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    Marcus Bayati

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    The Eastern Arab System of Melodic Modes in Theory and Practice: A Case Study of Maqam Bayyatt Scott Marcus Learning about the Modes ‘Modern Arab Music Theory: An Introduction ‘Tho Modes in Practice: The Case of Magdm Bayyait ‘The Number of Magémat in Modern Arab Music (Changes in Magdm Concoptualization Over Time In broad terms, the entire area of the masbrig—the Arab countries of the eastern Mediterranean—shares a melodic modal systenr that is distinct from the modal t- ditions of North Affica, Iraq, and the Arabian Peninsula. While moments of polyph- ‘ony occur on rare occasions, the melodic aspect of astern Arb music is overwhelmingly monophonic (that is, only one melodic line occurs at a time) or hererophonic (that is, differene instruments simultaneously presene slightly different renditions of the same melodic line). This is crue whether a performance is by one person, a small group of thee to five of more musicians (called a tabby), or an orchestra of more than twenty members (called a firga). The melodies of eastern Arab music ate governed by a system of melodic modes, individually called_megam (plural, magamat) or_naghma. (alternatively spelled naghama; plural, angham, naghmat, or rnaghaméi). Although musicians have commonly used the terms magdm and naghma interchangeably, the word magam is now favored by both younger musicians in Cairo and writers in the Arab world and the West. LEARNING ABOUT THE MODES For music 3 the indivi ae.generlly understood by the way they occur in practic, that is, in exsing compositions and, improvisations new. and old. The oldest songs and instrumental pieces in the present repertoire date from the ninete ‘century and possibly earlier. Recordings preserve music from as early as 1904 (Racy 1976, 197), and many recordings from the 1940s onvard are extremely well known Pieces of oral culture. While some picces—a simple folk song, for example—might exhibie few characteristics ofa given mode (pechaps a few typical phrases using only a small part of the mode's larger scale), more sophisticated pieces highlight a number ofthe mode's unique features (such as characteristic ways of beginning, char accidentals, oF common and less common modulation’ k learning pices of music, one leafns the nature of the nagamat. Musicians commonly praise a more sophisticated piece by saying that ic is full of “work” (shugh!), pethaps best understood to mean a combination of aesthetic artistry and modal crafts ‘manship. Enthusiasm for a highly sophisticated piece is often expressed by calling it “school” (madraa) this indicates that the picce i fll of modal knowledge and that there is much one can learn from it B Dap 2M, PareU uw, ases| we SHOU Teme, aep “ey UE eURNEU- MIDISY_A DMP IEE ‘uondumnsse xp wo paseg sf 27e8 eIUBUepUNy qREy 2xp Jo AOU Pap ap Foy UND MOL sr, “Qo>pep wendy ur you Hinu ra poounouosd ‘pmaug fur) rep- 34 Iw, POTD 23g 01 aus ayes ou oup “ieH-q puE jemMeEU-g Jo Suppuessopun wasp a1p PUE “CS Due jos" us ‘x ‘op) ays uimsayy ‘uoREIOU ers wos Jo uondope ap Kp ‘Yamuro yponuana ayp Uy gue Hyg UROMDDG se fy OY PUR A UROANDG SIE 2 smu, 0u jemseu Suypuodsaiseo axp pur 3ey wis3 94 >yp UDDADG ff DADDY ‘SO1OU "pusnas PUP PI 3ULL, “PES WINHY aIp Jo 9 PuE-Y 5 J CD sou axp 0» puodsx 100 sovou asamp Jo 21g “(¢ aanBy) puny pure ‘line ‘ues “penn “rroyol “eyes “ramp ‘a5pe poureu are saiou agrico yenURD ay], ‘pouad jeaoypaur axp 0 3eq 8 sIOOr asOyH nants soUeU gery pur URISIOY Jo NISMS © um aouEpIONDE wY PoynUEpT are aos FUMIE amy 21p Jo soiou ay, “> 01 5 woyy axeioo yenus> Areuud e Suputeuos se poarou0s Ajpnsn “(1 amy) 01 99 Woy “(iooyp sn gery PeKPEW pur >PID aUEDUE Wo] sokues ¥) ses" jeustepany suvis0-OM E UO poseg st worsks jouer gery yy, ‘smu qery wopow jo seyou ey) NOLONGOUINI NY :AuOaHL SISAIN aV¥Y NUZCOW sy00q Aroayp pogsygnd Apuooas je wt punoy st ‘pur Suyuyen poseg-symnsu 10 -Atoxeasosue> ansind on 02 ens 8popou 30 4poq su, simone jepuoypens pue sjeasur popu “Gos 10 eb) xpusd aruon Jp suns Gy msde ue pur ses yo uoRUasd ¥ 02 zed wou ayp 105 ‘pougueD sy wpbnw v 30 uonroyop ayp eqs uy asjduis2tp 5 Atooyp Areiodwoue> Sax 2p 40 “(96861 sty) spoud uns Jayne aap envy Su ‘He paupuny ox 35 2xp sno Syqesoprsuoo pafretp axey suopspen asx.) euch agp Suez pe 30} -puessiopun 20 suomypen din asin podoprop axey puey 420 ay Uo “SONY “Dy seq sou HK ‘sdeysad tpuodog spout fenpuaspa ap so spstaseneypaip jo Bunppeas wpyda> ‘pou ou s aro, “stose asoqp Sump sna 3o s0940 aypoads Aepd on usw Aan “(ama429 cpopuosa 9p us Suen Aaoressosuon Jo waxpe a¥p ypun vousuioU>y are Jaqses 2) su0ss9] snus aye suopmis yey sus 24p OL, ‘pooupEP Ayko w SuywusTdg sous -s0 jo ss2201d Buno8u0 ue 49 seupow snows ap jo s9peo|NUt ap urea suEPSTUL sng, "suoesisosdust uno sqp oxy xexodseour je Aaqp exp se2pt mou ea) 30 240 {ym Kesse aus aru suepysnus Sumo ‘uojss e yons 0 Busway wy ouewsogad ‘uy suepysruy oy SuyprEs pur o» Busy Aq 10 sBuyprooas Woy pp yma pur 19 je0s 20 (uasbrr pajpds os) waseboT ausumnsuy—suonestroidin ojos Suey hq upbou pre jo soususeseyp anbrun ayp uo] ose siuapmss sens “waorsks jepour S1pojou USI & soreys bugsru ayp Jo vore annua ayp ‘SUL peosq Uy LSV9 W1GGIW AHL dO SOISAW ONIGNVISUEGNA ¥ mouse 3 ious 4 ours 5 c D BE OE 1 1 ecccecce 1 1 <<< note E-flat ates the note E-natural by making it “completely” flat, the Arabic note requires fattening the E only “halfway”; thus, “mi halffa.” Similarly, the nore au is now commonly referred to ass ngf bimid, of “si half-Aat.” The symbol for the half at in staff notation is most commonly a fat sign with a slash across its stem: + (Figure 3). ‘The term half flat (nigfbimill) and its notation symbol date from the twentieth century, but an important development remarked on in the 1770s (Laborde 1780) hhad already paved the way for this understanding ofthe sid and auj notes. This new development was a reconceptualization of the long-standing Arab musical scale in terms of quarterstep intervals. Thus C to D (rite ro dik) came to be understood 25, a A-quarterstep interval, dick to sika came to be considered a 3-quarterstep interval and so forth, so that the Arab fundamental scale came to be reconceptualized 35, containing twenty-four quartersteps per octave (Figure 4). The main theoretical con- ‘ceptualization of the scale prior to this quartertone system was the scale of Safi al-Din in the thieweenth century; it had seventeen steps per octave (see ARABIC SOURCES FOR ‘Music Timory). The intervals in this easier seale were conceptualized in terms of hiloah 1981; Wright 1978). Eb F G A Bb « 34 314 44 48 34 34 = 2416 ClilLDIbEb II FIT GIitt ati Bite Theoretically, the newly developed scale was an equal-tempered quartertone scale, ‘expressible in terms of 50-cent quarterstep intervals (although the cent system is not used by Arab musicians or theorists; figure 5) Hider RsTi Grit ati Bbiie Given this tempered scale, the wentieth-century term halfflar can be seen as an accurate description of the note’s theoretical position: that is, it does occur exacdly halfway between a natural note and its corresponding fa. In addition to the half- flats, the notes filing between a note and its corresponding sharp came to be called “half-sharp” (nigf divas) in the twentieth ceneury, notated by the symbol t (Figure 6) icune 6 6 UNDERSTANDING MUSICS OF THE MIDDLE EAST ctcH pipt ‘EB Et Fire = Gtck = ALAR oB Bt ic) VIDITERVIFITIGIIIATI BITE pbps Eb FhEH Ghoh Abab Bh Bch Indeed, today there are a few instruments (some keyboards and accordions, for example) that strive for this very tempered system of tuning. Performers using other instruments commonly tune their notes in ways that differ from equel temperament: for example, since the strings of the ‘id and the violin are tuned to perfect fourths and fifths, many notes on these instruments tend to be rendered in Pythagorean intonation, In addition, musicians with instruments that allow for self- determination ‘of exact pitch (the violin, the fretless ‘id, the human voice, and so on) often speak of special tunings for individual notes in a given maga: for example, the flat third in magam nabiwand, Ela, is said t0 be especially low—lower than the E-fat in * | magam hij. Similacy, the E-half-fa in. magam rast is commonly understood to be | higher thai the E-halfflac in magiim biaydt? (see Marcus 1993b). In presentlay \ Cairo, such understandings are being lost, asthe wo main school of higher learning for music teach only the equal tempered system. The intervals of modern Arab music ‘The modes of modem-day Arab music use four melodic intervals, the whole step containing 4 quartersteps, the 3-quarterstep, the half or 2-quartestep, and the aug- ‘mented second or 6-quarterstep. In one method used in theory books, intervallc analysis is norated with an