Mike's Oud Forums - Powered by XMB

On musical ornaments - an attempt to build a catalogue

Monosynapsis - 5-27-2015 at 02:43 AM

Hello dear Forumites.

After lurking for a long time I've finally decided that it is time to be a little active in this wonderful community. I play fretless guitar (and a little bit the Oud) and explore since a few years, among other musical traditions, oriental music from India to Morocco. This post is an attempt to make these explorations a little less superficial.

One of my major struggles in these styles is to correctly understand at least a part the vast body of embellishments used. At the same time it are exactly these ornaments applied to notes which are one of the main aspects of the beauty of Indian, Persian, Turkish and Arabic music to me. I am sure that you all agree on this.

After listening long and hard and imitating mainly Indian and Arabic music I've come to the conclusion that there seem to be some basic building blocks which are part of each of these musical traditions. Little turns, trills and slides which are recombined together in apparently infinite ways.

What I propose here is that we try to analyse, document and explain as many of these little building blocks on the Oud in a very practical way: notated, possible and common variations, local background (eg.: turkish, arabic or persian or common to all of these), right hand and left hand and - if possible- shown on video (that would make it perfect I think). Also common longer combinations of basic building blocks.

The amount of expertise found on this forum is unique in the virtual oriental music world and I am sure that such an 'ornament catalogue' would be of invaluable help to all music students. These are mostly oral traditions and this would be to my humble knowledge the first systematic attempt to purely focus on these quintessential techniques.

If some of the knowledgeable people here welcome this initiative and are inclined to contribute to this thread I am available to progressively document (pdf files for example) their efforts in a systematic way so that we can publish it here for the benefit of all. Whithout you enthusiastic and driven Oudis here this would be impossible.

For a starter:

I've attached a little pic of one of these ornaments I've identified. It is just a proposition to notate it - all suggestions on the presentation are of course more than welcome. I am also unsure of its correctness (mainly the right hand). It does sound very turkish to my ears (especially the first version moved along a scale going downwards), I dont know if it is played exactly in this way.

What do you think?

---------------------
edit: Some Conventions

UNT = Upper Neighbour Tone (the scale tone just above)
LNT = Lower Neighbour Tone (the scale tone just below)
TN = Target Note (the note to be embellished)
CN = chromatic notes (notes not found in the original scale)

[file]35450[/file]

Jody Stecher - 5-27-2015 at 03:58 AM

I think such a list, presented in the right way, and used in the right way, could be useful. Meanwhile do have a look, using the search function (upper left corner) at previous discussions here on "carpma".

One difficulty with a list is that the ornaments have context. Modal music everywhere/anywhere is typically rich in ornamentation. Each musical culture uses its own ornaments, and these are compatible with the phrasing, timbre, and structure of the local music. To be sure successful hybrids have arisen, but one must be careful about how and where one plays or sings ornaments or one's music will sound as if one is wearing ankle bracelets on the head and earrings on the knees.

An ornament is just what the word "ornament" suggests: a decoration. Since that is the case, I agree with you that well applied ornamentation can be very beautiful but am hesitant to agree that ornaments/decorations can be basic building blocks. Certainly ornamentation is a basic characteristic of some of the musics you mention. It's hard, for instance, to imagine Carnatic Music of South India without intense and frequent ornamentation. But is ornamentation a structural element? I suppose there could be some instances where a particular melody was created with a specific ornamentation in mind. But generally this music has prescribed forms each of which has an underlying rhythmic organization which is independent of ornamentation.

Monosynapsis - 5-27-2015 at 04:55 AM

Thank you Jody!

Indeed, ornaments need context: stylistic, regional, rhythmic, mood, personal .... taste. This adds another layer of difficulty since 'oriental music' is such an enormous and varied ocean in space and time. Any attempt of analysis will invariably fail to encompass all these subtleties which are traditionally passed through imitation from master to students.

