I went ahead and established a Facebook page called "Turkish Music for Non-Turks." I have done this in a spirit of love and to facilitate
intercultural exchange. I have arranged the settings so that the page and everything posted on it is available to all.
The focus will be especially on sharing Turkish music with Arabic-style musicians, though all, including Western and Western-trained musicians are of
course welcome. I want to make it easier for those of us accumstomed to Arabic or Western notation and Arabic tunings to discover the beautiful music
of Turkey.
I will begin by gathering and posting the Classical Ottoman pieces (semai/sama'i, longa, peşrev/bashraf) that are generally available as Arabic
sheets or Western transcriptions that are not in traditional Turkish notation.
Following that, I will post "concert" pitch sheets (i.e., those transposed to Arabic and/or Western notation) of Turkish folk music and Sufi Ilahiler
(anashid) that are already available on the internet.
Once I have posted those, I will begin transposing and posting Turkish folk and classical pieces and Sufi Ilahiler. (I have a lovely Tatyos Effendi
Uşşak beste already picked out!)
I am also using the Facebook platform to make it easy for participants to post music sheets, as well.
Teşekkürler & شكرا,
"Udi" JohnPaulS - 3-13-2015 at 07:38 PM
What a great idea! Thanks, I look forward to it!hans - 3-14-2015 at 02:40 AM
Maybe you could do something with turkish rhythms? I have a hard time with thoseDon Z - 3-14-2015 at 05:06 PM
Maybe you could do something with turkish rhythms? I have a hard time with those
I was thinking about that myself. As an Arabic-style oudist, it's been a challenge for me. Once I've got all the generally available Ottoman sheets
posted, I would like to post some ideas about that. One approach is to start by playing simpler, slower-tempo songs in the same or similar time
signature. I think that there are some great Greek folks songs and Arabic muwashahat that are either simpler or played at slower tempos that would be
great as exercises for working up to more "technical" Turkish/Ottoman pieces. danieletarab - 3-15-2015 at 12:50 PM
Bravo!!!!! I'll do it now! thank you very much!John Erlich - 5-3-2015 at 08:23 PM
UPDATE: "The Turkish Music for Non-Turks" Facebook page now has about 120 Arabic/Western "concert" scores of Ottoman/Turkish music. In many cases, I
have posted a Turkish score as well, for comparison.
I am inviting all Forum members to check out the page and contribute any scores that you think are missing from the site. I am also challenging Forum
members to do your own transposing or transcribing. I just want to note that Turkish Sufi Ilahiler are often very simple, very beautiful tunes--a
great place to start--and I would love to have more of them posted.
I am also inviting Forum members to spur discussion about the differences between Turkish and other related musical styles, especially Arabic
music.
We had one request for discussion about non-symmetrical time signatures common in Turkish music (5/8, 7/8, 9/8, 10/8 etc.) and how to go about playing
them. I am certainly no expert on the topic, but, as an Arabic-style oudist, these don't come easy for me, and I might have some good insights
because of that.
Thanks, Jono! That means a lot to me coming from you, considering that your work was one of my inspirations for creating the page.Jono Oud N.Z - 5-7-2015 at 11:00 PM
Here are a few more pieces.
There are two versions of Samai Ajam and two versions of the Bashraf Ushshaq.
