Dr. Audrey Cottet is an academic researcher in the Physics department of the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. She has over twenty years of expertise in theoretical physics, with a focus on condensed matter physics and quantum physics. Outside the lab, Audrey is a Middle Eastern dance and percussion student.
She has learned how to player finger cymbals with Hassan Abdel Khalek and Nicolas Derolin in Paris. This practice motivated her secondary research activity on the history of cymbal playing. She has recently written one article on finger cymbal played in the Roman Empire, in the journal “Early Music” published by the Oxford University Press. She also has a second article published in the Review CLARA (Classical Art and Archaeology) hosted by the University of Oslo.
In this episode you will learn about:
Proper terminology: zills, sagats or cymbals
The very first mentions of cymbals and finger cymbals in ancient history
The process of writing a peer reviewed article
The tradition of finger cymbals playing in the Roman Empire
First known mentions of finger cymbals in Egyptian culture