Tuning
Players did nor use the western tuning system although they changed the chanterelle to one tone lower. When we look at the past, before the violin and
Sinekeman were used, the first strings of the Kemence and the Rebab were tuned to D. When the keman first appeared in Istanbul the tuning did not suit
the players and they changed the first string to one tone lower which nowadays is still the case, although some Turk-ish Music players use the
international tuning system today. Another opinion is that, before they were met with the mod-ern violin, they were using the Sinekeman and the first
string of it, was tuned to D. When the violin was introduced, they had some difficulty to play it with the chanterelle E and they changed it into
D.
I have heard personally the following opinion from a famous Kemence player Cuneyd Orhon. He said that some of the makams in Turkish Music are very
difficult to perform on the violin. These makams in the high pitches have got critical in-tervals especially on Gerdaniye (D) Therefore it was easier
to play with them on the open string and they usually played with the same tuning. |
