Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
academia.edu, cilt.1, sa.1, ss.1-83, 2025 (Hakemsiz Dergi)
TURKISH MAKAM THEORY FOR ABLETON LIVE 12 (cf. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZfWiQK0yB0&lc=Ugy1y6Fed_yWpIvMk2x4AaABAg) Ozan Yarman (September 2024; revised in October 2025) With analytical commentary from Esra Berkman (as translated to English based on her Turkish by the author)
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<Yarman24cc.ascl & Yarman31cc.ascl>
There are different ways in which Turkish Makamlar (Makams) can be represented with the Scala file format. Widespread opinion is to think in terms of dividing the octave into 53 equidistant portions called “Holderian commas” and extracting subsets therefrom, notwithstanding the actual (and as yet generally unacknowledged) practice of affixing “mandals” (metallic levers) on Turkish Qanuns that basically results in multiples of 12-tone Equal Temperament (tET), such as 72-tET. The representation here is developed from my research and practice (cf. https://www.ozanyarman.com/24tonemakampiano.html), where I espouse my Yarman-24/31cc scheme as a more amenable barebones solution to authentic execution, which is also in keeping with the established Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek (AEU) accidental palette nomenclature (where I propose to use all of the AEU accidentals on every natural note to arrive at a maximum of 31 tones, but also advocate my reduced 24-tone cast for ease of use). That is to say, Yarman-24/31cc is an irregular mapping scheme that better reflects the general historical positioning of “perdeler” (“perdes”: tones or notes) in the makam pitch space compared to the AEU 24-tone Pythagorean tuning system and via using the same accidentals arsenal. Almost each note (called “perde”) in Classical Turkish music can have several alternative pitch intonations to choose from. The specific pitch that is to be executed depends on the “seyir” (thematic flow) and which specific makam or genus is being referred to in the composition. That is to say, the seyir of the makam requires the inflexion of the given perdeler depending on the ascent or descent of the melodic line in respect to the borrowed genus or the whole or a portion of another makam. My said master tuning strategem incorporates some of the critical features of the aforementioned perde idiom in the historical sense, such as, say, the variegation of “perde segah” into segments such as “segahçe” (my own innovation; with segahche meaning “little segah”), “segah” (i.e., the original “Ottoman segah” about a comma below the schismatically 5-limit Just Intonation compliant “Arelian segah”) and “uşşak” (transliterated as ushshaq; which is at least a quarter-tone down from the reference natural note that, essentially, is the III. diatonic degree of the trichordal genus by the same name); the restoration of “buselik/rehavi-i atik” and “rehavi | gevaşt (gevasht) /mahur” to their rightful 5-limit JI (Just Intonation) counterparts (unlike the unpropitious mapping of traditional perdeler to the 24-tone Pythagorean tuning system); and the appropriate differentiation of, say, “perde saba” from “perde bestenigar” and “perde arazbar” from “perde eviç” (ewidj).
<O t h e r f i l e s>
The detailed version of a makam scale features all the relevant pitches
to lay out a makam in necessary intonational detail, while the
simplified version of the same makam scale incorporates the "makam
proper", which is otherwise the barebones semblance that hints at the
makam (although somewhat incompletely). In other words, the
detailed.ascl files display the full scope of the makam, while the
simplified.ascl files are good enough skeletal caricatures.
With respect to my compositional examples, chordal support under each
melodic progression was added according to my own taste in order to
deliver a perspective as to how makam polyphony should be realized,
which is arguably in keeping with the futuristic direction of tradition.
That is to say, I extrapolated the "hidden" harmony that underlies the
makams given a proper thematic flow that establishes the full extent of
the makam.