I think the Barbat was originally fretted, but I didn't really mean that the origins of Maqamat were the same as oud - just that the roots are
ancient. So was the development of microtonality something that came from what I will clumsily call a more 'natural' tonality
Yes, I believe that to be the case
rather than overly tempered and did microtonality only become an obvious entity when measured against even tempered instruments ?
It was already obvious I would say. By the time current European tempering came to be, musicians of the various modal systems of the east had an
awareness and a terminology of microtonality. the intervals of different maqam-s had to be compared with each other. Comparing them with european
intervals came later.
Cheers
Leon
BTW I am aware that I have asked a question worthy of the PHD I may never get round to doing in a busy week ) |