Journal of Teaching and Education,

CD-ROM. ISSN: 2165-6266 :: 1(7):165–170 (2012)

Copyright c 2012 by UniversityPublications.net

MEùK: THE TRADITIONAL TEACHING SYSTEM OF TURKISH

MUSIC

Songül Karahasano÷lu
Istanbul Technical University, Turkey

Meúk is an education system of traditional music. Various genres are distinguished by

different structural nuances in lyrics, composition and the specifics of the instruments; they
have always influenced each other. Having very little difference in the makam, style and form,
these belong to the same musical culture whilst being performed in different environments.
Turkish music is a tradition that is several centuries old, an art that is practised in every part of
society and is created in military, religious, classical and folk styles by either palace or folk
musicians. All of them relied upon the master-apprenticeship system, the Meúk system, as the
main method of learning music. That is to say, in Turkish music Meúk is the name given to
general music education. Today, learning through Meúk is no longer the rule and traditional
music is learned through the use of western notations adapted to the Turkish music system.

Keywords: Meúk, Turkish music, Music education, Aúik music

Introduction

This article focuses on the meaning of Meúk and the condition of traditional music. Various
genres are distinguished by different structural nuances in lyrics, composition and the specifics
of the instruments; they have always influenced each other. Having very little difference in the
makam, style and form, these belong to the same musical culture whilst being performed in
different environments. Turkish music is a tradition that is several centuries old, an art that is
practised in every part of society and is created in military, religious, classical and folk styles by
either palace or folk musicians. All of them relied upon the master-apprenticeship system, the
Meúk system, as the main method of learning music. That is to say, in Turkish music Meúk is the
name given to general music education. Because of this these styles will be evaluated together.

Discussion

This music, both religious and non–religious, can be classified according to vocal and
instrumental music; the social milieus in which it is used (military music, religious music,
classical music, folk music); venues for performance (military events, the palace, the mosque,
brotherhood music, urban or rural environments, entertainment venues) and the style of the
performance (composed or improvised). The master-apprenticeship education is found in every
domain of Turkish music. Notation, while being a useful education tool is not a sufficient
medium for transmitting the nuances of the Turkish makam, which requires face to face
education in the form of meúk for a complete understanding.

165
166 Songül Karahasanoğlu

The intervals used in Turkish music are based on natural frequencies and the makam. The
makams are invariably characterized through the progression of intervals rather than the range of
notes. There are many long and short rhythmical combinations structured within the styles.
Apart from some of the military and religious genres, more importance is given to instrumental
or vocal solos, than to group performance. In solo performance, the vocal and instrumental
improvisations of the ghazal and taksim. For solo performance, one is obliged to be taught by a
master in the Meúk style, not following a score but through the memorized style (Tanrõkorur
2003, 86).
Turkey constitutes an important bridge between the east and the west, not only by virtue of
its geographic position, but also because of its historical and cultural background. What we call
Turkish music today is coloured and enriched by many cultures intermingling with one another
for centuries - old civilizations that lived in Anatolia, neighbouring ethnic and religious groups,
and the cultures of the Byzantine era, Arabia, Persia, the Mediterranean, and Balkan regions. The
introduction of the Islamic faith also brought new melodic components. Turkish people spread
to many continents during the periods of the sultans and the empires, taking the characteristics of
Turkish music to other lands and feeding into those cultures.
The master-apprenticeship education system is a very old tradition that is still used in
Central Asia. This education system is called Meúk in Turkey, a term the music world borrowed
from calligraphy. Its dictionary meaning is ‘writing sample’, ‘writing research’ or ‘sketching’
(Behar, 2003, 13). Islam has been a big factor in the development of the Meúk method in music;
the sacred book of Islam, the Holy Koran, is in Arabic and is itself read by the master-
apprenticeship method in Turkey (Gedik, 2005, 102). Bekir Sõtkõ Sezgin (1936-1996), well
recognized master of religious music who was taught with the Meúk system, says ‘music can
only be mastered through listening and watching’. To be able to learn the compositions one
needs to be facing the master and imitating him or her, watching out for where s/he stops and
where s/he breathes, and be corrected by the master when a mistake is made. The master-
apprenticeship method is also seen in traditional arts such as gilding, miniature, carpet,
calligraphy and marbled paper.
Meúk is a teaching and learning method in which one learns by imitating an example. It
requires repeating a work several times and in these repetitions imitating the master in every
particular, and in such a way, the musical work taught by the master is stored in the memory of
the student. In the Meúk of music the student learns instrumental technique, his teacher’s
performance style and interpretation, and the music itself, the repertoire of existing work.
Through musical Meúk, there is a sense of belonging by holding together the generations,
composers, and performance styles. Although the use of musical notation became widespread
after the beginning of the twentieth century, Meúk continued to be used as a social means to
disseminate aesthetic styles.
Meúk is a method that has a double function. While doing Meúk, both the learning of the
musical repertoire and performance style is achieved simultaneously. Meúk transfers the both the
training method and repertoire to the next generations. It is impossible to learn the music
without memorization, starting from the forms, makam, composition forms, and composition
techniques. “While memorizing the repertoire these practical data are naturally transferred with
the work” (Behar 2003, 130).
Transmission by the Meúk method has been present in Turkic folk and art music for
centuries. There have been “folk poets, [considered] counsellor[s] for society’s common feelings
in the Turkish communities who lived in Horasan in Central Asia [even] before Islam,” records
of which are extant from the 5th century (Hoúsu 1997:9). The role of the Saz (long-neck lute)
 MEŞK: The Traditional Teaching System of Turkish Music 167

