Makam

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The makam (pl. makamlar) is the melody type used in Turkish music; that is, it is the concept used to codify phenomena of scale structure, interval structure, and melodic characteristics that underly composition and improvisation. Its counterpart in Arab music is maqam ; in Byzantine music, echos; in Assyrian music, makam; in Uyghur music, muqam; in Uzbek music, shashmakom; and in Indian music, raga. All of these concepts roughly correspond to mode in Western music, although they may differ in detail depending on the specifics of the music theory to which they belong. The rhythmic counterpart of makam in both Arab and Turkish music is usul.

The word makam is simply the Turkish word for the Arabic maqam, and indeed the concept is fundamentally similar to that in the Arab world; the makams, however, are organized in a somewhat different way in the two musical cultures. Although makams do provide a framework for improvisations—known as taksim in Turkish—they are primarily a means of melodic composition. In this regard, it should be kept in mind that Turkish music, and particularly Turkish classical music, is heterophonic; i.e., traditionally all of the voices play the same melody, with small flourishes and ornaments occasionally being introduced.

In terms of notes, one whole tone is divided into nine commas in Turkish music, which are given symbols in accordance with the following table:

(N.B. Aralığın Adı means "Name of Interval"; these should be learned in Turkish as this system is unlikely to be encountered outside of Turkish music. Koma olarak değeri means "value in terms of commas". Diyez means "sharp" and bemol means "flat"; in the sharp column, the lower tone should be imagined at the top and the higher tone at the bottom (vice versa for the flat column), and then the table becomes a map of the intervals occurring as one moves between, for example, the notes C and D. Accordingly, the table can be depicted horizontally as follows, with the basic notes named according to the solfege system and thus, for example, "Do" is C and "Re" is D:

As noted above in the context of the Arab maqam, this system is not of equal 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. As for the last column in the table, simge means "symbol", and is used—as will be seen below—for a shorthand system of writing the different intervals used in the different tetrachords and pentachords that go into making up a makam.)

Unlike as in Western music, where the note C, for example, is called C regardless of what octave 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 from middle C ("Kaba Çârgâh") to the same note two octaves above ("Tîz Çârgâh"):

Similar to the construction of maqamat noted above, a makam in Turkish music is built of a tetrachord built atop a pentachord, or vice versa (trichords exist but are little used). Additionally, most makams have what is known as a "development" (genişleme in Turkish) either above or below, or both, the tonic and/or the highest note.

There are 6 basic tetrachords, named sometimes according to their tonic note and sometimes according to the tetrachord's most distinctive note: Çârgâh; Bûselik; Kürdî; Rast; Uşşâk; and Hicaz.

There are also 6 basic pentachords, named after the same pattern: Çârgâh; Bûselik; Kürdî; Rast; Hüseynî; and Hicaz.

In the following image, tetrachords (dörtlü) are on the left, pentachords (beşli) on the right. The symbols (simge) from the table above are here used to signal the intervals used in these patterns; it is worth keeping in mind that these patterns can be transposed 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.

1 Basic makam theory
2 Simple Makams
3 Sources
4 External links

[edit] Basic makam theory

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 (in this, it resembles a tone row à la Schoenberg or Webern). This pattern is known in Turkish as seyir (meaning basically, "route"), and there are three types of seyir:

rising (çıkıcı);
falling (inici);
falling-rising (inici-çıkıcı)

As stated above, makams are built of a tetrachord plus a pentachord (or vice versa), and in terms of this construction, there are three important notes in the makam:

the tonic (durak), which is the initial note of the first tetrachord or pentachord and which always concludes any piece written in the makam;
the dominant (güçlü), which is the last note of the first tetrachord or pentachord and the first note of the second and which is used as a temporary tonic in the middle of a piece (in this sense, it is somewhat similar to the axial pitches mentioned above in the context of Arab music); in practice, the güçlü is sometimes a proper dominant and sometimes a subdominant;
the leading tone (yeden), which is most often the penultimate note of any piece and which resolves into the tonic; in practice this is sometimes a proper leading tone and sometimes a subtonic

Additionally, there are three types of makam as a whole:

simple makams (basit makamlar), almost all of which have a rising seyir;
transposed makams (göçürülmüş makamlar), which as the name implies are the simple makams transposed to a different tonic;
compound makams (bileşik/mürekkep makamlar), which are a joining of differing makams and number in the hundreds

[edit] Simple Makams

[edit] Çârgâh Makam

This makam is identical to the Western C-major scale, and consists of a Çârgâh pentachord and a Çârgâh tetrachord starting on the note Gerdaniye (G). Thus, the tonic is C (Çârgâh), the dominant G (Gerdaniye), and the leading tone B (Bûselik). (N.B. In this and all subsequent staves, the tonic is indicated by a whole note and the dominant by a half note.)

Interestingly, insofar as C-major is considered the most basic scale of Western music and accordingly used very often, the Çârgâh makam is very little used in Turkish music, and in fact has at certain points of history been attacked for being a clumsy and unpleasant makam that can inspire those hearing it to engage in delinquency of various kinds.

[edit] Bûselik Makam

This makam has two basic forms: in the first basic form (1), it consists of a Bûselik pentachord plus a Kürdî tetrachord on the note Hüseynî (E) and is essentially the same as the Western A-minor; in the second (2), it consists of a Bûselik pentachord plus a Hicaz tetrachord on Hüseynî and is identical to A-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:

1A)

[edit] Rast Makam

This much-used makam—which is said to bring happiness and tranquility to the hearer—consists of a Rast pentachord plus a Rast 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 a Bûselik 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.

1A)

In Turkey, the particular Muslim call to prayer (or ezan in Turkish) which occurs generally in early afternoon and is called ikindi, as well as the day's final call to prayer called yatsı, is often recited using the Rast makam.

[edit] Uşşâk Makam

This makam consists of an Uşşâk tetrachord plus a Bûselik 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 a Rast pentachord on the note D (Yegâh); this is labeled (1A) below.

1A)

In Turkey, the particular call to prayer which occurs around noon and is called öğle is most often recited using the Uşşak makam.

[edit] Sources

Özkan, İsmail Hakkı. Türk Mûsıkîsi Nazariyatı ve Usûlleri. (2000). ISBN 975-437-017-6.
Signell, Karl L. Makam: Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. Nokomis FL (USA): Usul editions. (2004). ISBN 0-9760455-0-8:

http://usul-editions.com/.

--- Makam: Türk Sanat Musikisinde Makam Uygulaması (Turkish translation of above). Istanbul: Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat Yayıncılık, 2006. ISBN 975-08-1080-5.
Yılmaz, Zeki. Türk Mûsıkîsi Dersleri. (2001). ISBN 975-95729-1-5.