For example in hindustani music (although this is an oud forum...) this is a major part of all the different gharanas within a style: Dagar style Dhrupad teaches very specific meends and ornaments as opposed to say the Malliki style. If anyone knowledgeable is able to extract and analyse some of these ornaments he could then indicate to which gharana/rag/part/chalan etc. they belong.

Anyhow, the main purpose of this thread is to come up with as many practicable ornaments for the lute family of instruments and give as much context as possible in order to enable us students to practice them correctly on their instrument. Applying them correctly in a musical/stylistic coherent way must then be acquired through extensive listenening to pieces where they appear. It is the technical aspect which is to be analyzed here as these ornaments are often executed in such a fast way and then combined with other ornaments that it is very diffcult to decipher them by ear only. In my humble experience with some indian teachers it is even difficult for them to isolate specific embellishments for me to practice, they just do it unconsciently and often even have trouble to slow them down for me to pick it up correctly.

Oh, and the ornament I've tried to write down is lifted from the carpma thread

And on another, more personal note: ornaments can be bent through microtones and timing to fit other styles. I often use exactly this carpma ornament in West african hoddu/xalam style and American 'primitive' blues playing, works like a charm

Brian Prunka - 5-27-2015 at 05:01 AM

To elaborate on Jody's observations: it's common to use the analogy of spoken language to further our understanding of music. In this case, "ornaments" are kind of like an accent. When you you hear the range of ornaments in context, one might conclude "this is Turkish style" or "this is Egyptian style", etc. Mixing up the ornamentation could be nice, or it could sound somewhat like someone constantly switching between a British and an American accent. Or it could sound like a slightly mysterious accent that reminds you of two places without being exactly either . . .

Regarding "structural element" . . . I have come across folks who disagree with the use of the word "ornament" to describe the phenomenon you are talking about, for precisely this reason. The argument is that the music does not and cannot exist without so-called "ornamentation", therefore it is something fundamental and not 'merely' ornamental.

Certainly, some ornaments are integral to the maqams—the strong vibrato on the 3rd note in Bayati, for example, is not optional and leaving it out means you are not playing "bayati" really. The turns on the sikah note are likewise not really optional in most cases. Many of these devices are definitely deeply ingrained in the melodic conception and it is only in theory that one can separate the underlying melodic structure from the ornaments.

I think it confuses Westerners because there is a somewhat open-ended melodic conception that is not quite like our normal understanding of melody. It's not just "ornaments" but various rhythmic variations and even melodic variations that are open to a degree of improvisation. The "melody" is conceived more as a maqam-based gesture and as long as the gesture is intact, the performer has latitude in interpretation. The idea of what the "same" gesture is must come from repeated listening to the maqam to understand what the gesture does with respect to the maqam. Of course, some parts of the melody are fixed, while others are less so.

While most of the ornaments are available on any instrument, they often take particular forms due to the technical characteristics of each instrument. Part of the beauty is hearing everyone in the ensemble playing with slight variations, or in hearing repeated material played with a different interpretation. And while a melody may not require "a specific ornamentation" at any given point, it's often the case that it requires some kind of ornamentation at specific points—even though the choice of ornament is up to the performer, "no ornament" is not a valid choice.

Monosynapsis - 5-27-2015 at 05:12 AM

Thank you Brian. I concur with all you've said.

Quote: Originally posted by Brian Prunka

Certainly, some ornaments are integral to the maqams—the strong vibrato on the 3rd note in Bayati, for example, is not optional and leaving it out means you are not playing "bayati" really. The turns on the sikah note are likewise not really optional in most cases. Many of these devices are definitely deeply ingrained in the melodic conception and it is only in theory that one can separate the underlying melodic structure from the ornaments.

Would you be so kind (now that you give concrete examples

) and elaborate on the "3rd note Bayati vibrato" ? Is the note attacked from below and up to it ? How far from below (from the second note up to the third would be a slide). Does the vibrato go further(higher) than the third note ? Is the vibrato regular in timing , or accelerando or even rhythmic ? Surely there is no one, single "3rd note bayati" vibrato, but what from your extensive knowledge would be more common ? Do you see where I'm getting at ?

