fhydan - 3-30-2009 at 02:59 AM
I had read somewhere around here that using those note names rather than the western note names is more natural with the maqam system. Could someone
tell me how this is beneficial? Besides it being a part of the tradition, are those names beneficial to learn?
Reda Aouad - 3-30-2009 at 09:08 AM
Quick answers:
1. This is Arabic/Turkish theory. So if you want to learn the theory you should be learning the notes' names as you have done in western theory.
2. Second, the notes intonation may differ from the western scale. Segah in Arabic (for example) is wrongly assigned to Mi half-flat, although they
don't have the same intonation, but sometimes it's done for simplification and solfege. But if you want to name the notes of the Rast scale, you would
say Rast Duga Segah Jiharkah... and not DO RE MI half flat FA..
3. The notes vary between different tuning systems. In one system the Rast is what you refer to as DO (as in the Arabic theory), in others it may be
SOL or LA or RE, or whatever depending on the maqam. You will have to learn these tuning systems if you want to get into theory, but it's more of
Turkish theory, since in Arabic theory I never saw any application of changing the tuning system.