David Parfitt
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Sayr/Seyir
Hi, me again
I was just leafing through a book on Turkish music theory while updating my website, and I noticed something interesting.
The book deals with around 30 Turkish makams separately, and after giving the basic ascending/descending scale with major variations, it then give a
short piece of music (around 8 bars) labelled 'seyir'. This contains a summary of the melodic progression of the makam in condensed form,
and seems to be designed to illustrate which notes should be emphasised and in what order. (I have seen the same type of thing in Karl Signell's
book on makams.)
My question is, has anyone ever come across anything similar for Arabic maqams (I guess the corresponding term would be 'sayr' ? I have one book on Arabic music theory, but it just contains one sentence after each
maqam saying 'start with the first jins, then move to the second,...etc.', which is not much help. Can anyone fill in more details?
Look forward to your replys.
David
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David Parfitt
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Location: Devon, UK
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Where's Basel when we need him?
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Brian Prunka
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Hi David,
the Arabic maqams have the same idea of the sayr (means "path" ). Unfortunately, I haven't come across anything in book form
demonstrating it for Arabic music, all my instruction about it has been from teachers. It seems that Turkish musicians have been more interested in
documenting aspects of music theory . . . although I'm sure books exist in Arabic.
My understanding, though, is that Arabic music is not as strict as Turkish in regard to the sayr, at least in 20th century performance. The way Simon
explained it was:
starting note (including leading tone/tones)
3 modulations (to specific areas of the maqam-- generally to the dominant, then the octave, and back to the lower jins)
qaflat for each modulation (from what note/notes)
final (qarar)
In addition, it's important to know the leading tone(s) for every jins you play.
Beyond that, you can modulate more if you like, as long as you respect the character of the maqam (i.e., don't get so far out that returning to
the original maqam sounds forced), and temporarily tonicize nearly any note as a brief resting place.
I know this doesn't answer your question about a specific instruction in the various maqamat . . . but it seems that as far as the basic sayr,
Arabic music follows the same pattern as the Turkish seyir (regarding the starting tone, dominant, modulation order, qaflat, qarar), it's just
treated slightly differently. Since the actual pitches of the maqams are different from the makams, there may be cases where the sayr is different,
too--but they would seem to be rare. After all, the classical repertoire is the best demonstration, and it's (nearly) the same in Arabic music
as in Turkish.
Hope this is remotely helpful . . . I realize it's pretty incomplete . . .
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David Parfitt
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Hi Brian
Thanks for all the detailed info. I find it really difficult, when listening to different people's taqsims, to locate a common thread. There seem
to be so many different approaches to the same maqam, depending I guess on the different schools of playing. Add to that the fast phrases, various
tunings and modulations and you really have got our work cut out for you!
I think your website is one of the first to try and explain the basis for all this in Arab music, and that's really great. (There is also some
nice info on the Maqam World site, and it would be good if they add some more taqsim analyses like the one for Riad al-Sunbati.)
All the best
David
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Michael
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David, what book are you referring to in your original post? Is it available in the UK or on-line? If so, from where? It sounds as tho' it
might be really useful to a relative beginner like myself.
regards
Michael
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David Parfitt
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Hi Michael
The book I was referring to is called 'Turk Musikisi Dersleri' by Zeki Yilmaz. As you probably guessed, it is in Turkish, but it is possible
to get a lot of useful info from it with the help of a Turkish-English dictionary. I bought my copy from a music shop in Istanbul, but I have not seen
it advertised online. However, I am currently transferring most of the key information from it onto my website, so hopefully you will not need to buy
the book itself.
The book by Karl Signell is called 'Makam: Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music'. Unfortunately it is out of print, but I ordered it from
Exeter city library through their inter-library loans, so I guess you could also get hold of it from Bristol library.
Hope this is some help.
Best wishes
David
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Michael
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Hi David, how soon before the updates to your web-site appear? I have found your site really useful in getting me up and running with my new
instrument, so I'm eagerly anticipating more info.
Basic scales I'm fine with now. What I need to know is exactly the stuff you propose to put on your site, i.e. how to use the scales to develop
authentic sounding taqsims.
Actually, something else that would be useful is how do you do the 'bouncing risha' thing in an authentic way. You know, the incidental
notes between the main notes of the melody. At the moment I just throw in the odd up-stroke or, if possible, a down-up-down so it sort of sounds:
DING - dingadingDING
Hope that makes sense!!!
regards
Michael
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David Parfitt
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Hi Michael
I am not planning to put much info on constructing taqsims on my site, as I unfortunately do not have sufficient expertise in that area. The only info
I have come across is on Brian Punka's site at
http://www.brianprunka.com/oud/index.htm
or on the Maqam World site at
http://www.maqamworld.com
Sorry I cannot be of more help on this, but I would love to have more of this kind of information myself.
Best wishes
David
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David Parfitt
Oud Junkie
Posts: 629
Registered: 11-16-2003
Location: Devon, UK
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Zeki Yilmaz books
Hi Michael
I just found a website that seems to sell all books by Zeki Yilmaz:
http://www.caglaryayin.com/yayin.htm
The site is in Turkish, but they have an email address caglaryayin@hotmail.com , so I guess you could email them your request and maybe pay by credit
card if you are interested. The book 'Turk Musikisi Dersleri' is advertised for 7,500,000 Turkish lira (about 3 pounds!) but I am not sure
about postage.
Bye for now
David
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