Mike's Oud Forums

rules for maqam hijaz...???

Fawad - 12-6-2005 at 07:14 AM

I am doing a project on maqams and from what I understand so far about maqams, there are certain FIXED RULES that define each maqam. Is this true? And if it is, could someone lease tell me the EXACT rules for MAQAM HIJAZ? I would really appreciate it.

Jonathan - 12-6-2005 at 07:20 AM

I don't know if there are exact rules, but you can try this:
http://mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=2685

Fawad - 12-6-2005 at 07:31 AM

thanks! :) that was very helpful...but I keep running into the same problem that I hear that certain rules are defined for each maqam.
Quote:
Originally posted by al-Halabi
When we represent a makam in the form of a scale we sometimes forget that in the Middle Eastern musical tradition a makam is not just a particular sequence of notes but a set of rules for making melody with these notes (where one starts, the direction of melodic development, where the stops and transition points are, what accidentals and modulations are indicated, variations in the intonation of microtonal pitches in ascent and descent, etc.). Each makam has its own rules, and part of the genius - and challenge for us - of this modal system is the rich variety of rules and possibilities embedded in it. It sometimes seems like life is too short to figure it all out.


what I would like to know is, is there one simple, general rule that can be applied to Hijaz as a baseline? and what is it?

Jonathan - 12-6-2005 at 07:35 AM

I think that that is all in that thread.

Brian Prunka - 12-6-2005 at 10:06 AM

I think that you're taking a too narrow interpretation of the term 'rules'.

When people say that the maqam has rules, they're referring to consistent ways (many of them very subtle) in which the music develops. It's important to remember that the rules are descriptive (they describe what happens), not prescriptive (telling you what to do).
And in Arabic music, many rules are rarely if ever put into words but are rather absorbed by countless hours of music study and listening.
Even the rules that are verbalized (say Hijaz's high Eb and low F#) are really learned by listening and not by words; you can't play it right just by knowing the rule, and you could play it right without knowing the rule (just from a lot of listening).

That said, the basic rules for the maqam are well articulated in that thread. The only thing I would add is that each maqam has specific approach tones (below the tonic in a conventional scale representation). In the case of Hijaz, they are: B half-flat, C.
The ascending/descending rules have to be heard in multiple contexts to really understand how they work; it's not simply that you use one going up and the other going down.

Various maqamat have specific modulation tendencies as well, but that begins to blur the line of the 'rules'. In general, Hijaz tends to modulate to maqamat on G. It can also modulate to maqamat on A and different maqamat on D (e.g., Nahawand). There are also many more possible modulations that are less common, most of them require an intermediate modulation to one of the above.

oh yeah, all the above examples are referring to Arabic tuning Hijaz: D Eb F# G A Bb (B/b) C D

From what I've read/heard, Turkish musicians/theorists seem to be somewhat more interested in verbalizing the rules.

hope this helps.

If it's any consolation, Scott Marcus appeared to have spent tons of time trying to coax descriptions of "the rules" out of teachers and performers in Egypt and elsewhere and got mostly vague answers.

Fawad - 12-6-2005 at 10:43 AM

thanks a lot for your help...that clears things up a lot. The problem I am facing is the fact that I am from Pakistan and not many teachers here know of Maqamat and maqam theory...thats why I feel like im not getting very far with my study of maqam hijaz...

eliot - 12-7-2005 at 11:06 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Brian Prunka

From what I've read/heard, Turkish musicians/theorists seem to be somewhat more interested in verbalizing the rules.

hope this helps.

If it's any consolation, Scott Marcus appeared to have spent tons of time trying to coax descriptions of "the rules" out of teachers and performers in Egypt and elsewhere and got mostly vague answers.


Turkish musicians and theorists will be happy to give you lists of rules - more than you would ever know what to do with. But if you follow-up, you find that the so-called "rules" are simply a set of common things that happen in that makam and will always be incomplete. The best way to learn makam hicaz (or maqam hijaz) is to listen to and learn to play every single piece you can find in that makam (maqam). Find melodies that are common to many pieces. Find common things in how people begin and end taksims. Try out your own hicaz taksims - see what kind of feedback you get (did people like it? Were people lost?)