Mike's Oud Forums

Maqamat with unusual tonics

Lysander - 7-31-2013 at 10:32 AM

Seeing as my oud [Turkish] came tuned C#F#BEAD, I am loathe to take it out of this tuning. For the past few days I have been playing Hijaz and other maqamat in C#. I find it sounds good in this key and it's relatively intuitive on this oud. However, reading round it seems that the standard for Hijaz is D or maybe A.

It there anything 'wrong' with playing it in C#? The standard rule seems to be that tonics should be open strings for oud because it gives the best sound. Should I transpose to D or just keep things as they are?

Brian Prunka - 7-31-2013 at 11:08 AM

For Turkish tuning, standard Hijaz (Hicaz) would be E.
Hijazkar would be D.

There are several flavors of Hijaz; in Turkish tuning, they usually would be in B (Suzdil) or A (Shad Araban). Each transposition has slightly different characteristics.

There's nothing wrong with playing Hijaz on C#; however, the characteristics of the maqam have a lot to do with where the open strings are and what ornaments fit with the characteristic fingerings. Which is to say, it probably won't exactly sound like Hijaz if you play it on C#.

Jody Stecher - 7-31-2013 at 11:15 AM

The C sharp string is just for uniform tuning in fourths. For a makam whose tonic is D and which has a leading tone of C# it also gives the player a chance to make use of a movement from natural 7 to tonic at the very bottom of the range. But if I was playing Rast with D as tonic I would rather have that lowest string at D. Hicaz is usually taken from the third string open. As was pointed out to me in this forum a year ago, if it is moved up a string and neva, the second string is the tonic then it is neva hicaz or hicaz neva.

As your oud is now tuned Hicaz would be most likely taken from the E string, string number 3. You are free to do as you like but it would be eccentric to play it from C sharp in the middle and upper octaves and may have another name then.
written in haste. Sorry for any typos or errors.

Lysander - 8-1-2013 at 01:31 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Jody Stecher  
Hicaz is usually taken from the third string open.


Interesting point, thank you both. Are there any other maqamat which follow this or a similar rule?

I think playing it on E would work quite well.

SamirCanada - 8-1-2013 at 04:20 AM

Dear Lysander, this may be more specificaly about arabic maqamat but you should read up on it here:
http://www.maqamworld.com

As Brian pointed out, Hijaz or any other maqam when played in other than D for arabic music or other than E in the turkish tradition is not called Hijaz anymore but a variant of. Ususally it implies a different feel for the construction of the phrases as well.

PS: I am not very good at music theory so I am no reference but this website above is a goldmine.

Enjoy,

Brian Prunka - 8-1-2013 at 06:23 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Lysander  
Quote: Originally posted by Jody Stecher  
Hicaz is usually taken from the third string open.


Interesting point, thank you both. Are there any other maqamat which follow this or a similar rule?

I think playing it on E would work quite well.



The western concept of fixed pitches is alien to the traditional conception of maqam; the note names in Turkish and Arabic music are named after positions, and keep the same names regardless of the tuning. Rast is the third semitone up on the fourth string, for example. So each maqam has a characteristic location, more so than pitch.

Lysander - 8-1-2013 at 06:33 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Brian Prunka  
Quote: Originally posted by Lysander  
Quote: Originally posted by Jody Stecher  
Hicaz is usually taken from the third string open.


Interesting point, thank you both. Are there any other maqamat which follow this or a similar rule?

I think playing it on E would work quite well.



The western concept of fixed pitches is alien to the traditional conception of maqam; the note names in Turkish and Arabic music are named after positions, and keep the same names regardless of the tuning. Rast is the third semitone up on the fourth string, for example. So each maqam has a characteristic location, more so than pitch.


Very well put, thank you. So Hijaz always LOOKS the same regardless of tuning?

Jody Stecher - 8-1-2013 at 09:07 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Lysander  


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Very well put, thank you. So Hijaz always LOOKS the same regardless of tuning?


except for when it is transposed and -sometimes- gets a new name.

Brian Prunka - 8-1-2013 at 11:31 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Lysander  

Very well put, thank you. So Hijaz always LOOKS the same regardless of tuning?


You're welcome.

As Jody pointed out in the other thread, we have to clarify between jins/maqam Hijaz and the note Hijaz.

Many ajnas/maqamat are named after the "characteristic" note, which is often not the final/tonic/etc. In the case of Hijaz, the tonic is Dukah but the characteristic note is Hijaz (though there is some disagreement about whether it is in fact "nim hijaz", it is generally agreed that it is a bit lower than a Western F#).

The written/maqam notes are the same regardless of the tuning you are using. As Jody notes, an actual transposition to a different position on the oud is another situation—in that case, it would also be written differently and may have a different name.

However, to complicate things further, one might actually transpose an entire maqam in order to facilitate the range of a singer; commonly a maqam is transposed down a 4th for a female singer. This is just an aspect of performance practice.

The typical "Hijaz" played from the open fourth string is called "Suzidil" and is actually a transposition of Hijazkar.

Edward Powell - 8-2-2013 at 08:11 AM

personally I never liked that C# tuning... I always tune it down to B of "kiz" tuning... that's my fav! B becomes tonic for ussak, hicaz, bayati, huseini, saba...