Audience Development

Safa is interested in developing a market that encompasses a large mix of people, young and old with a keen interest in beauty, elegant form, and in experiencing the transformation of traditional repertoires into vibrant comtemporary expressions.

We believe our performances are the most effective method of communicatino the spirit of our music. we also believe particular members of our greater audience wish to experience our individual techniques and concepts in a more immediate and pedagogical manner. Workshops are geared towards upper secondary school level students and above.
Workshops are available in English, French, Spanish, Farsi and Turkish.

The following formats comprise our most efective means of transmitting the collective knowledge and experience of the ensemble.

Workshops

• Persian Repertoires and Improvisation
• Cross-cultural Strategies in Improvisation*
• Adapting World Percussion Instruments for Chamber Music*
• Traditional and Contemporary Composition Techniques
• Beyond Fusion, Moving towards a uniqe voice
  (the art of finding a unique ensemble sound)
• The Art of the Setar*
• Extended Techniques for the Clarinet*
• Career Development and Useful Advice
  *Denotes recently held workshop (within last five months)

Masterclasses

Safas's performers have held masterclasses for audiences of all ages. In cases where large groups may be involved, it is to sub-divide by general ability level. Assessing specifice playing levels, however, may at times prove awkward or impractical. Recognizing this, we prefer to emphasize that our general workshops tend to be highly beneficial to those possessing considerable technique, and are equally informative, and we hope, inspirational, to those aspiring towards professional careers.
We believe the unique nature of our ensemble and its manner of assembling repertoire may prove of great interest for ensembles in development. Safa is particularly interested in encouraging similar ventures by novel and traditional ensembles of similar format. We look forward to sharing our experience and critical support.

Lecture-Demostrations

Lecture-demonstrations are geared mostly to school groups and are best suited for secondary school level. These sessions involve a mixture of playing and speaking with a special emphasis on a question-and-answer period. Since we have found most students to be rather shy about questions, we encourage discussion about aspects of music in their homes and in their social and religious environment. Students seem particularly keen to discussions about working with film and recordings.

In those situations where the audience is comprised of college, university and continuing education programmes, our discussions may shift towards more esoteric topics dealing with the rold of music in our society, specific topics related to world music courses taht may be in session and more general dialogue about our specific style of chamber music.