playing Aúõk (folk poet), has played a large part in the survival of folk music for centuries.
Through the aural training of the master-apprenticeship method folk music has been studied and
kept alive. Alongside this we can find some written documents, especially from the last three
centuries of the Ottoman period. The most extensive resources for folk music can be found in
Aúõk art, which although in existence before the Ottoman period has survived intact in its original
form; it thus provides information about the time of origin of some of the works.
The most important factor in the Aúõk tradition is coaching the apprentices.

“The poets in the folk tradition who read poetry with or without the accompaniment of the Saz,
through improvisation, through the pen (with writing) or with sticking to characteristics of the
tradition, are called Aúõk and all the rules that orient the Aúõk is called the tradition of being a
Aúõk.” (Artun 2001: 63)

The one who wants to become an Aúõk declares his or her intention through coming to the places
where the Aúõks meet and is first accepted as an apprentice. He starts by imitating the master’s
Saz and words and if s/he is able to display talent is accepted as an apprentice, and when he
improves this talent more he is accepted as a true Aúõk1.

“The Aúõk tradition does not just rely on playing and rhyming; it is a work that has to be taught by
a master. Coaching the apprentice is a tradition as in the old traditions of the organizations of
artisans formed in Anatolia. Amongst the Aúõk, coaching the apprentice is a tradition. […] The
master adopts the young person who is talented in Saz and prose as an apprentice and has him by
his side, takes him around with him. The apprentice, after his master’s death, starts the poetry
with his master’s words in councils and communions and follows him and keeps his legacy and
his name vital. This is called “to take service”.’ (Artun 2001: 64)

‘In the Aúõk tradition the master’s property is used in music and rhyming poetry. The Aúõks
perform both their own poetry and their master’s poetry according to ready patterns of melody.
The only way a committed apprentice can learn from his master is by memorizing the poetry and
observing. He or she does not just learn to speak rhyming words, but also he learns the delicacy
of combining the rhymes with the melody. [...] The master’s property includes assorted rhyme
movements and melodies.’ (ùenel 1991: 553)

“In music Meúk is the act of teaching by the master and learning by the student through playing
and reading the musical piece gradually. In Turkish music when a score is not used the
importance of Meúk is obvious. The homes of Meúk have included the masters’ homes, the
Mevlevihane, and other brotherhoods, specific music offices in the palaces and, before these, the
musical homes Enderun-i Humayun in Ottoman palaces, and homes of the military janissary.
Some masters continue Meúk in the form of a chain. In this manner some styles are kept through
centuries; with memorization musical pieces are protected from being forgotten, and transmitted
from one generation to the other.” (Öztuna 1990: 47)

Musical schools are constituted of masters, who choose and imitate works of previous great
masters according to their own taste. Another issue in Meúk is the places where it is practised.
In the Ottoman Empire, musical education took place in Mevlevi homes, Brotherhoods, Janissary
homes, Enderun, and private Meúk homes, Aúõk coffee houses, and Dergahs (lodges). In Mevlevi
homes music and music education has been valued; during zikir the sema is accompanied by
music. A similar situation is seen with the Bektaúis in their Dergahs. As the main education

