TheTurkish makam (Turkish:makam pl.makamlar; from theArabic wordmaqāmمقام) is a system ofmelody types used inTurkish classical music andTurkish folk music. It provides a complex set of rules for composing and performance. Each makam specifies a uniqueintervalic structure (cinsler meaninggenera) and melodic development (seyir).[1] Whether a fixed composition (beste,şarkı,peşrev,âyin, etc.) or a spontaneous composition (gazel,taksim, recitation ofKuran-ı Kerim,Mevlid, etc.), all attempt to follow the melody type. The rhythmic counterpart of makam in Turkish music isusul.
The Turkish makam system has some corresponding relationships tomaqams inArabic music andechos inByzantine music. Some theories suggest the origin of the makam to be the city ofMosul in Iraq. "Mula Othman Al-Musili," in reference to his city of origin, is said to have served in theOttoman Palace in Istanbul and influencedTurkish Ottoman music. More distant modal relatives include those of Central Asian Turkic musics such asUyghur “muqam” andUzbekshashmakom. North and South Indian classicalraga-based music employs similar modal principles. Some scholars find echoes of Turkish makam in former Ottoman provinces of the Balkans.[2] All of these concepts roughly correspond tomode inWestern classical music, although their compositional rules vary.
Turkish classical music and Turkish folk music are both based onmodal systems.Makam is the name of the scale in classical music, whileAyak (Ayağı) is the name of the scale in folk music. Makam and Ayak are similar; following are some examples:
There are some similarities between therhythms used in Turkish folk music and Turkish classical music, with respect to their forms, classification, and rhythmic patterns.[3]
In Turkish music theory, the octave is divided into53 equal intervals known ascommas (koma), specifically theHoldrian comma. Each whole tone is an interval equivalent to nine commas. In practice, only 24 of the 53 commas are used, as highlighted in the figure and table below. The following figure gives the comma values of Turkish accidentals. In the context of the Arab maqam, this system is not ofequal temperament. In fact, in the Western system of temperament, C-sharp and D-flat—which are functionally the same tone—are equivalent to 4.5 commas in the Turkish system; thus, they fall directly in the center of the line depicted above.
Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek notation adds 6 accidentals in addition to Western music theory's 4 accidentals. Note that the commonly used quarter-tone symbols
and
are used in this system to indicate a tone's adjusting with akoma, not a quarter-tone, like inArabic maqam andHelmholtz-Ellis notation.Makam Rast is therefore notated in the "same" in Arabic and Turkish music, but Turkish Rast's third is a just major third, not aneutral third.
| Accidental | |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Function | 1 koma sharp | 4 komas sharp | 5 komas sharp | 8 komas sharp | 9 komas= whole tone sharp |
| Accidental |  |  |  |  | |
| Function | 9 komas= whole tone flat | 8 komas flat | 5 komas flat | 4 komas flat | 1 koma flat |
Unlike in Western music, where the note C, for example, is called 'C' regardless of whatoctave it might be in, in the Turkish system the notes are – for the most part – individually named (although many are variations on a basic name); this can be seen in the following table, which covers the notes frommiddle C ("Kaba Çârgâh", C4) to the same note two octaves above ("Tîz Çârgâh", C6):
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The following table gives thetones over two octaves (ordered from highest to lowest), the pitch in commas and cents relative to the lowest note (equivalent to Western middle C), along with the nearest equivalent equal-temperament tone. The tones of the Çârgâh scale are shown in bold.
