The course examines the musical elements that form the theoretical framework for the reception and analysis of Greek traditional music. The most important chapters (or thematic areas) are indicated:

  1. Musical systems of the Eastern Mediterranean
  2. Historical chords: Natural (Ptolemaic) and Pythagorean
  3. The overlapping of strings in today’s practice
  4. Systems of 53 and 72 parts (theoretical basis of Turkish and Byzantine music) and their correlation with the historical chords and the equal temperament
  5. Basic genders and musical notation
  6. Basic scales/ macams/ sounds
  7. Tone maps of transitions in the basic scales
  8. Musical form and tonal contrasts
  9. Harmonization practices – correlation with urban popular music and the techniques of neo-tonality
  10. Analysis of a recorded piece of Greek traditional music
  11. Writing of analysis paper and literature review

 

Recommended literature

Andrikos, N. (2018). The Folk Roads in Interwar Urban Song: Drawing Folk Tropical Theory. Athens: Place

Aydemir, M. (2012) The Turkish Makam Guide (S. Kompotiati, Trans.). Athens: Fagottobooks

Belaiev, V. & Pring, S.W. (1935). “Turkish Music”, The Musical Quarterly, 21 (3), 356-367

Bozkurt, B., Yarman, O., Karaosmanoğlu, M.K. & Akkoç, C. (2009) Weighing Diverse Theoretical Models of Turkish Maqam Music Against Pitch Measurements: A Comparison of Peaks Automatically Derived from Frequency Histograms with Proposed Scale Tones, Journal of New Music Research, 38 (1), 45-70

D’ Erlanger, R. (1930-49) La Musique Arabe, Paris: Geuthner

During, J. & Mirabdholbaghi, Z. (1991) The Art of Persian Music, Washington: Mage

Elsner, J. & Pennanen, R.P. (Eds) (1997) The Structure and Idea of Maqam. Tampere: Tampere University

Farhat, H. (1990) TheDastgāhConcept in Persian Music, New York: Cambridge University Press.

Farraj, J. & Shumays S. A. (2019) Inside Arabic Music: Arabic Maqam Performance and Theory in the 20th Century New York: Oxford University Press

Fracile, N. (2003). The “Aksak” Rhythm, a Distinctive Feature of the Balkan Folklore, Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 44 (1/2), 197-210

Hall, R.W. (2009) Geometric Models for Modulation in Arabic Music, Philadelphia: Saint Joseph’s University.

Manuel, P. (1989). Modal Harmony in Andalusian, Eastern European, and Turkish Syncretic Musics, Yearbook for Traditional Music, 21, 70-94

Marcus, S.L. (1989) Arab Theory in the Modern Period (Doctoral Dissertation). Los Angeles: University of California

____(1992). Modulation in Arab Music: Documenting Oral Concepts, Performance Rules and Strategies, Ethnomusicology, 36 (2), 171-195

____(2007). Music in Egypt: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York: Oxford University Press.

Mavroidis, M. (1999). Musical Modes in the Eastern Mediterranean. Athens.

Mikosch, T. (2017) Makamlar: The Musical Scales of Turkey, Lulu Press (self-publication of the writer)

Muallem, D. (2010) The Maqam Book: A Doorway to Arab Scales and Modes, Kfar Sava, Israel: OR-TAV Music Publications

Mystakidis, D. (2013). Folk Guitar – Modality and Harmonization. Thessaloniki: Prigipessa

Nettl, B. & Riddle, R. (1973). Taqsim Nahawand: A Study of Sixteen Performances by Jihad Racy, Yearbook of the International Folk Music Council, 5, 11-50

Öztürk, O.M. (2018) How Was the Traditional Makam Theory Westernized for the Sake of Modernization?, RastMüzikolojiDergisi, 6 ( 1) 1769-1787

Pennanen, R.P. (1997). The Development of Chordal Harmony in Greek Rebetika and Laika Music, 1930s to 1960s, British Journal of Ethnomusicology, 6, 65-116

____(2008). Lost in Scales: Balkan Folk Music Research and the Ottoman Legacy, Musicology, 8, 127-147

Pyrgiotis, D. (2006). Harmony in Action (vol. 2). Athens: Fagottobooks

____(2004). Thesaurus of Music Scales. Athens.

Samson, J. (2013) Music in the Balkans, Leiden: Brill

Shumays, A.A. (2013). Maqam Analysis: A Primer, Music Theory Spectrum, 35 (2), 235-255

Signell, K.L. (1977) Makam: Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music, Seattle: Asian Music Publications.

____(2001). Contemporary Turkish Makam Practice. In V. Danielson, D. Reynolds & S. Marcus (Eds): The Middle East (Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Vol. 6). New York: Routledge

Simms, R. (2004) The Repertoire of Iraqi Maqamat, Lanham: Scarecrow Press.

Skoulios, M. (2014). “The Eastern Makam and the “correct” Rast way”, Polyphony, 25, 103-126

Spector, J. (1970). Classical Ud Music in Egypt with Special Reference to Maqamat, Ethnomusicology, 14 (2), 243-257

Touma, H. (1971). The Maqam Phenomenon: An Improvisation Technique in the Music of the Middle East, Ethnomusicology, 15, 38-45

____(1995). The Music of the Arabs (new expanded edition). Portland (OR): Amadeus Press

Voulgaris, E. & Vandarakis, V. (2006). Urban Popular Song in interwar Greece: Smyrnaika and Piraeotika 1922-1940. Athens: Fagottobooks & T.E.I. Hpeirou.

Wright, O. (1978) The Modal System of Arab and Persian Music, London: Oxford University Press

Yekta, R. (1922). La Musique Turque. Nous reproduisons, en 4 parties, l’intégralité de son article conacre à la musique turque et publié en Français en 1922. https://www.turquie-culture.fr/pages/arts/musique- turque/yekta-rauf-la-musique-turque-1922-1.html

Yöre, S. (2012). Maqam in Music as a Concept, Scale and Phenomenon, Journal oftheWorld ofTurks, 4 (3), 267-286

Zannos, I. (1990). Intonation in Theory and Practice of Greek and Turkish Music, Yearbook for Traditional Music, 22, 42-59