Turns on sikah ? Which ones ? Let's try to write some of them down !

Brian Prunka - 5-27-2015 at 05:40 AM

F vibrato:

At 5:41 in this video, you can see Farid do it, though he is also playing with tremolo so it isn't the clearest aural example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WSK7i0tePs

There's also a very clear instance at 4:04. There's a good one at 2:16 but the crowd is so loud you can barely hear it. Good visual though.

It's not something that can be notated or explained clearly. The main thing is that the motion comes from the hand/arm and not from the fingers—the angle of your finger should stay the same. It is a wide, rapid vibrato, almost a shake. It occurs especially when it will be soon followed by the sikah note.

As near as I can explain, it usually feels like it starts right on the note, goes above by about 1/4 tone, below by about 1/8 tone and vibrates about as fast as possible. But it is a little different depending on the context—if it's a long note you can vibrate slower and more evenly. If it is very quick it may be almost, but not quite, like playing an F# upper neighbor tone (just by sliding quickly rather than using a different finger). These are somewhat subjective attempts to evaluate it though, I'm not sure how accurate it is. I learned by listening, watching and imitating. I don't think one could get it from consciously following a description.

Brian Prunka - 5-27-2015 at 05:55 AM

Sikah:

Typically there are a few ornaments that almost always happen on Sikah any time it is a point of rest long enough to do the ornament.

A standard full turn is Eb̶ F Eb̶ D Eb̶
On violin, sometimes D+ or D# is played instead of D, but that is less common on oud do to the difficulty of doing is well fast enough.

It can also be:
F Eb̶ D Eb̶
or
D Eb̶ F Eb̶

Sometimes it's just an upper neighbor tone: Eb̶ F Eb̶
That can be doubled up: Eb̶ F Eb̶ F Eb̶

Sometimes on the UNT instead of the F, an E is played, so that the effect is almost like a vibrato.

The UNT can be mixed with the others, like so:
Eb̶ F Eb̶ F Eb̶ D Eb̶

Most of the time only the first, or first and last notes are plucked—the rest are hammered/pulled.

Monosynapsis - 5-27-2015 at 06:51 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Brian Prunka

F vibrato:

At 5:41 in this video, you can see Farid do it, though he is also playing with tremolo so it isn't the clearest aural example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WSK7i0tePs

There's also a very clear instance at 4:04. There's a good one at 2:16 but the crowd is so loud you can barely hear it. Good visual though.

It's not something that can be notated or explained clearly. The main thing is that the motion comes from the hand/arm and not from the fingers—the angle of your finger should stay the same. It is a wide, rapid vibrato, almost a shake. It occurs especially when it will be soon followed by the sikah note.

As near as I can explain, it usually feels like it starts right on the note, goes above by about 1/4 tone, below by about 1/8 tone and vibrates about as fast as possible. But it is a little different depending on the context—if it's a long note you can vibrate slower and more evenly. If it is very quick it may be almost, but not quite, like playing an F# upper neighbor tone (just by sliding quickly rather than using a different finger). These are somewhat subjective attempts to evaluate it though, I'm not sure how accurate it is. I learned by listening, watching and imitating. I don't think one could get it from consciously following a description.

Ok, when I watched and listened my poor ear heard it as two slides into the target note from below .... let me spend some more time with it and experiment with your rather precise explanation. I will try to find a way to draw/visualize this.

It brought me to (another) basic ornament: a fast straight slide into the target note, as attached.

Brian Prunka - 5-27-2015 at 07:21 AM

You can also slide up to a note while lifting your finger off the string, so that the "target" note ends up not being clearly heard, just a muted ghost note.
I find this most common from the 4th note of Rast sliding up to the 5th note, but you don't actually ever really hear the 5th note.

Another common one is particularly on the nawa course, you pluck the course, lightly hammer the string around the m3, and pluck the open string again. The effect is a little 'hiccup'.

