The long-standing conflict between the “Arel-Ezgi- Uzdilek” System and Turkish maqam music practice had been established through computer analyses of audio recordings by master musicians such as Neyzen Niyazi Sayın and Tanburi Necdet Yas¸ar. Results in- controvertibly manifest the delibarate employment of multifarious “middle second” intervals peculiar to the genre, yet, evaded by the current model. These “middle seconds” are roughly expressible as 2/3, 3/4, and 4/5 tones, and often referred to by the protago- nists of the Music Reformation in Türkiye during the early 20th century as “quarter-tones”. While the frequency ratios of the Pythagorean theory in effect are naturally limited by prime 3, the “middle sec- onds” observed in performance and dubbed “mücen- neb bölgesi” (the mujannab zone) by Yalçın Tura require the employment of superparticular simple- integer ratios whose numerators or denominators are mathematically constrained by as high a prime as 13. Here, prime-limit denotes the mathematical con- straint by the highest prime in the factorization of both the numerator and denominator of a given fre- quency ratio for any set of intervals in a Just Intona- tion system.

A portion of this article has been devoted to the inves- tigation of the effect of beat rates on the perception of middle seconds, since it is assumed by Ayhan Zeren, who is a major proponent of the “Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek” System today, that these intervals are deviations caused by the confusion arising from the miscalcula- tion of beat frequencies in the human ear. It has been shown, that such is not the case, and that, simple- integer ratios which may account for the executed “middle seconds” will produce no audible psycho- acoustic beat frequencies at any given diapason. We debunk the current model for falling short of accomo- dating played intervals, and show that, the 24 tone Pythagorean tuning used in notation and music edu- cation embodies only five 2/3 tones and two 3/4 tones between uncommon, hence, unrecognized tone pairs – that is to say, at untraversed and inconvenient loca- tions – rendering it a model far from representing actual practice.

It is maintained that non-conformance arose, because the 24-tone Pythagorean theory in effect was specifi- cally engendered by what may be properly named the

“Yekta-Arel-Ezgi School” to ward off “quarter- tones” which allegedly affliated the maqam music heritage with Byzantine & Arabs. It may be said that the “Yekta-Arel-Ezgi School” condoned alienating theory to practice in an effort to save the genre from the anticipated disfavour of the new regime.

We predicate furthermore, that historical and con- temporary alternatives such as the 17-tone Abjad Scale, late-Ottoman Phonetic Notations like Kantemir, Osman Dede, Hamparsum, Harutin, Ara- bic 24-tone Scales, Oransay’s 29-tone Tuning, and Karadeniz’s 41-tone subset out of 106 equal divisions of the octave cannot favourably reflect the plethora of microtones observed in performance, either. The fact that metallic levers on qanuns called “mandals”, which are manipulated by the executant on the fly to alter the lengths of the courses, are affixed by qanun- makers on these instruments in such a way as to yield 72 equal divisions of the octave due to the common usage of standard electronic tuners imported from overseas, is proof that the widespread 53 equal com- mas to the octave methodology is most likely confined to paper, and that, a higher resolution is demanded by performers of Turkish maqam music.

Since 53-tone equal temperament does not appear to be applied to qanuns, and dividing the octave into 72 parts is none other than the sixfold elaboration of twelve equal steps per octave methodology of Western music, it henceforth becomes a necessity to devise a tuning which is more compatible with Turkish maqam music tradition.

On such grounds, a novel 79-tone tuning has been developed and implemented on a unique custom- made qanun by the first author. This one-of-a-kind Turkish qanun was manufactured by Ejder Güleç in 2005, a renown instrument maker in Izmir, and ac- claimed by music circles at various occasions. This tuning, with its complementary Sagittal microtonal notation designed by George Secor and David Keenan, is defended as a solution to overcome per- sisting issues regarding the accurate representation and consistent understanding of maqamat. With the employment of only three microtonal accidentals in addition to ordinary sharps and flats, it becomes pos- sible to express subtle nuances of pitch in maqam music in accordance with electroacousically meas- ured intervals.