Mike's Oud Forums

CHAPTERS FROM SCOTT MARCUS'S BOOK

ofadel - 4-14-2005 at 03:34 PM

Hey everyone here are some excerpts from Marcus' book. This should keep all of the aspiring theorists out there busy for a couple days. :)

As far as a comprehensive list of the maqamat, and the Ajnas that they used, I did not see one. I did see some lists of names of various obscure maqamat but no definition of what they were comprised of. There are, however, a lot of pages to dig through so if someone finds the list, let me know which page it is on.

I also scanned a couple of chapters I found of particular interest. Such as, adaptation of Western terminology, Ajnas, & modern modal scale theory.

HERE ARE THE LINKS

Three Categories of Notes

Adopting Western Solfege

Tetrachords (Ajnas)

How Many Maqamat Are There?

Classifying the Maqamat

Modal Scales According to Present-Day Theory


Hope this helps.

omar

habeebkum - 4-14-2005 at 03:48 PM

theres is definately enough info in there to keep me going till i am 75!!!! thanks ofadel;)

journeyman - 4-14-2005 at 06:58 PM

This is great. Where can I obtain a copy of this book?

Cheers,
Roy

TruePharaoh21 - 4-15-2005 at 12:26 PM

Omar, thanks so much, man!

I go to UCLA, so today, I took it upon myself to visit their music library, and I asked for this book. They handed me two huge volumes, and I sat down for an hour, running through everything, trying to see what I could absorb. I've come to the conclusion that it's quite necessary to either buy the book, or find it somewhere on line. This is one of the greatest things that I have ever come across, and I'd love to read this book in its entirety, as well as apply it to my playing. I came across a few cool tetrachords, and a few awesome maqams. The Maqam Naz, for example... C D E(half flat) F Gb A Bb c, as seen on page 392, sounds like it could be awesome! I have to get home and try it (as I'm still in school right now).

I had a question about maqam Zawil, as seen on page 392, as well. C D E(half flat) F... or C D Eb F# G. If this, indeed, is a derivative of Rast, should the Eb not be E(half flat)? And if not, is this not Nawa Athar/Nakriz? Was it just a typo?

Again, if anyone knows of an online site that has posted this in its entirety, I'd be so thankful to know about it. I'd ask you to put the rest, Omar, but man... that's a ton of pages... it must've taken you forever to scan all of that.

Thanks again!

TP21

Brian Prunka - 4-15-2005 at 01:01 PM

It's not a typo, but it's not very clearly explained, either. It seems that the maqam Zawil uses both the rast and nakriz tetrachords . . . it's not explained precisely how that occurs. This maqam seems like it would be conceptualized differently by most performers (i.e., as some kind of modulation in Rast, not as a distinct maqam) and is primarily of theoretical/historical interest.

oudman - 4-15-2005 at 01:30 PM

There is a maqam called basandidah which is notated as
C D Eb F# G A B half flat C

ofadel - 4-15-2005 at 02:42 PM

My pleasure TP. I think you can buy the book online from a place that sells dissertations. I will see if I can find the link somewhere.

omar

Mike - 4-15-2005 at 02:54 PM

Hey guys,

First off, I want to thank Omar for taking the time to do all of that. That was very kind of you. But I want to ask you to hold off on putting up anymore of Dr. Marcus' book for a little bit. I have just sent him an email asking his permission for it to be shared online. I don't foresee it being a problem, but it is probably best to be safe than sorry.

Thanks,
Mike

TruePharaoh21 - 4-15-2005 at 04:21 PM

Good call, Mike.

I also came across Basandidah in my perusing over the book. Interesting maqam (Nakriz+Rast).

I dig this stuff.

TP21

oudman - 4-16-2005 at 11:11 AM

sorry i made a mistake and left the # out after the F, its nakriz+rast...

Mike - 4-16-2005 at 01:05 PM

I just heard back from Dr. Marcus and he said it was fine to share his work on the forums. Many thanks again to him first of all, and also to Omar for taking the time to scan the pages for us.

Take care,
Mike

eliot - 4-16-2005 at 06:31 PM

Scott will have a book coming out on Oxford University Press at the end of this year on Arab music. It doesn't go "comprehensive," but rather explores in depth a few topics (Umm Kulthum, mizmar traditions, weddings) and does an in-depth explanation of maqam Rast (and related modes in the Rast fasilah).

It will be the best introduction to music from this region - we've been using a draft copy here at Berkeley for teaching a "music of the Middle East" class with good results, though almost noone seems to be "getting" maqam.

oudplayer - 4-17-2005 at 09:32 AM

hey this is good stuff to read><>
what is the exact name of the book so i can go find it then buy it.
thx sammy

ofadel - 4-18-2005 at 07:58 AM

I'm glad that Dr. Marcus approved. For those of you interested in getting the book, it is called "Arab music theory in the modern period" by Scott Marcus. David Parfitt sent me the following link where you could by it online, http://wwwlib.umi.com/dxweb/gateway

Hope this helps

omar

TruePharaoh21 - 4-28-2005 at 02:17 PM

Hope you all didn't forget about this post!

