fernandoamartin
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Maqam Kurd
I have read a lot about the Eb in nahawand that is slightly flatter but I found very little information about kurd.
Does the Eb in maqam kurd also changes? And what about other notes of kurd?
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Alfaraby
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From the little I know in Arabic music and after asking accomplished musicians & singers, Eb in Nahawand on C is slightly higher than piano Eb, or
it's vice versa: in Kurd on D, Eb is slightly lower than Eb.
The other notes remain quite the same:
NAHAWAND: C,D,Eb,F,G,Ab,Bb,C
KURD: D,Eb,G,Ab,Bb,C,D
Hope this helps
Yours indeed
Alfaraby
alfarabymusic@gmail.com
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fernandoamartin
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Thank you. It helps.
But there's still a little doubt: The Eb in Kurd is lower as much as the Eb in Nahawand or is there some difference?
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Brian Prunka
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This is debatable. With respect to Alfaraby, I have gotten conflicting information from musicians but also from listening to canonical recordings.
The pitch seems to change depending on context.
It is worth noting that there are generally recognized two pure tunings for this note: a pure major 3rd down from G, and a pure 5th down from Bb.
Tuning a major third down from G results in a note that is about 1/8 of a tone higher (about 24 cents) than the piano. Tuning a pure 5th down from Bb
results in a note that is very slightly lower than the piano (about 6 cents).
The lower tone is the one typically mentioned in the old theoretical texts, if I recall correctly (Al-Farabi, etc.)
The higher one is the one typically used in western music contexts that aren't constrained by the piano (e.g., a minor key string quartet).
My personal observations and hunch is that older Arabic music used the lower tone exclusively, but that the influence of western music caused the note
to be raised in the context of "minor" i.e., nahawand. However, like all Arabic music, tuning is regional and contextual.
My advice is don't worry about it in this intellectual way, but listen to recordings of masters and imitate their playing in order to absorb the
tuning.
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fernandoamartin
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Thank you for the detailed explanation. I often listen to the masters but I don't have perfect pitch on my ears, so it's hard for me to distinguish
their tunings.
Anyway I'm trying to learn.
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Alfaraby
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Salute, Brian
I count on musicians' ear, rather than on theoretical analysis. As you've said, musucian's ear varies, depending on regional traditions; therefore
some Turkish or Greek notes are different from Arabic "same" notes .. and so on.
Yours indeed
Alfaraby
alfarabymusic@gmail.com
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