ascending arch to indicate 4-quartesstep intervals, a de- scending arch for 3-quarterstep intervals, a“y" for 2 quartersteps, and three sides of a rectangle to indicate 6-quarterstep intervals (gure 7). “There are also extremely rare instances of a S-quarterstep interval, found, for ‘xample, beeween the notes C and D-halfsharp and berween E-half flac and F-sharp. ‘Most musicians and theorist agree that Arab music does not contain intervals of a single quarterstep. There is, perhaps, one exception: in modes with a halfflat tonic, such as Es, itis somewhat common ro norate the leading tone to the tonic as D- sharp, thus creating a I-quarterstep interval berween D-sharp and E:. Theorists, how- ever, point out thatthe leading tone should correctly be notated as D-halfsharp. This removes the only instance of a l-quartersep interval in Arab music, since the interval between Dt and Es is 2 quartersteps ‘The tetrachords of modem Arab music Present-day Arab music theory commonly recognizes nine or eleven tetrachords, all using 2+, 3+, 4, and 6-quarterstep intervals. Here, the term terachord (jn, the Arabic spelling of the Greck genus) is used loosely to include three- and five"RO% groups RMOMTUSTHE sandard Tour-note groups. Lists that include rarely used tetachords might name an additional four to six tetrachords (see Marcus 19892:304). Each of the tetrachords has a specific root postion and occurs in a number of common trans positions. For example, the rir tetrachord, consisting of four notes with the intervals of 4, 3, and 3 quartersteps, has its root position on C; it also occurs commonly on G, and c, and less commonly on D and a few other positions. The nine principal ‘Arab cetrachords (in root position) appear in figure 8. The nine principal vetrachords. are increased co cleven when the single std wichord (ES F G) is reconceptualized as three distince tetrachords (figure 9). wee 9 a A CASE STUDY OF MAQAM BaYYATI slaicuschord bayittechord i tichond sab tached mies aw aha pepo ie echoed 47206 2 2 6 2 4 sic wrachord manent) hasan tetrachordseinaten) ir werachond 4 7 ae rer , 4D Creating modal scales ‘Theoretically, modal scales are created by joining together two or more tetrachords. Present-day Arab music theory recognizes three types of tetrachordal joining (jam): disjunct (munfasil), when the second tetrachord starts afer the first without sharing any notes; conjunet (muttai), when he second tetrachord begins with the last note of the frsetetrachord; and overlapping (mmusadakhil), when the second tetrachord starts before the last note ofthe fist tetrachord. Magam rast, for example, contains disjunce tetrachords; maqam: bayyati contains conjunct etrachords; magam sabi con- tains overlapping tetrachords (figure 10). {Note thatthe scale of maga ris corresponds with the central occve (C10 6) of the ewo-octave Arab fundamental scale (introduced above). For this reason, magi | rast is considered the preeminent mode of Arab music. |, _In.addition to maga ras, other commonly used modes include bay, seb, Juin, and nahdwand. Rast and nahiwand are based on C tonic (and are ‘commonly transposed to G); buyyati, biz, and sabd are based on D (commonly transposed to G and AA); huzdim is based on the Arab note E-half-Bat (and commonly transposed to BB#) (Bgure 11). aieea ow # UNDERSTANDING MUSICS OF THE MIDDLE BAST $3 y4 2? 4 4 Tijieea oaD—— aahiwandiera on G ‘The above is a presentation of modern-day Arab music theory, which was devel- ‘oped in the first half of the ewentieth century and became predominant during the 1930s through the 1970s, According to this theory, the various modal scales are pre- sented in terms of scales with a recognized tonic pitch, and are analyzed in terms of intervals and tetrachords. This is how the modes are presented in most contemporary Arab theory books and in classes in modem institutes and conservatories throughout the eastern Arab world. (See, for example, alFarjant 1986; Muhammad 1984). ‘THE MODES IN PRACTICE: THE CASE OF MAGAM BAYYATI j Isp, bowers a more compleand dynam defnton ofthe inva mods | emerges, involving such considerations as the notes not duplicating at the octave, specific nontempered intonation for Some notes, a common progression or path for moving through the various regions of a modes scale, additional tetachords beyond those indicated in che simple scalar presentation ofthe mode, characteristic accidentals, and a ser of standard