Another that occurs in many places is to hammer on the upper neighbor twice, then play the note below. For example, C-D-C-D-Bb, with the D's being hammered on. This can also be done with a single hammer-on (e.g., C-D-Bb); in that case the hammer-on is often delayed until right before the resolution.

One of the most fundamental oud ornaments is simply a grace note doubling the note you are playing. So any note you play, you can play the same note as quickly as possible with an upstroke right before. Done correctly it sounds almost like one note, just 'bigger'.

Simple grace notes can occur almost anywhere and are typically either the same note as the target, the note above or below, or sometimes a 3rd above.

Also, a double grace note from the 3rd above the target note, usually all pulled off if possible: F Eb̶ D, with only the F plucked and getting to D as quickly as possible. There are a few variations on this, obviously including just a single grace note (Eb̶ D), but also F Eb̶ D Eb̶ D. Can occur on nearly any note.

The 'turn' ornaments mentioned on Sikah also can occur other places: Eb̶ D C D, D Eb̶ D C D, Eb̶ D Eb̶ D C D, C D Eb̶ D etc.

These are all coming from the standpoint of Arabic style but of course there is a good deal of overlap, and in some variations there will be more picking and less hammering/pulling, some styles will have more upstrokes or downstrokes, etc.

Brian Prunka - 5-27-2015 at 07:26 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Monosynapsis

Ok, when I watched and listened my poor ear heard it as two slides into the target note from below .... let me spend some more time with it and experiment with your rather precise explanation.

That's not what it is. You are focusing on the risha stroke, and he plays an extra stroke in the middle of the vibrato. Of course, to get it right, it helps to have a mentor yelling at you that it sounds wrong

The Farid recording is hard to hear if you don't already know what to listen for. Here is a very clear example, at about 0:18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo1saFQrWTQ

Monosynapsis - 5-27-2015 at 07:29 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Brian Prunka

Sikah:

Typically there are a few ornaments that almost always happen on Sikah any time it is a point of rest long enough to do the ornament.

A standard full turn is Eb̶ F Eb̶ D Eb̶
On violin, sometimes D+ or D# is played instead of D, but that is less common on oud do to the difficulty of doing is well fast enough.

It can also be:
F Eb̶ D Eb̶
or
D Eb̶ F Eb̶

Sometimes it's just an upper neighbor tone: Eb̶ F Eb̶
That can be doubled up: Eb̶ F Eb̶ F Eb̶

Sometimes on the UNT instead of the F, an E is played, so that the effect is almost like a vibrato.

The UNT can be mixed with the others, like so:
Eb̶ F Eb̶ F Eb̶ D Eb̶

Most of the time only the first, or first and last notes are plucked—the rest are hammered/pulled.

Great post, thank you. I will try to write it down.

Monosynapsis - 5-27-2015 at 07:34 AM

Thanks Brian, lots of useful info, keep 'em coming :applause:

I'll just need some time to somehow work this into nice pictures, I'll post this ASAP.

Monosynapsis - 5-27-2015 at 07:37 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Brian Prunka

The Farid recording is hard to hear if you don't already know what to listen for. Here is a very clear example, at about 0:18
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo1saFQrWTQ

[/url]

Oh, very nice vid, I can work with that!

Turns And Thrills

Monosynapsis - 5-28-2015 at 01:42 AM

Ok, here a first part of Brians explanations as a jpeg. Please, all of you, feel free to comment, elaborate and correct if necessary. This is supposed to evolve over time and definitely not a final version.

On picking patterns: I've presented them all as picked only once (except the two last ones). Are there any other picking variations known to you which are commonly used?

The timing: I've made them all equal subdivisions. Are there any rhythmical figures we could apply to these which are commonly used ?

Presentation: any suggestions ?

Brian wrote :
"Another that occurs in many places is to hammer on the upper neighbor twice, then play the note below. For example, C-D-C-D-Bb, with the D's being hammered on. This can also be done with a single hammer-on (e.g., C-D-Bb); in that case the hammer-on is often delayed until right before the resolution."