TP21

TruePharaoh21 - 7-20-2005 at 01:15 PM

Hey everyone,

I hope that everyone is doing fine, and that the summer is treating you all well. I was hoping that perhaps someone could post the remainder of the book, if possible. I'd really appreciate it!

TP21

roddie - 7-21-2005 at 07:56 PM

I just ordered the dissertation from the link above (The order number to search for is 9006091). $38 isn't too bad, considering the volume. It'll probably cost me more than that to take it to Kinkos and have it bound somehow (it comes unbound in shrink-wrap).

ofadel - 7-22-2005 at 08:34 AM

Hey guys. Sorry, I wanted to post more but have been super busy. I promise I will get to it at some point soon. Is there anything in particular you want out of the book?

omar

TruePharaoh21 - 10-6-2005 at 12:30 PM

Hey everyone... I know most people have probably forgotten this post in the sea of the messageboard, but I was wondering if there was any way that we could get the rest of this great book up! Please!

TP21

Alan - 10-7-2005 at 04:12 AM

All dead links now:(

CHAPTERS REPOSTED

TruePharaoh21 - 10-7-2005 at 10:13 AM

Here you go, guys. I know not all of you got the first 6 that were posted here, so here you go! I'd really like to thank Omar for posting these to begin with.

Three Categories of Notes

Adopting Western Solfege

Tetrachords (Ajnas)

How Many Maqamat Are There?

Classifying the Maqamat

Modal Scales According to Present-Day Theory


TP21

Alan - 10-8-2005 at 06:36 PM

Many thank TP21:applause: Thans to Omar as well

Rhianwen - 10-15-2005 at 06:05 PM

Hey there, this is an awsome book. I got to read it in May, but it was borrowed. So to see it here is great. But, I tried to down load it and the 3rd and 5th chapters didn't come through. Anyone have this who would be willing to share?
Thanks.

Rhianwen

:wavey:

SamirCanada - 10-15-2005 at 11:01 PM

Actualy I went to my University's library this week and I found a huge encyclopedia on middle eastern music writen in part by scott marcus. Absolutely amazing stuff with a reference Cd featuring oud taqasims and more. I'll get the info up for you guys shortly.

TruePharaoh21 - 10-17-2005 at 01:13 PM

Hey Rhianwen,

If you just right click on the link and click Save As, it should come out just finely. I hope that helps.

Any chance anyone can provide us with the rest? Yes, I realize I'm really pushing for this, but it's like gold.

TP21

DD - 10-17-2005 at 05:07 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SamirCanada
Actualy I went to my University's library this week and I found a huge encyclopedia on middle eastern music writen in part by scott marcus. Absolutely amazing stuff with a reference Cd featuring oud taqasims and more. I'll get the info up for you guys shortly.


Hi Samir. Probably you mean the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 6: The Middle East? 1200 delectable pages. Here is a brief Whole Earth blurb on the series, and here is the Amazon page on the Middle East volume.

DD - 10-17-2005 at 05:19 PM

Hm! Clicked on Scott Marcus' name at the Amazon site and found that he had a book coming out this month (paperback next month) entitled Music in the Middle East: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. 128 pages and a CD, about $18 in paperback.

SamirCanada - 10-17-2005 at 05:38 PM

Yup thats it

DD - 10-18-2005 at 03:33 PM

Samir, is that a book that you can take home, or do you have to read it there at the U library?

SamirCanada - 10-18-2005 at 03:42 PM

Nah you cant leave with it. It's part of the encyclopedia wich has some 10 volumes. Its would be neat to have at home... but its really extensively researched stuff like tribal music in different times.. There's even a chapter on Maronite and Coptic music wich comes from old time Syria. So if you need a specific info then you'll find it in there only I cant spend more then 20mins reading it or else I'll get information overload that's how precise and documented the information in it is. A great work tho.. I cant imagine the years of research that led to this work.

DD - 10-18-2005 at 05:28 PM

Maybe a bunch of us should buy it and pass it around :-)

Rhianwen - 10-20-2005 at 06:36 AM

Samir,

Could you please tell us the name and other information of this encyclopedia? It may be accessable through interlibrary loan.

Thanks

Rhianwen

al-Halabi - 10-20-2005 at 02:02 PM

Here is the full title:

The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, vol. 6: The Middle East (New York: Routledge, 2002),
ISBN 0-8240-6042-3.