modulations to other modes. The presence and persistence of this considerably denser definition of che modes in practice speak both to the existence of distince traditions of music theory and music practice and to another important aspect of traditional Middle Eastern music culture: that performers and composers | absorb a “common practice” understanding of the various melodic modes and then seek to work within the existing modal tradition, while improvising or creating fixed A CASE STUDY OF MAQAM BAYYATI icons 33 compositions. This isin marked contrast to expectations in Western art music, where the composer is supposed to step beyond the tradition, to be on the cutting edge, creating a new grammar. A few Arab composers have actively tied to expand che ‘magam system, for example, by adding moments of Western harmony or by including rare modulations; but even eminent musicians, such as the Egyptian composer Mu- hhammad ‘Abd al-Wahhab, who are praised for heir innovations, are generally best understood as composing within the long-standing common practice of the magiim system, In order to convey some of the complexity ofthe “common practice” understand- ings of the Arab magamat, [have chosen to focus on a single magi, magam bayyat, fone of the most common of all the Arab modes. As indicated above, modern-day theory defines magam bayaii as a D-based mode consisting of a bayydt vetrachord fon D and a nahiwand tetrachord on G (figure 12). Beyond this simple definition, ‘one of the ist points students of performance might come acros is that, while magn baypatt uses B-flat above the D tonic, it uss the note BB-half flat (6) below the tonic. ‘Thus, as with many modes of Arab music, the notes of magam baypati do not duplicate at the octave (figure 13). ar second aspect of performers’ knowledge is a widely held understanding that the second degree of the bayyat? scale, the Bs, is cuned slightly lower than a tempered Es, While no studies have sought ro quantify the exact pitch (or range of pitch) for this note, I would suggest a lowering from the 150 cents of the tempered half-llat of berween 5 and 15 cents. It must be added here that this lowering is noc universally recognited, since a number of “fixed pitch” instruments such as the gain (ether) and the retuned accordion commonly have only a single Eé to be used in all the modes ‘which call for an Es. (A ganiin player can retune the strings to give a slightly lowered Es, but this is nor generally done in practice.) Similaaly, many hold that the BF of bagyat alo differs from its equal-tempered position by being raised slightly above thae position. Other examples of specific tuning concem the notes F and Beflt, both of are generally played lower than their equal-tempered positions of 300 cents and £800 cents, respectively, above the tonic. eis possible, in each case, that the position is best represented by the Pythagorean interval, the Pythagorean minor thied being of 294.135 cents and the Pythagorean minor sich being of 792.18 cents. (Note that the “Qpen strings of the ‘ad are tuned in a series of perfect fourths ard chus create Py- thagorean intonation for many of the pitches; see Marcus 1989a:201ff and 1993b,) ‘A third aspect ofthe “common practice” understanding for magim bayyatt con- cerns a common path or progression for movement through the mode’ various regions. Compositions and improvisations in bayydeT tend to start in the middle of the mode's central octave, possibly somewhere in the region from F to B-flat, and then proceed down to the tonic D. (According to a treatise of 1840 by Mikha’il Mashaga, if one started at or below the tonic rather than in the middle of the mode's central scale, this would be a characteristic feaure of a different mode and should not be snag by UNDERSTANDING MUSICS OF THE MIDDLE EAST considered bayyii, although he admits that “most knowledgeable Syrians” would still * hhave considered it vo be bayyt[1899:883]}) Aer the initial moments in the middle of che scale, the melody would commonly descend to setle on the toni note, often using one oF two or more notes below the tonic, the lowest possible note generally being the G one-fifth below the tonic (GG). Nore that the BB below the tonic is Then, there will commonly be an ascent up the scale, initially further exploring the mode's central octave and next commonly ascending into the higher octave. In the central octave, the G is often an imporeant