1
There are still a few female aúiks performers in Turkey although they are rare.
168 Songül Karahasanoğlu

music school, Enderun was the most important place in the Ottoman palace. Meúk has been the
main music education method in this institution just as in the Janissary meeting places that
closed with the Mehter homes.
Mehter (Janissary) music represents a link between folk music and art music. Much
Janissary music was lost after the Janissary homes were closed. Up until 1826, folk music works
like ‘Türkü,’ ‘Ezgi,’ and ‘Kalenderi’ were in Janissary repertoires, although after the closure of
the janissary homes, much of their music was lost (Sanal 1981, 8). Only two scores survived
from the era prior to the homes’ closure; the tunes performed today were composed after this
(Inançer 2006).
Masters’ homes or music lovers’ homes are the places where solo or collective musical
Meúk is made. The importance of Meúk homes and Mevlevi homes is significant in the
continuation of Meúk education. Although Meúk has a very important place in Turkish music
performance, it also had its disadvantages. Many pieces were lost because the music was not
preserved and written down in scores. Today when we look back on scores that have been
discovered, even though small in number, they are a huge resource for us. Meúk is considered as
the principal resource in music today but other useful resources include Leh Santuri Ali Ufki’s
(also known as Albertus Bobowius) Mecmua-i Saz ü Söz (1650), which was the first collection of
Turkish scores. Ali Ufki’s work is particularly fascinating because he adopted staff notation to
the literary necessities of the Ottoman-Turkish, inverting the flow of the score so that it was read
from right to left. The Mecmua-i Saz ü Söz included aurally transmitted folk songs as well as
many musical pieces from the 15th century still extant in his era, preserved by writing. Another
important resource is that of the Romanian prince Kantemiro÷lu, or Demetrius Cantemir (1673-
1723). In his Kitab ilmü'l-musõki ala vechi'l-hurufat (Knowledge of Music and the
Representation of Sounds through Letters), he wrote 350 instrumental pieces in an alphabetical
notation, known in Turkish as ebced notation.
In 1826 the only military band Mehterhane which played janissary music was abolished and
Musika-i Humayun, which used western music, established2. A turning point came in 1828, with
the appointment of Giuseppe Donizetti (1788-1856) as the chief conductor of the court. This
brought Turkish music under Western influence and Western instruments and forms were used in
Turkish music in this period. Donizetti founded a Western-style orchestra and introduced
Western notation; division between Western and Turkish music began to develop in Istanbul.
The old letter notation invented by the Armenian Church musician, Hamparsum Limonciyan
(1768-1839), in which 360 mostly religious melodies had been recorded, became superfluous,
although traditional musicians continued to use the old notation for a while. In the following
years the western score system became widespread, although it was not still accepted by some
traditional musicians. It also achieved greater importance in the teaching of music.
The westernization and modernization instituted by the Ottomans in the 19th century affected
the Ottomans first socially and culturally, and then the Turkish Republic. But with the approval
of the Republic, the transition was made from the multicultural government policy of the
Ottoman period, to a national unified state policy based on a single culture. The foundation of the
Turkish Republic was the characteristic event of the twentieth century and this naturally had an
effect on music. Music in Turkey followed the ‘Turkey-specific’ way as was evidenced in almost
every sociological phenomenon and the fine arts. In the 1920s Atatürk incorporated the
suggestions of the social theorist Ziya Gökalp, who believed that in order to create a new

2
That time Sultan Mahmut II initiated a serious of modernizations reforms, among which was the restructuring of
the military and replacement of the older Mehterhane with the western European military band.
 MEŞK: The Traditional Teaching System of Turkish Music 169

national culture one must ‘tap the roots of unspoiled Turkish folk culture’, particularly the folk
music of the rural villages of Turkey. With the approval of the Republic, the country searched for
a culture beyond the refuted forms of Ottoman palace music. Instead of polyphonic Turkish Art
music based on classical music, structures were formed using folk music elements in order to
establish a national music.
As a result of the cultural policies of the Republic, the collection and study of folk music
began. From the 1940s the collected works began to be broadcast by the Turkish Radio and
Television Corporation (TRT). Media reproduction of rural folk music was shaped by the
Yurttan Sesler choir ('Voices from the Homeland') at Turkish Radio, which reformulated this
collected material for performance by large choirs and orchestras. This choir had a major impact
on musical life in the country. Turkish folk music, which had its identity changed by this
performance style, neglected folk poets and musicians and gave more importance to their
imitators. In the first years of this folk music the Aúõks and real artists were not considered as
important as they are now, and in urban born folk music artists prospered in large cities. This
changed the form of music creation; folk music was performed as a static form that cannot be
changed, rather than a dynamic oral tradition. Some compilations and records were important in
the protection of these works, yet many only sung from the score note by note, misrepresenting
the nature of the music.
The most important characteristic of traditional folk music is that it is an oral tradition that
spreads teacher to pupil, face to face. It is not learned from written scores. Learnt through Meúk,
it is specifically not composed, but carried on through the master-apprentice learning tradition.
Artists created other folk artists, and moreover people who did not have an institutional musical
education created the musical works. These characteristics are not features of today’s performed
folk music. The authentic performance and creation of traditional folk music involving folk
artists and Aúõks has become very weak. The folk tradition has been re-designed with new styles,
like the chorus, that are not present in the tradition.
Transformations of the Ottoman/Turkish Music become more marked in the period of the
Republic, as more populist approaches were made. Following the establishment of the Republic
in 1923, borders between religion and state were definitively drawn in 1924, and in 1925 Sufi
brotherhoods were abolished. Although related laws concerning the closing of dervish lodges
and brotherhoods were made for political reasons, they caused the disappearance of the music
practice of the brotherhoods, which had held a prominent place in traditional religious music.
This music’s style took its shape from information transferred during the individual relations of
the master and apprentice, and it is not possible to say that this tradition almost disappeared.
Turkish Music was censured from Turkish radio stations for eighteen months by the
government. After years of prohibition, a choir was established which performed traditional
tunes in a non-traditional way. After the Second World War, this new form of Turkish music
deeply influenced urban culture. Within the same time period, gazino (night club) culture
became popular. In these years, the makams closest to western music scales were in use. In spite
of the rich variety of makams, contemporary composers of the new generation tended to use a
limited number of makams such as kürdi, nihavent, hicaz, rast, uúúak and hüzzam. Light Turkish
art music, known as Fantasy Music, took precedence over the song form in the 1940s, and
formed the basis for the mixed popular music which is dominant today.
In the first years of the Republic, the government excluded Ottoman/Turkish music, and this
made its mark both on music appreciation and the creation of cosmopolitan music. In spite of
170 Songül Karahasanoğlu

