from Dii) Four-course 'ud: The Arabian 'ud qadim (ancient lute), in particular, invited cosmological speculation, linking the strings with the
humours, the temperature, the elements, the seasons, the cardinal points, the zodiac and the stars. The strings may be tuned bass to treble or treble
to bass. Bass to treble tuning is represented by al-Kindi (9th century), who advocated tuning the lowest course (bamm or first string) to the lowest
singable pitch. Placing the ring finger on a mathematically determined length of this string, one moves on to deduce the pitch of the third open
course (mathna), then that of the second (mathlath) and finally the fourth (zir). (This system is also applied to the five-course 'ud and is still
used as a tuning method, following the sequence 1-4-2-3-5 or 1-4-2-5-3.) Adherents of the opposite school (Ikhwan al-Safa') tune from treble to bass.
The intention, inherited in part by the Turkish 'ud, entails pulling hard on the zir (high) string, so that as it approaches breaking-point it gives a
clear sound. One then moves on to determine the pitch of the second course (mathna), the third (mathlath) and finally the fourth (bamm). These two
schools did not remain entirely separate. But whichever procedure is used, both end up with tuning by successive 4ths, each course being tuned a 4th
above the lower course preceding it. Musicologists, Eastern as well as Western, who try to interpret the pitch of these notes in European terms end up
with different results.
Although the four-course 'ud survives in Morocco, as the 'ud 'arbi, the tuning does not conform to the pitches inferred from classical treatises: a
conflict between oral and written traditions. The Moroccan method seems to be the product of a previous system, the 'ud ramal, which also comprised a
sequence of 4ths: ramal (?e), hsin, (?a), maya (?d'), raghul (?g'). This 'ud, like its Tunisian counterpart, may be variously tuned: a feature of
these tunings is that they juxtapose the traditional 4ths with the octave and sometimes the 5th and 6th (D-d-G-c). The strings of the 'ud 'arbi are
named dhil, ramal, maya, hsin; this terminology by no means refers to a fixed pitch standard such as academic and standardized tuition methods would
wish for.
At the time of al-Kindi, two of the courses were made of gut and two of silk. In the 10th century silk became predominant and some texts give the
composition of the twisted threads: bamm = 64 threads, mathlath = 48, mathna = 36, zir = 27. The figures for the lower courses of the 'ud correspond
with those of two upper strings of the Chinese qin, a fact that has led to speculation about the relationship between Arab and Chinese civilizations
by way of the Silk Route.
Another characteristic of the four-course 'ud is that it is bichordal, having double courses. 13th-century iconography shows that it was already usual
to pair the strings at that time, probably to increase sonority but also to allow the development of a more virtuoso type of performance.
(iii) Five-course 'ud: The addition in Andalusia of a fifth course has been attributed to Ziryab (8th-9th century), although in theoretical writings
it appeared in Iraq with al-Kindi. (The addition of this extra course has a parallel in China.) With Ziryab the fifth course, known as awsat
('intermediary'), a term perpetuated in the 'ud of San'a' called qanbus, is placed between the second (mathna) and third (mathlath) courses. With
al-Kindi and his successors, it was to reach the end of the instrument and become the string called hadd ('high') or the second zir. (According to
oral tradition, to obtain an octave on the long-necked lute baglama, a low string should be placed in the middle. This is done when the neck has
few
avid Parfit's site
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