Meursault
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Dumb question about Maqam Nahawand on Maqamworld
On the maqam world website, it says "Maqam Nahawand has two versions shown above. In general the first version (Nahawand-Hijaz) is used on the way up,
and the second version (Nahawand-Kurd) is used on the way down." If Nahawand-Kurd is used on the way down, then why aren't the notes going
from high to low?
Here's the link:
http://maqamworld.com/maqamat/nahawand.html
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stringmanca
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Good question! I would think that it was printed this way to make it easier to see the difference between the two versions. As you can see, the only
difference is in the 7th note of the scale (B natural going up and Bb going down, in this example in Nahawand from C).
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Brian Prunka
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I think this is also an area where the western concept of a scale conflicts with the maqam concept. a scale is a theoretical arrangement of a pitch
set, generally presented as an ascending row. you could present it descending when necessary, such as when writing out the melodic minor (which has
specific ascending and descending forms). I think it's basically for consistency here, as stringmanca said--to make it easier to see the difference.
Also the "ascending" vs. "descending" distinction in Arabic music is very vague and general, not strict. You can easily find dozens of examples of
ascending "kurdi" motion and descending "hijaz" motion . . . it's more about the direction of the melodic development than a particular phrase.
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Meursault
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Thanks for the valuable input.
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Oud Freak
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Yes indeed.
Moreover why it can also be seen from the western point of view, since the Nahawand scale is equivalent to the minor scale. Only talking about scales,
neither maqam nor taqassim.
The first example is the the "harmonic minor" scale distinguished by the B natural which is the leading tone of the scale.
The second example is identical to the natural minor scale.
It would have been more complete and precise though to write the scales in both ascending and descending ways.
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