Maqam/etc

I think the first thing to be aware of when discussing maqamat/ragas, and more Eastern, linear forms is that they are part of the overall culture from which they developed. A maqam is much more than just a scale/mode...it's also connected to the language of the culture, the songs they sing, the melodies of those songs, and using a particular maqam scale/mode with the right turn of phrasing, and development of the melodies. To try and isolate the scale notes/pitches doesn't work, cause that's NOT the way it was transmitted/learned...it's part of the culture, overall. Same with blues...when I teach blues, I usually start with the so called "blues scale," but jeez, it's way way more than that. Again, it's about the songs, the rhythms of the lyrics, the phrasing, and much more. When the oud maestros are improvising in a particular maqam form, they have thousands of years of history they are drawing on...and the placement of the pitches is a part of that, for sure...as I mentioned earlier, Rahim Alhaj has told me the pitches of a particular maqam are learned as PART of that particular piece...and a note can be in different pitch areas from maqam to maqam...again, exactly like blues phrasing. I don't believe the pitches are taught separately from the maqam they are part of...and sure, there have been Arabic theorists who write about the theory of the tunings/pitches, but tuning theory doesn't seem to be taught as a separate subject, as it's treated on the tuning lists.

Can Akkoc wrote a marvelous paper about pitches in Turkish music (I think "Non Deterministic Pitches in Turkish Music")...he found that the Turkish maestros were not necessarily singing notes that the theorists said they were...the notes were often not where they were thought to be. Not a big surprise. And this is at the core of maqam pitch concepts...it isn't about theory, it's about the maqam, and what that maqam is trying to express. I am very careful about folks who are not a part of a culture trying to analyze what people who ARE a part of that culture are doing. Hanging with the maestros is always a real good idea, as they are the ones doing it. Also listening a great deal, and trying to absorb the SOUND of a music. Arabic/Indian/Turkish traditional musics were long taught in a one on one apprenticeship, where the student imitates the maestro, then goes his/her own way. And since it's all about individual expression, there are many many ways to interpret a maqam/raga. And the pitches are, again, taught as part of a particular form. Cool stuff...best...Stickman
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