A Comparative Exploration of Western and Turkish Music

Music is an integral part of all our lives, perhaps one of the oldest methods humans have used to express their emotions. From its origins in the human larynx, the journey of music has continued for millennia and continues to this day. Today, every culture has its own unique musical styles. In this video, we aim to explore the development and differences between Western classical and Turkish music at a basic level. Let us begin.

The Foundations of Western Music

In Western music, there are seven notes in an octave. These are the notes do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, and si, which we all learned in kindergarten. While Pythagoras is often credited with establishing the mathematical ratios underlying these seven notes, the origins of dividing the octave into seven parts actually predate him by a considerable margin. Legend has it that Pythagoras, while listening to a blacksmith forge iron, noticed that different lengths of metal produced different sounds. This metal can be thought of as a guitar string. The shorter and thinner the metal, the higher the resulting sound.

Pythagoras and his students discovered that strings with lengths in proportion to each other produced harmonious sounds. This led to the development of his music theory. While the story is appealing, it is somewhat incomplete. Recent research indicates that the ratios of string lengths were known in Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt at least 2000 years before Pythagoras. It appears that Pythagoras did not independently discover these ratios, but rather built upon existing practical knowledge from these civilizations. He refined this knowledge, formalized it into a theory, and used it to support his belief that the universe is composed of numbers.

Pythagoras believed that everything in the universe has a numerical equivalent, and that a person’s physical and mental health depends on the harmony between these numbers. He saw the entire universe, planets, and stars as a vast musical instrument, with each part tuned to the ratios found in earthly music. Pythagoras and his students laid the foundation for Greek music culture. In the Middle Ages, both the Western and Islamic worlds would draw upon Greek music theory, with each civilization developing its own musical systems through the contributions of its leading scholars.

The Development of Music in the Islamic World and Ottoman Empire

Turning to the East, we find a widespread musical culture that dominated much of Africa and Asia. During the Abbasid period, Muslims placed great importance on knowledge, drawing from various cultures, including Greek, and synthesizing them to build their own world of thought and science. This period is often referred to as the Islamic Golden Age. Musical studies flourished, and Muslims developed their own music theories. From the 9th to the 14th centuries, this musical structure rapidly developed and spread throughout the Islamic world. By the early 15th century, however, it began to lose its prominence. Various Muslim societies, including the Turks, Persians, and Arabs, began to develop their own unique musical structures. In the Ottoman Empire, the patronage of the arts by the sultans transformed Istanbul into a center for the construction of original Turkish music.

The Evolution of Musical Notation

In the West, the modern form of musical notation emerged in the 10th century through the work of Guido of Arezzo. Prior to this, rudimentary symbols were used to indicate pitch, but Guido laid the foundation for the notation system we use today. As a monk at the Abbey of Pomposa, Guido developed a system of notation while teaching music, using the initial syllables of the hymn to Saint John as the names for the notes. The hymn begins: “Ut queant laxis resonare fibris, Mira gestorum famuli tuorum, Solve polluti labii reatum, Sancte Iohannes.”

In Western music, a note and the note one octave higher share the same name. Half steps between whole tones are indicated by adding the words “sharp” or “flat” to the note name. For example, the black key between do and re can be called do sharp or re flat.

Turkish Music: Beyond the Western Scale

When we turn to Turkish music, it is more accurate to speak of “perdes” rather than notes, as they have long and poetic names. These include Kaba Çargah, Kaba Nim Hicaz, Kaba Hicaz, Kaba Dik Hicaz, Yegah, Kaba Nim Hisar, Kaba Hisar, Kaba Dik Hisar, Hüseyni Aşiran, Acema Aşiran, Dik Acema Aşiran, Irak, Geveşt, Dik Geveşt, Rast, Nim Zirgüle, Zirgüle, Dik Zirgüle, Dügah, Kürdî, Dik Kürdî, Segah, Buğselik, Dik Buğselik, Çargah, Nim Hicaz, Hicaz, Dik Hicaz, Nevah, Nim Hisar, Hisar, Dik Hisar, Hüseyni, Acema, Dik Acema, Evic, Mağur, Dik Mağur, Gerdaniye, Nim Şehnaz, Şehnaz, Dik Şehnaz, Muhayyer, Sümbüle, Dik Sümbüle, Tiz Segah, Tiz Buğselik, Tiz Dik Buğselik, Tiz Çargah, Tiz Nim Hicaz, Tiz Hicaz, and Tiz Dik Hicaz.

You may notice that while Western music has twelve notes in an octave, Turkish music can have more, depending on the specific makam. This is because Turkish music utilizes intervals that are not found in the Western scale. In Turkish music, the octave is divided into nine parts, creating these additional intervals.

Polyphony vs. Monophony

Let us now consider the concepts of polyphony and monophony. Polyphony, as the name suggests, involves the simultaneous playing of multiple harmonious sounds. Chords are a product of polyphony. For example, a C major chord consists of the notes C, E, and G. When played together, these notes create a pleasing and powerful sound. Monophony, on the other hand, involves the playing of sounds one at a time.

Western music, historically, has been largely based on monophony. In the early days of the church, hymns were sung in unison. As voices are not all the same pitch, some churches began to have hymns sung in parallel by women, children, and men. This practice spread throughout Europe, leading to the development of different schools of polyphony. This evolution led the West to strive to create a musical system that was best suited for polyphony, resulting in the development of the equal-tempered system.

This system consists of twelve equally spaced intervals, allowing for the creation of scales and chords. Different scales evoke different emotions. Major scales generally evoke feelings of joy and excitement, while minor scales evoke feelings of sadness and melancholy. Composers choose a scale based on the emotion they wish to convey. The equal-tempered system allows musicians to easily transition between scales without retuning their instruments, enabling the creation of long and complex musical narratives.

While the equal-tempered system has introduced a degree of artificiality to music, its benefits have outweighed the drawbacks. It has established a solid foundation for musical composition, allowing composers to create music with a high degree of control and predictability.

The Unique Characteristics of Turkish Music

In contrast, Turkish music is generally performed by a single musician playing an instrument. As Adnan Atalay notes, Turkish music culture is based on performance, while Western music culture is based on writing. The West has seen richness in polyphony and has strived to create a musical system that is best suited for it. You might wonder what happened to the notes beyond the twelve found in the Western scale. They have been omitted from the Western system, as they are not necessary for polyphony. However, they are essential to Turkish music.

The Role of Makams

The concept of “makam” is central to Turkish music. A makam can be roughly defined as a set of rules governing the use of notes. Just as a C major scale defines a set of notes, a Hicaz makam also defines a set of notes. And just as scales can evoke different emotions, so too can makams. However, the difference lies in the “seyir,” or the way the notes are played. There are three types of seyir: ascending, descending, and ascending-descending.

If you were to play a series of notes and ask a musician to identify the makam, they might not be able to do so. However, if you were to play a complete piece, they would be able to identify the makam as Uşşak, Isfehan, or Beyati, as these makams all use the same notes. Makams are formed by the combination of “dörtlü” and “beşli” note packets. The first note in a makam is the “tam karar,” and the point where the dörtlü and beşli combine is the “yarım karar.” The karar notes are the most frequently repeated notes in a piece, and the piece ends on the tam karar.

According to a study by Alirıza Avniye, there have been 593 makams invented throughout Turkish music history. Of these, around 300 have survived to the present day, with around 70-80 being commonly used. The large number of makams is due to the patronage of the sultans, who encouraged competition among artists.