resting note in part because of is function as the base note of the second tetrachord. The note B-flat is also regularly Featured, ‘often in conjunction with a phrase that descends to F, leading a few theorists to indicate | the presence of a jaharki or ‘jam tetrachord based.on F (F G A B-fa). In one of the mode's most istic movements, a sequence often occurs in which a descent | from B-flat to F is followed by similar descents from A to Es, and then from G to D |Gsce, for example, the composition sama? bayyati, by Ibrahim al-‘Aryin). Another common movement consists of a held A followed by a fall A from c using BF: for ‘example, A, ¢ BB c A. (This movement was once considered a characteristic Feature of a distinct mode called Susaynt. In the present day, however, husaynit as virtually | disappeared as a distinct mode in performance, and this movement is now generally | subsumed within magam bayytet) | After presenting the central octave, improvisations and compositions might com- ‘monly rise to the octave region. In order to effec this shift in focus, the note B-flat is generally replaced by BY. ‘This might be bait undernood as « fall ocewve the overall Scale of Bayyate;-wherein the BB below the tonic is half-flar, Now that the focus is being shifted to the octave region, the tonic itself might also be seen as ‘temporarily moving up one octave. Along with jt, the BB half-Aat below the tonic is also moved up an octave. Terachordally speaking, we now have a rat retrachord on G(GABB 6) rather than the eatlier nahiwwand tetrachord on G (G A B-flat c). The ‘improviser or composer may explore the octave region at any length, possibly including fone or more cadences on the octave note itself (dl), and will ehen eventually descend back into the rion of the central octave. This is commonly achieved by first reas serting the note B-fat in place of the BS, with che resulting reappearance of the nahasoand tertichord. ‘As the descent tothe original ronic and the final cadence proceeds, there is often one further dramatic development: a hijds tetrachord on G (G A-flat B @) may be introduced temporarily. Jihad Racy (professor of ethnomusicology at the University ‘of California, Las Angeles) has refered to this in his lasses as a“precadential” move- ment. Finally, the improvisation oF composition would end by resolving of tonic , commonly afer replacing the hijae ettachord on G with a rast (or nohdwand) cetrachord and often after descending below the tonic at least to the extent of pre- senting the subtonic note C “This progression serves to highlight an important aspect of the structure of mast ED) of the Arab magamat: cach has a singe root or lower tetrachord, which gives the APP defining charac the mod; The region above his fist rerachord, howete, not rescicted to just one teuachords rather, a number of tetachords, often three, appear in characteristic ways at specific times in the overall progression, with each tetachord fulfilling specific functions. In our bayti example, the nahdwand rerrachord on G {with ts B-flae) can be seen as helping to present the central octaves the rast tetrachord con G (with its BY) can be seen as helping to propel the melodic motion upward to the octave note and above: the nahawand tetrachord is reasserted in order to bring the melodic movement back down into the central octave; the hijée vetachord acts 28 a momentary coloring before the final cadence, serving to heighten the effect of the cadence; and finally a rit or nahiwand wetrachord is brought back co reassert the oo # A CASE STUDY OF MAQAM BAYYATI iouRe 4 original character of the mode. Thus like the idea of “functional harmony” within the “common practice” harmony of eighteenth- and nineteenth-cenuury Europe, Arab ‘modal practice can be seen as following a clear “functional” melodie practice. Interestingly, this progression is not explicitly staed in the present day: it is not ‘aught at institutes that train music teachers or at conservatories whose goal is, in part, to develop professional musicians. Yee itis a body of knowledge that all experienced ‘musicians come upon, unconsciously absorb, and manifest in theie performance prac- tice. Theorists do recognize the occurrence of nahdwund, rat, and hijde vetrachords on G above a bayyastexrachord on D, but they consider the three upper etrachords as creating three distinct magimadt—bayyati, husaynt, and shi, respectively. Pesform- cers