| Tone name | Commas above middle C | Cents above middle C | Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek notation of53-ΤΕΤ tone | Nearest equivalent 12-ΤΕΤ tone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tîz Çârgâh | 106 | 2400 | C6 | C6 |
| Tîz Dik Bûselik | 105 | 2377 | C 6 | C6 |
| Tîz Bûselik | 102 | 2309 | B5 | B5 |
| Tîz Segâh | 101 | 2287 | A 5 / B 5 | B5 |
| Dik Sünbüle | 98 | 2219 | A 5 / B 5 | A♯ 5 / B♭ 5 |
| Sünbüle | 97 | 2196 | A♯ 5 / B♭ 5 | A♯ 5 / B♭ 5 |
| Muhayyer | 93 | 2106 | A5 | A5 |
| Dik Şehnâz | 92 | 2083 | G 5 / A 5 | A5 |
| Şehnâz | 89 | 2015 | G 5 / A 5 | G♯ 5 / A♭ 5 |
| Nim Şehnâz | 88 | 1992 | G♯ 5 / A♭ 5 | G♯ 5 / A♭ 5 |
| Gerdâniye | 84 | 1902 | G5 | G5 |
| Dik Mâhûr | 83 | 1879 | F 5 / G 5 | G5 |
| Mâhûr | 80 | 1811 | F 5 / G 5 | F♯ 5 / G♭ 5 |
| Eviç | 79 | 1789 | F♯ 5 / G♭ 5 | F♯ 5 / G♭ 5 |
| Dik Acem | 76 | 1721 | F 5 / G 5 | F5 |
| Acem | 75 | 1698 | F5 | F5 |
| Hüseynî | 71 | 1608 | E5 | E5 |
| Dik Hisâr | 70 | 1585 | D 5 / E 5 | E5 |
| Hisâr | 67 | 1517 | D 5 / E 5 | D♯ 5 / E♭ 5 |
| Nim Hisâr | 66 | 1494 | D♯ 5 / E♭ 5 | D♯ 5 / E♭ 5 |
| Nevâ | 62 | 1404 | D5 | D5 |
| Dik Hicâz | 61 | 1381 | C 5 / D 5 | D5 |
| Hicâz | 58 | 1313 | C 5 / D 5 | C♯ 5 / D♭ 5 |
| Nim Hicâz | 57 | 1291 | C♯ 5 / D♭ 5 | C♯ 5 / D♭ 5 |
| Çârgâh | 53 | 1200 | C5 | C5 |
| Dik Bûselik | 52 | 1177 | C 5 | C5 |
| Bûselik | 49 | 1109 | B4 | B4 |
| Segâh | 48 | 1087 | A 4 / B 4 | B4 |
| Dik Kürdi | 45 | 1019 | A 4 / B 4 | A♯ 4 / B♭ 4 |
| Kürdi | 44 | 996 | A♯ 4 / B♭ 4 | A♯ 4 / B♭ 4 |
| Dügâh | 40 | 906 | A4 | A4 |
| Dik Zirgüle | 39 | 883 | G 4 / A 4 | A4 |
| Zirgüle | 36 | 815 | G 4 / A 4 | G♯ 4 / A♭ 4 |
| Nim Zirgüle | 35 | 792 | G♯ 4 / A♭ 4 | G♯ 4 / A♭ 4 |
| Rast | 31 | 702 | G4 | G4 |
| Dik Gevest | 30 | 679 | F 4 / G 4 | G4 |
| Gevest | 27 | 611 | F 4 / G 4 | F♯ 4 / G♭ 4 |
| Irak | 26 | 589 | F♯ 4 / G♭ 4 | F♯ 4 / G♭ 4 |
| Dik Acem Aşîrân | 23 | 521 | F 4 / G 4 | F4 |
| Acem Aşîrân | 22 | 498 | F4 | F4 |
| Hüseynî Aşîrân | 18 | 408 | E4 | E4 |
| Kaba Dik Hisâr | 17 | 385 | D 4 / E 4 | E4 |
| Kaba Hisâr | 14 | 317 | D 4 / E 4 | D♯ 4 / E♭ 4 |
| Kaba Nim Hisâr | 13 | 294 | D♯ 4 / E♭ 4 | D♯ 4 / E♭ 4 |
| Yegâh | 9 | 204 | D4 | D4 |
| Kaba Dik Hicâz | 8 | 181 | C 4 / D 4 | D4 |
| Kaba Hicâz | 5 | 113 | C 4 / D 4 | C♯ 4 / D♭ 4 |
| Kaba Nim Hicâz | 4 | 91 | C♯ 4 / D♭ 4 | C♯ 4 / D♭ 4 |
| Kaba Çârgâh | 0 | 0 | C4 | C4 |
The names and symbols of the differentintervals (şifre) are shown in the following table:
| Interval name (Aralığın adı) | Value in terms of commas (Koma olarak değeri) | Symbol (Simge) |
|---|---|---|
| koma orfazla | 1 | F |
| eksik bakiye | 3 | E |
| bakiye | 4 | B |
| küçük (sağir) mücenneb | 5 | S |
| büyük (kebir) mücenneb | 8 | K |
| tanîni | 9 | T |
| artık ikili | 12 - 13 | A |
Similar to the construction of maqamat noted above, a makam in Turkish music is built of atetrachord built atop apentachord, or vice versa.Trichords exist, e.g.Saba, but are rarely used. Additionally, most makams have what is known as a "development" (genişleme in Turkish), which can occur either above or below (or both) the tonic and/or the highest note.
