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21 @subsection Arabic music
26 * Arabic music notation overview::
27 * Arabic note names ::
28 * Arabic key signatures::
29 * Arabic time signatures::
30 * References for Arabic music::
34 @node Arabic music notation overview
35 @unnumberedsubsubsec Arabic music notation overview
38 @cindex medium intervals
42 Arabic music so far has been mainly an oral tradition. When music
43 is transcribed, it is usually in a sketch format, on which
44 performers are expected to improvise significantly. Increasingly,
45 Western notation, with a few variations, is adopted in order to
46 communicate and preserve Arabic music.
48 Some elements of Western musical notation such as the
49 transcription of chords or independent parts, are not required to
50 typeset the more traditional Arabic pieces. There are however
51 some different issues, such as the need to indicate medium
52 intervals that are somewhere between a semi-tone and a tone, in
53 addition to the minor and major intervals that are used in Western
54 music. There is also the need to group and indicate a large
55 number of different maqams (modes) that are part of Arabic music.
57 In general, Arabic music notation does not attempt to precisely
58 indicate microtonal elements that are present in musical practice.
66 @node Arabic note names
67 @unnumberedsubsubsec Arabic note names
69 @cindex Arabic note names
71 The more traditional Arabic note names can be quite long and are
72 not suitable for the purpose of music writing, so they are not
73 defined by the inclusion of @code{"arabic.ly"}. English note
74 names @code{a, b, c, d, e, f, g} are not very familiar in Arabic
75 music education. Italian or Solfege note names @code{do, re, mi,
76 fa, sol, la, si} are more familiar, and are used when
77 @code{"arabic.ly"} is included. Modifiers can also be used, as
78 discussed in @ref{Note names in other languages}.
80 For example, this is how the Arabic @notation{rast} scale can be
83 @lilypond[quote,verbatim]
86 do re misb fa sol la sisb do sisb la sol fa misb re do
94 @ref{Note names in other languages}.
100 @node Arabic key signatures
101 @unnumberedsubsubsec Arabic key signatures
103 @cindex Arabic key signatures
105 In addition to the minor and major key signatures, the following
106 key signatures are defined in @code{"arabic.ly"}: bayati, rast,
107 sikah, iraq, and kurd. These key signatures define a small number
108 of maqam groups rather than the large number of maqams that are in
111 In general, a maqam uses the key signature of its group, or a
112 neighbouring group, and varying accidentals are marked throughout
115 For example to indicate the key signature of a maqam muhayer piece:
119 Here re is the default pitch of the muhayer maqam, and bayati is the
120 name of the base maqam in the group.
122 While the key signature indicates the group, it is
123 common for the title to indicate the more specific maqam, so in this
124 example, the name of maqam muhayer should appear in the title.
126 In Arabic music, the same term such as bayati that is used to indicate
127 a maqam group, is also a maqam which is usually the most important
128 in the group, and can also be thought of as a base maqam.
130 Here is one suggested grouping that maps the more common maqams to key
133 @multitable @columnfractions 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.6
134 @headitem maqam group
137 @tab Other maqmas in group (finalis)
145 @tab hussaini, muhayer, saba, ushaq, nawa (sol)
149 @tab shahnaz, shad arban (sol), hijazkar (do)
157 @tab hijazkar kurd (do)
161 @tab busalik (re), farah faza (sol)
165 @tab nawa athar, hisar (re)
169 @tab mahur, yakah (sol)
177 You can also set the key signature using Staff.keySignature as discussed
178 in @ref{Key signature}. This offers more flexibility if you don't wish
179 to be limited to the key signatures that are defined in "arabic.ly", or if
180 you don't wish to use the above method of determining a key signature based
183 For example, you can set the key signature to do sharp, mi semi-flat, and
184 sol flat as follows :
186 @lilypond[quote,verbatim]
189 \set Staff.keySignature = #`( (0 . ,SHARP) (2 . ,SEMI-FLAT) (4 . ,FLAT) )
190 re misb fa solb la si dod re sisb la solb fa misb re
200 @rlearning{Accidentals and key signatures}.
203 @rinternals{KeySignature}.
205 @node Arabic time signatures
206 @unnumberedsubsubsec Arabic time signatures
208 @cindex Arabic time signatures
212 Some Arabic and Turkish music classical forms such as Semai use
213 unusual time signatures such as 10/8. This may lead to an
214 automatic grouping of notes that is quite different from existing
215 typeset music. You can override this by switching off automatic
216 beaming, and grouping the notes manually using @code{[ ]} to
217 surround grouped notes, as described in @ref{Manual beams}.
219 For improvisations or taqasim which are temporarily free, the time
220 signature can be omitted, and @code{\cadenzaOn} can be used.
221 You might need to adjust the accidental style, since the absence
222 of bar lines will cause the accidental to be marked only once:
225 #(set-accidental-style 'forget)
232 @ref{Automatic beams},
233 @ref{Unmetered music},
234 @ref{Automatic accidentals}.
236 @node References for Arabic music
237 @unnumberedsubsubsec References for arabic music
242 The music of the Arabs by Habib Hassan Touma [Amadeus Press, 1996],
243 contains a discussion of maqams and their method of groupings.
245 There are also various web sites that explain maqams and some
246 provide audio examples such as :
250 @uref{http://www.maqamworld.com/}
252 @uref{http://www.turath.org/}
255 There are some variations in the details of how maqams are grouped,
256 despite agreement on the criteria of grouping maqams that are
257 related through common lower tetra chords, or through modulation.
260 There is not a complete consistency, sometimes even in the same
261 text on how key signatures for particular maqams should be
262 specified. It is common, however, to use a key signature per
263 group, rather than a different key signature for each different
266 Oud methods by the following authors, contain examples of
267 mainly Turkish and Arabic compositions.
275 Ibrahim Ali Darwish Al-masri