technique, posture, technical exercises, radif* and playing Iranian repertoire.

Each online lesson takes place between one teacher and one student for either 30 or 60 minutes. For children's sessions, parents can attend their child's classes.

*Radif is a collection of 300-350 melodic pieces, each one up to 3 minutes in length, used as a basis for improvisation.

Goals:

Our goal is the development of our students to their highest musical level through private lessons. Creating the correct foundation for technique and appropriate repertoire is of utmost importance. Our amazing santour faculty takes care of utilizing elements of different teaching methods that work best for each student. Beginner students start with the fundamentals, including correct mallet (mezrab) hold, reading music, rhythm, and learning simple songs. Intermediate and advanced students continue to progress with increased proficiency in techniques and significant Iranian repertoire. Our santour curriculum covers the following subjects:

• Note reading and recognition
• Iranian traditional ornaments
• Counting, rhythm reading
• Technique (scales, arpeggios, dorrab, trill, tekkiyeh)
• Rudiments of theory
• Memorization
• Ear training

Levels / Ages offered:

The Farabius Academy of Music provides online private santour study at all levels and ages. No experience is needed at all, anyone can join our programs, and we will ensure you have an enjoyable experience. We provide a wide range and variety of learning styles and difficulty levels for our students to make sure that each individual can grow at their own pace.

Requirements:

• No skills required; you can be a beginner student
• You will need a santour and mallets (mezrab)
• The most important part of music study takes place at home; the more you practice, the better you will be
• Get excited about learning dulcimer, as an inspired learner learns faster and easier

Repertoire

Selecting repertoire is one of the most challenging and important tasks that we take on in the development of our students’ musical education. Students at all levels will be given a selection of repertoire from multiple eras of music (Traditional and Folk) to study and perfect.

Important Facts & FAQs

• Highly recommended for students of 6 years or older
• Offered but less recommended for students 5 years or younger
• Extremely useful for children and adult learners
• The most effective format for learning technique, traditional repertoire and radif