black and white graphic of a figure and the words me myself & ! Musical Improvisations by Reza Yazdanpanah

Mohammad Reza Yazdanpanah is an Iranian musician who is an improviser, performer. and composer. Since 2009, he has been a music faculty member at the University of Guilan, where he taught Persian classical repertoire, Radif, and Improvisation on tar and setar (Persian string instruments). Tamashay-e- Saba, Eshq Amad, and Goshayesh are his recorded compositions based on folkloric, traditional, and classical Persian music.

In 2016, focusing on children’s music education, he established his private music school (Yazdanpanah Music School) in Shiraz with his brothers. His recently published book is called Shur-e-Tar (published by Mashahire Honar) which is a comprehensive guide for both music educators and self-teaching students, and is gear toward the elementary level. “Elementary Instruction of ‘Tar’ with a Glance on Various Approaches toward Radif,” is a peer-reviewed paper about this book that was published by the International Journal of Arts and Commerce in 2014. (Vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 133–43.)

Me Myself and I: “Challenges in Improvising with Myself” (2020)

In this video Reza Yazdanpanah discusses the challenges that he experienced improvising with just himself and shares the music from his new album, “Me, Myself, and I” recorded at the Advanced Digital Audio Production and Performance Studio at the University of Guelph, and produced by James Harley

Listen to the album:
Apple Music
Spotify

Improvisation in the Context of Persian Classical Music (2020)

Using Persian Tar and voice, Reza Yazdanpanah demonstrates the ways that improvisation could be presented in Persian classical music.

Rumi Lived Improvisationally (2020)

Reza Yazdanpanah tells the story about the life of Persian poet Rumi, and contextualizes how Rumi’s lifestyle became improvisational after he met his great master Shams.

Authors