the Republic’s musical policy3, traditional music began to come to the forefront, even in a
deformed shape. Composers and performers, who are generally hafõz (men who learned the
Koran by heart, and traditional figure in brotherhood culture), had to make piyasa (popular)
music in order to earn money. They led movements towards ‘free performance’ from the 1950s,
which led to the ‘free performance’ of Ottoman/Turkish music merged with popular song and
composition. The song form, which is thought to be a simple form in Ottoman/Turkish music,
gained popularity as entertainment music. The classical style of Ottoman/Turkish music was
alienated; melodies became simple and individual musical interpretation came to the forefront.
Meúk had almost disappeared.
Today’s widespread application of new interpretations has caused serious damage to our
music. Incorrect performance, learning based on the score, and the departure of musical
performance and education from the tradition has created many problems with the general
characteristics of Turkish music. Another issue is this music (apart from the army, brotherhood
and entertainment applications) was not designed to be performed in an ensemble and especially
had never been performed with a chorus.
Today, learning through Meúk is no longer the rule and traditional music is learned through
the use of western notations adapted to the Turkish music system. As this does not abide by the
dynamics of the Turkish music system, sometimes there is a difference between the written score
and the music that is played, and the score merely conveys an outline. People who are still
carrying on the traditional performance style definitely do benefit from the Meúk system,
although it is not very common and is only apparent in certain isolated circles.

References

1. E. Artun (2001) : Âúõklõk Gelene÷i ve Âúõk Edebiyatõ, Akça÷ Yayõnlarõ, Ankara.

2. C. Behar (2003) : Aúk Olayõnca Meúk Olmaz, Yapõ Kredi Yayõnlarõ, østanbul.
3. G. Gedik (2005) : Bekir Sõtkõ Sezgin, Dini Musiki ve Meúk Usulü, Musikiúinas, Bo÷aziçi Matbaasõ,
Volume:7, østanbul, pp. 100–104.
4. M. Hoúsu (1997) : Türk Halk Müzi÷i Nazariyatõ. Peker Yayõmcõlõk, øzmir.
5. T. Inançer (2006) : Personal communication, østanbul.
6. S. Karahasano÷lu (2000) : ‘Osmanlõ Dönemi Halk Müzi÷i Örneklerine Bir Bakõú’, ‘Osmanlõ’ Volume: 10,
Yeni Türkiye Yayõnlarõ, Ankara, pp.735-738.
7. Y. Öztuna (1990) Büyük Türk Musikisi Ansiklopedisi, Volume; 2, Kültür Bakanlõ÷õ Yayõnevi, Ankara.
8. H. Sanal (1981): Yaúayan Mehter, Kök, Volume: 5–6, østanbul.
9. S. ùenel (1991) Âúõk Musikisi, øslam Ansiklopedisi, Volume:3, Türkiye Diyanet Vakfõ Yayõnlarõ, østanbul.
10. C. Tanrõkorur (2003) Osmanlõ Dönemi Türk Musikisi, Dergah Yayõnlarõ, østanbul.
11. O. Tekelio÷lu (1996) “The Rise of a Spontaneous Syntheses: The Historical Background of Turkish Popular
Music”, Middle Eastern Studies, 32/2, 194-216.

3 The foundation of the Turkish Republic is the characteristic event of this century and naturally affected the music. Music in
Turkey has followed its “Turkey-specific” way as evidence in almost every sociological phenomenon and the fine arts.
Polyphonic Turkish Art music based on classical music structures were changed by using folk music elements in order to
establish a national music “this obligatory east-west synthesis has had its stamp on all the cultural and art policies of the Turkish
Republic for the subsequent years” (Tekelio÷lu 1996, p. 194).