The volume is part of a ten-volume set covering the music cultures of all major parts of the world. There is a lot of interesting stuff in these volumes, and I have been enjoying reading about various kinds of music since I got thefull set a couple of years ago. The dozens of articles in the Middle East volume are organized in part by region (North Africa, the eastern Arab world, the Arabian Peninsula, Armenia, Kurdistan, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Israel), and in part by general theme (theory and performance, religious music, popular music and the media, gender, learning and transmission, and history). It's a useful reference work, with short pieces that provide overviews of various aspects of the region's music along with suggestions for further reading.

TruePharaoh21 - 1-31-2007 at 03:19 PM

Hey everyone,

I hope all of you are doing well. I just wanted to bring this post to your attention again. I also wanted to let you know that I have the full dissertation in pdf format, and I'm very willing to share this with all of you. Knowing that Dr. Marcus approved of our posting the pdf's here before, I don't think it would be a problem to do the rest.

Special thanks to ALAMI for hosting the file on his site:

Arab Music Theory in the Modern Period

I hope this will help all of us in our music theory endeavors.

TP21

ALAMI - 2-1-2007 at 02:00 PM

I can give you an ftp space
I can mail you the login and pass, all you have to do is to upload the file using an ftp software (like the free Firefox add-on : FireFTP) and once uploaded you can paste the link in a post and it will become available to everyone.

TruePharaoh21 - 2-1-2007 at 10:32 PM

Hey Alami,

Feel free to go ahead and u2u me the the login and password. Thanks a lot.

TP21

ALAMI - 2-1-2007 at 11:37 PM

Done, check you U2U

billinpitt - 2-2-2007 at 04:16 AM

I am looking forward to reading the chapters. Thank You for posting.

Microber - 2-2-2007 at 04:46 AM

I can't wait.:applause:

ALAMI - 2-2-2007 at 05:19 AM

Hey TP
if detailed procedure needed or if any problem in login or upload, just let me know

billinpitt - 2-5-2007 at 03:36 AM

Any luck posting it yet?

ALAMI - 2-5-2007 at 02:47 PM

The link is added, check your u2u and just copy and paste it in your post.

TruePharaoh21 - 2-5-2007 at 02:54 PM

Alright guys, I went ahead and linked it in the post above. Special thanks to ALAMI once again. I wasn't able to upload it over the weekend because I'm still running dial-up at home (no DSL in my area---unbelievable, huh?) Anyway, hope you all enjoy.

amtaha - 2-5-2007 at 08:53 PM

TP21 and Alami,

No words can do. This is really great.

Thanks!

Hamid

Hosam - 2-6-2007 at 02:57 PM

TP and ALAMI, Thank you guys, this is by far the best resource that I have seen on Arabic music. Wealth of information, very interesting, I am still going through this and already have a couple of questions regarding tuning which I will post in a separate thread.

Is there a way to thank Scott Marcus for his kind permission to share his work here in the forums?

oudplayer - 2-6-2007 at 03:13 PM

hey all

For some odd reason i dont see the link to cut and paste can u post it again
thx sammy

ALAMI - 2-6-2007 at 03:31 PM

yeah this very-actual-years-old-thread has become a little bit messy kind of Back to The Future.

The link is in TruePharaoh21 post up 12 posts, it is the blue title
"Arab Music Theory in the Modern Period"

TruePharaoh21 - 2-13-2007 at 03:39 PM

Hey guys,

Is it possible to sticky this thread? Just for the future members that come and want to make use of it.

Thanks in advance!
TP21

gone

Glissentarist - 2-15-2007 at 09:01 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by TruePharaoh21
Here you go, guys. I know not all of you got the first 6 that were posted here, so here you go! I'd really like to thank Omar for posting these to begin with.

Three Categories of Notes

Adopting Western Solfege

Tetrachords (Ajnas)

How Many Maqamat Are There?

Classifying the Maqamat

Modal Scales According to Present-Day Theory


TP21


These links are no longer valid, anyone got the files?
Roland

joklany - 12-15-2010 at 03:26 AM

Hello All
I was bowsing through and landed on this. The link for Dr Marcus Book no longer works. Could anybody please share the book with us.

Many Thanks.
Jaafar

Danielo - 12-15-2010 at 04:34 AM

Hi Jaafar,

Reda Aouad had the good idea to put it on his webpage

http://www.redaaouad.com/music-books

Dan

Glissentarist - 12-15-2010 at 04:36 AM

Thanks Danielo!

joklany - 12-15-2010 at 05:21 AM

Many Thanks Danielo. Nice Xmas reading!

There are some other treasures in Reda's great site! Many Thanks Reda.

Best regards
Jaafar

wjames - 3-9-2016 at 02:47 PM

are there any up to date links to these books? they seem like they would be really really good