I will include this one later on.

--

The musical context here is mostly bayati. If you know about specific turns common to other maqams I will gladly include them.

[file]35474[/file]

Jody Stecher - 5-28-2015 at 07:37 AM

Thrills and Trills may coincide but they are different phenomena!

Brian Prunka - 5-28-2015 at 09:22 AM

A few things:

Trills are a useful ornament, but are not the same as the upper neighbor tone I was suggesting in my post.

The suggestion of using the E natural was intended to apply to trills and the upper neighbor tones; I am not so sure about it in the context of a turn.

These ornaments are not specifically intended in the context of Bayati (though they often are applicable in that context), but rather with regard to Arabic music in general. They are particularly salient in Maqam Sikah/Huzam and Rast, but occur frequently throughout all Arabic music. Sorry if that wasn't clear from my earlier post; I was just referring to the F vibrato as being specifically significant in Bayati.

These ornaments are not restricted to the quarter-tones, but are most frequently encountered there.

Monosynapsis - 5-28-2015 at 11:57 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Jody Stecher

Thrills and Trills may coincide but they are different phenomena!

)

Indeed, typo. You made me think of the late BB King playing his "The Thrill Is Gone" without his trademark trill (his fast left hand vibrato seen as a mini trill here).

Monosynapsis - 5-29-2015 at 12:22 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Brian Prunka

A few things:

Trills are a useful ornament, but are not the same as the upper neighbor tone I was suggesting in my post.

The suggestion of using the E natural was intended to apply to trills and the upper neighbor tones; I am not so sure about it in the context of a turn.

Lets see if I understand this correctly and if we can somehow extract a kind of guideline (your input and my experience).

to use them in an authentic Arabic way:

- in turns we mostly use diatonic notes (UNT & LNT)
- in trills we might also use chromatic notes/altered notes be it by commas or 1/8 tone , 1/4

The point is that we don't dwell too long on the altered note ( comparable to say classical Bebop phrasing where the altered eight notes are mostly played between the beats). So we touch it lightly as an appogiatura or acciacatura or a short trill.

When I play the combination of diatonic notes with the altered ones in Bayati - slowly or in a turn, it suddenly sounds very idiomatic of several moroccan folklore styles and chaabi (I spent half of my youth in Morocco - thanks to you I am a little closer to sound like that!!). It doesnt sound very classical arabic to me. Would you agree ?

Microtonal turns are also very, very frequent in the other Saharan musics /Mandingo cultures: just listen for example to Ali Farkas Njarka playing (he was, even if most don't realize it, a Njarka player before being a guitarist). Ngoni/Xalam/Hoddu music is full of it. Realizing this is a key to unlocking this music.

Quote: Originally posted by Brian Prunka

These ornaments are not specifically intended in the context of Bayati (though they often are applicable in that context), but rather with regard to Arabic music in general. They are particularly salient in Maqam Sikah/Huzam and Rast, but occur frequently throughout all Arabic music. Sorry if that wasn't clear from my earlier post; I was just referring to the F vibrato as being specifically significant in Bayati.

These ornaments are not restricted to the quarter-tones, but are most frequently encountered there.

Ok, thanks for explicitely mentioning this ... I though so myself but I am a beginner in Arabic music so was very unsure about it. Will continue to digest all your input and put it in the presentation.

Brian Prunka - 5-29-2015 at 07:01 AM

I'm not exactly saying not to use the altered tones in turns, you are probably right that this is something that exists in folkloric styles and possibly carried over into urban/classical contexts as well (possibly to evoke the folkloric flavor). It just wasn't my intention to claim that myself, and I haven't investigated it particularly nor encountered it myself. If your commentary is that I suggested this, it's not the case, that's what I wanted to clarify.

The other thing is that it's very very common to have ONE upper neighbor as an ornament. This is not a trill. E.g., I was suggesting Eb F Eb, not Eb F Eb F Eb
Trills also occur, but it are a different ornament.