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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 is
43 transcribed, it is usually in a sketch format, on which performers are
44 expected to improvise significantly. Increasingly, Western notation,
45 with a few variations, is adopted in order to communicate and
46 preserve Arabic music.
48 Some elements of Western musical notation such as the transcription
49 of chords or independent parts, are not required to typeset the more
50 traditional Arabic pieces. There are however some different issues,
51 such as the need to indicate medium intervals that are somewhere
52 between a semi-tone and a tone, in addition to the minor and major
53 intervals that are used in Western music. There is also the need to
54 group and indicate a large number of different maqams (modes) that
55 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.
61 @node Arabic note names
62 @unnumberedsubsubsec Arabic note names
64 @cindex Arabic note names
66 The more traditional Arabic note names can be quite long and are
67 not suitable for the purpose of music writing, so they are not
68 defined by the inclusion of "arabic.ly". English note names
69 @code{a, b, c, d, e, f, g} are not very familiar in Arabic music
70 education. Italian or Solfege note names @code{do, re, mi, fa,
71 sol, la, si} are more familiar, and are used when
72 @code{"arabic.ly"} is included. Modifiers can also be used, as
73 discussed in @ref{Note names in other languages}.
75 For example, this is how the Arabic @notation{rast} scale can be
78 @lilypond[quote,verbatim]
79 % TODO: commented out until arabic is included
82 % do re misb fa sol la sisb do sisb la sol fa misb re do
93 @ref{Note names in other languages}.
96 @node Arabic key signatures
97 @unnumberedsubsubsec Arabic key signatures
99 @cindex Arabic key signatures
101 In addition to the minor and major key signatures, the following
102 key signatures are defined in @code{"arabic.ly"}: bayati, rast,
103 sikah, iraq, and kurd. These key signatures define a small number
104 of maqam groups rather than the large number of maqams that are in
107 In general, a maqam uses the key signature of its group, or a
108 neighbouring group, and varying accidentals are marked throughout
111 For example to indicate the key signature of a maqam muhayer piece:
115 Here re is the default pitch of the muhayer maqam, and bayati is the
116 name of the base maqam in the group.
118 While the key signature indicates the group, it is
119 common for the title to indicate the more specific maqam, so in this
120 example, the name of maqam muhayer should appear in the title.
122 In Arabic music, the same term such as bayati that is used to indicate
123 a maqam group, is also a maqam which is usually the most important
124 in the group, and can also be thought of as a base maqam.
126 Here is one suggested grouping that maps the more common maqams to key
129 @multitable @columnfractions 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.6
130 @headitem maqam group
133 @tab Other maqmas in group (finalis)
141 @tab hussaini, muhayer, saba, ushaq, nawa (sol)
145 @tab shahnaz, shad arban (sol), hijazkar (do)
153 @tab hijazkar kurd (do)
157 @tab busalik (re), farah faza (sol)
161 @tab nawa athar, hisar (re)
165 @tab mahur, yakah (sol)
173 You can also set the key signature using Staff.keySignature as discussed
174 in @ref{Key signature}. This offers more flexibility if you don't wish
175 to be limited to the key signatures that are defined in "arabic.ly", or if
176 you don't wish to use the above method of determining a key signature based
179 For example, you can set the key signature to do sharp, mi semi-flat, and
180 sol flat as follows :
182 @lilypond[quote,verbatim]
183 % TODO: uncomment when arabic is added.
184 %\include "arabic.ly"
186 % \set Staff.keySignature = #`( (0 . ,SHARP) (2 . ,SEMI-FLAT) (4 . ,FLAT) )
189 % re misb fa solb la si dod re sisb la solb fa misb re
203 @rlearning{Accidentals and key signatures}.
206 @rinternals{KeySignature}.
208 @node Arabic time signatures
209 @unnumberedsubsubsec Arabic time signatures
211 @cindex Arabic time signatures
215 Some Arabic and Turkish music classical forms such as Semai use
216 unusual time signatures such as 10/8. This may lead to an
217 automatic grouping of notes that is quite different from existing
218 typeset music. You can override this by switching off automatic
219 beaming, and grouping the notes manually using @code{[ ]} to
220 surround grouped notes, as described in @ref{Manual beams}.
222 For improvisations or taqasim which are temporarily free, the time
223 signature can be omitted, and @code{\cadenzaOn} can be used.
224 You might need to adjust the accidental style, since the absence
225 of bar lines will cause the accidental to be marked only once:
228 #(set-accidental-style 'forget)
235 @ref{Automatic beams},
236 @ref{Unmetered music},
237 @ref{Automatic accidentals}.
239 @node References for Arabic music
240 @unnumberedsubsubsec References for arabic music
245 The music of the Arabs by Habib Hassan Touma [Amadeus Press, 1996],
246 contains a discussion of maqams and their method of groupings.
248 There are also various web sites that explain maqams and some
249 provide audio examples such as :
253 @uref{http://www.maqamworld.com/}
255 @uref{http://www.turath.org/}
258 There are some variations in the details of how maqams are grouped,
259 despite agreement on the criteria of grouping maqams that are
260 related through common lower tetra chords, or through modulation.
263 There is not a complete consistency, sometimes even in the same
264 text on how key signatures for particular maqams should be
265 specified. It is common, however, to use a key signature per
266 group, rather than a different key signature for each different
269 Oud methods by the following authors, contain examples of
270 mainly Turkish and Arabic compositions.
278 Ibrahim Ali Darwish Al-masri