1 @c -*- coding: utf-8; mode: texinfo; -*-
3 Translation of GIT committish: FILL-IN-HEAD-COMMITTISH
5 When revising a translation, copy the HEAD committish of the
6 version that you are working on. See TRANSLATION for details.
14 The purpose of this section is to highlight musical notation issues
15 that are relevant to traditions outside the Western tradition.
22 @subsection Arabic music
24 This section highlights issues that are relevant to notating Arabic
28 * References for Arabic music::
29 * Arabic note names ::
30 * Arabic key signatures::
31 * Arabic time signatures::
36 @node References for Arabic music
37 @unnumberedsubsubsec References for Arabic music
40 @cindex medium intervals
44 Arabic music so far has been mainly an oral tradition. When music
45 is transcribed, it is usually in a sketch format, on which
46 performers are expected to improvise significantly. Increasingly,
47 Western notation, with a few variations, is adopted in order to
48 communicate and preserve Arabic music.
50 Some elements of Western musical notation such as the
51 transcription of chords or independent parts, are not required to
52 typeset the more traditional Arabic pieces. There are however
53 some different issues, such as the need to indicate medium
54 intervals that are somewhere between a semi-tone and a tone, in
55 addition to the minor and major intervals that are used in Western
56 music. There is also the need to group and indicate a large
57 number of different maqams (modes) that are part of Arabic music.
59 In general, Arabic music notation does not attempt to precisely
60 indicate microtonal elements that are present in musical practice.
62 Several issues that are relevant to Arabic music are covered
66 @item Note names and accidentals (including quarter tones) can be
67 tailored as discussed in @ref{Note names in other languages}.
69 @item Additional key signatures can also be tailored as described
70 in @ref{Key signature}.
72 @item Complex time signatures may require that notes be grouped
73 manually as described in @ref{Manual beams}.
80 @ref{Note names in other languages},
88 @node Arabic note names
89 @unnumberedsubsubsec Arabic note names
92 @cindex Arabic note names
94 The more traditional Arabic note names can be quite long and are
95 not suitable for the purpose of music writing, so they are not
96 used. English note names are not very familiar in Arabic music
97 education, so Italian or Solfege note names (@code{do, re, mi, fa,
98 sol, la, si}) are used instead. Modifiers (accidentals) can also
99 be used, as discussed in @ref{Note names in other languages}.
101 For example, this is how the Arabic @notation{rast} scale can be
104 @lilypond[quote,verbatim]
107 do re misb fa sol la sisb do sisb la sol fa misb re do
115 @ref{Note names in other languages}.
121 @node Arabic key signatures
122 @unnumberedsubsubsec Arabic key signatures
124 @cindex Arabic key signatures
126 In addition to the minor and major key signatures, the following
127 key signatures are defined in @code{arabic.ly}: @notation{bayati},
128 @notation{rast}, @notation{sikah}, @notation{iraq}, and
129 @notation{kurd}. These key signatures define a small number of
130 maqam groups rather than the large number of maqams that are in
133 In general, a maqam uses the key signature of its group, or a
134 neighbouring group, and varying accidentals are marked throughout
137 For example to indicate the key signature of a maqam muhayer piece:
143 Here @var{re} is the default pitch of the muhayer maqam, and
144 @var{bayati} is the name of the base maqam in the group.
146 While the key signature indicates the group, it is common for the
147 title to indicate the more specific maqam, so in this example, the
148 name of maqam muhayer should appear in the title.
150 @c FIXME: what group? bayati?
151 @c FIXME: the list is hard to read. Either end the sentence with
152 @c the list, or put it in parentheses, or something.
153 Other maqams in the same group, as shown in the table below:
154 bayati, hussaini, saba, and ushaq can be indicated in the same
155 way. These are all variations of the base and most common maqam
156 in the group, which is bayati. They usually differ from the base
157 maqam in their upper tetrachords, or certain flow details that
158 don't change their fundamental nature, as related siblings.
160 The other maqam in the same group (Nawa) is related to bayati by
161 modulation which is indicated in the table in parenthesis for
162 those maqams that are modulations of their base maqam. Arabic
163 maqams admit of only limited modulations, due to the nature of
164 Arabic musical instruments. Nawa can be indicated as follows:
170 In Arabic music, the same term such as bayati that is used to
171 indicate a maqam group, is also a maqam which is usually the most
172 important in the group, and can also be thought of as a base
175 Here is one suggested grouping that maps the more common maqams to
178 @multitable @columnfractions 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.6
179 @headitem maqam group
182 @tab Other maqmas in group (finalis)
190 @tab hussaini, muhayer, saba, ushaq, nawa (sol)
194 @tab shahnaz, shad arban (sol), hijazkar (do)
202 @tab hijazkar kurd (do)
206 @tab busalik (re), farah faza (sol)
210 @tab nawa athar, hisar (re)
214 @tab mahur, yakah (sol)
223 @lilypondfile[verbatim,lilyquote,texidoc,doctitle]
224 {non-traditional-key-signatures.ly}
233 @rlearning{Accidentals and key signatures}.
236 @rinternals{KeySignature}.
243 @node Arabic time signatures
244 @unnumberedsubsubsec Arabic time signatures
246 @cindex Arabic time signatures
250 @c FIXME why not just adjust the automatic beaming?
251 Some Arabic and Turkish music classical forms such as Semai use
252 unusual time signatures such as 10/8. This may lead to an
253 automatic grouping of notes that is quite different from existing
254 typeset music. You can override this by switching off automatic
255 beaming, and grouping the notes manually using @code{[ ]} to
256 surround grouped notes, as described in @ref{Manual beams}.
258 For improvisations or taqasim which are temporarily free, the time
259 signature can be omitted, and @code{\cadenzaOn} can be used.
260 You might need to adjust the accidental style, since the absence
261 of bar lines will cause the accidental to be marked only once:
264 #(set-accidental-style 'forget)
271 @ref{Automatic beams},
272 @ref{Unmetered music},
273 @ref{Automatic accidentals}.
278 @node Further reading
279 @unnumberedsubsubsec Further reading
284 The music of the Arabs by Habib Hassan Touma [Amadeus Press, 1996],
285 contains a discussion of maqams and their method of groupings.
287 There are also various web sites that explain maqams and some
288 provide audio examples such as :
292 @uref{http://www.maqamworld.com/}
294 @uref{http://www.turath.org/}
297 There are some variations in the details of how maqams are grouped,
298 despite agreement on the criteria of grouping maqams that are
299 related through common lower tetra chords, or through modulation.
302 There is not a complete consistency, sometimes even in the same
303 text on how key signatures for particular maqams should be
304 specified. It is common, however, to use a key signature per
305 group, rather than a different key signature for each different
308 Oud methods by the following authors, contain examples of
309 mainly Turkish and Arabic compositions.
317 Ibrahim Ali Darwish Al-masri