There are six basic tetrachords, named sometimes according to their tonic note and sometimes according to the tetrachord's most distinctive note:
There are also six basic pentachords with the same names with a tone (T) appended.
It is worth keeping in mind that these patterns can betransposed to any note in the scale, so that the tonic A (Dügâh) of the Hicaz tetrachord, for example, can be moved up a major second (9 commas) to B (Bûselik), or in fact to any other note. The other notes of the tetrachord, of course, are also transposed along with the tonic, allowing the pattern to preserve its character.
A makam, more than simply a selection of notes and intervals, is essentially a guide to compositional structure: any composition in a given makam will move through the notes of that makam in a more or less ordered way. This pattern is known in Turkish asseyir (meaning, "route"), and there are three types ofseyir:
Makams are built of atetrachord plus apentachord (or vice versa), and in terms of this construction, there are three important notes in the makam:
Additionally, there are three types of makam as a whole:
This makam has two basic forms: in the first basic form (1), it consists of aBûselik pentachord plus aKürdî tetrachord on the note Hüseynî (E) and is essentially the same as the WesternA minor; in the second (2), it consists of a Bûselik pentachord plus aHicaz tetrachord on Hüseynî (E) and is identical toA harmonic minor. The tonic is A (Dügâh), the dominant Hüseynî (E), and the leading tone G-sharp (Nim Zirgüle). Additionally, when descending from the octave towards the tonic, the sixth (F, Acem) is sometimes sharpened to become F-sharp (Dik Acem), and the dominant (E, Hüseynî) flattened four commas to the note Hisar (1A). All these alternatives are shown below:
1)
2)
1A)
This makam is thought to be identical to the WesternC-major scale, but actually it is misleading to conceptualize a makam through Western music scales. Çârgâh makam consists of aÇârgâh pentachord and aÇârgâh tetrachord starting on the note Gerdâniye (G). Thus, the tonic is C (Çârgâh), the dominant is G (Gerdâniye), and the leading tone is B (Bûselik).
The çârgâh makam has at certain points in history been criticized for being a clumsy and unpleasant makam that can inspire those listening to it to engage in delinquency of various kinds.[dubious –discuss]
This much-used makam - which is said to bring happiness and tranquility to the hearerer - consists of aRast pentachord plus aRast tetrachord on the note Neva (D); this is labeled (1) below. The tonic is G (Rast), the dominant D (Neva), and the leading tone F-sharp (Irak). However, when descending from the octave towards the tonic, the leading tone is always flattened 4 commas to the note Acem (F), and thus aBûselik tetrachord replaces the Rast tetrachord; this is labeled (2) below. Additionally, there is a development (genişleme) in the makam's lower register, below the tonic, which consists of a Rast tetrachord on the note D (Yegâh); this is labeled (1A) below.
1)
1A)
2)
InTurkey, the particular Muslim call to prayer (orezan in Turkish) which occurs in the afternoon and is calledIkindi, as well as the day's final call to prayer calledYatsı, are often recited using the Rast makam.
This makam consists of anUşşâk tetrachord plus aBûselik pentachord on the note Neva (D); this is labelled (1) below. The tonic is A (Dügâh), the dominant—here actually a subdominant—is D (Neva), and the leading tone—here actually a subtonic—is G (Rast). Additionally, there is a development in the makam's lower register, which consists of aRast pentachord on the note D (Yegâh); this is labeled (1A) below.
1)
1A)
In Turkey, the particular call to prayer which occurs around noon and is calledÖğle is most often recited using the Uşşak makam.