commonly recognize all three as being part of magm bayyati (Figure 14) AA fourth aspect of a performer's knowledge is an understanding.of characteristic, accidentals Tor each mode. While a number of modes, such as nahiwand and hurd, feature accidental notes prominently, magdim bay uses such notes only rarely. There are generally no accidentals that appear in the root bayyatt retrachord on D. The nahawand etrachord on G might rarely have a momentary B-natural, functioning as a replacement for the Bflat and serving as a discontinuous lowering neighboring tone to the note ¢, as in the phrase G A B-flat ¢, cB ¢, Bed c B-flat A G. Also, when the movement descends from the octave region and the B-flat is reinserted in place of the BS, its possible to have an e-flat in the octave rather than an e-halflat. Along with the B-flat, this ela serves to propel the melodic line toward a descent from the higher ‘octave (sce Marcus 19894:599-625), ‘A Gifts aspect of a performers knowledge is a st,of common modulations to other #6025, Tor modulation forms a prominent feature of Arab music performance practice. Modulaions might be sudden and very conspicuous or subtle and virtually less. Either way, they are a highly Valued aspece of performance practice. Mod- ‘ations are common to modes that share the same tonic, in this case, to gaba on D of © hija on D. It is also standard to modulate to modes based on the root noce of the second tetrachord, here commonly to magm rist or magim nahawand on G. In these instances, the modulation would differ from simply playing the normal upper tetrachords of barat: notes beyond those ofthe tetrichord will be changed to con- form to the notes of the new magim. Magam rst on G, for example, will have the notes E-iacural and F-halfsharp. When these notes are added below the note G within « presentation of the ras tetrachord on G, then the mode i understood to be magiim rist and not magiim baat. Scilly, magam nahdwand on G would have E-natural guns 5 UNDERSTANDING MUSICS OF THE MIDDLE EAST [inc amcheeoeiyecmeremeeen ‘WjzicwachoroaD wahwandiena oa agin pb oD and F-sharp (or E-fat and F-sharp) below the tonic G and thus differs signiticandy from magim bayyati on D. Further, within magam byt, a modulation to magim “ajam with a descent from B-fat co BB-flat is also common (Figure 15; see Marcus 1992), ‘Thus a performers knowledge of magi bayyat includes comprehensive knowl ‘edge of a large number of other modes that will appear in improvisations and pre- ‘composed pieces based in magim bayyati. The improviser or composer must know all the aspects discussed above for each of these additional modes (aspects of nondu- plication at the octave, specifics of intonation, accidentals, and the like) and must also master the many common and rare ways of effecting modulations both to the new ‘magamat and back tothe original magam. Modulatory excutsions might include only a single new magam or a number of new magamat in succession before the obligatory reeurn to the original magém. ‘The central postion of modulation in Arab music results in a situation where che ‘magiimat exist in constant interaction with one another. This stands in contrast to the situation in North and South Indian classical musics, where modulation is not prominent, and where each melodic mode (raga) is commonlly understood ro stand 6 its own, separate from the others. Thus, while a single item of Indian music will generally include only a single raga, an item of Arab music performance might include ‘many related magamat, ‘THE NUMBER OF MAQAMAT IN MODERN ARAB MUSIC ‘As mentioned above, theorists recognize thtee distinct magamat (bayyit, husayni, and shard), whereas performers often recognize all three as aspects ofa single mode: * A CASE STUDY OF MAQAM BAYYATI ‘magam bayyati. This discrepancy has an impact on discussions seeking to ascertain the exact number of magdmar in present-day Arab music. On a basic level, one might take a musician’s perspective, saying that there are nine main magamat, cor- responding to the nine terachords of modern Arab music listed above. According to this understanding, these nine magimt would each have a number of different upper tetrachords, occurring in characteristic fashion and fulfilling specific functions in the melodic development of the mode. Further, each of these modes would occur in one or more transpositions (for example, magim bayyati might occur on G, AA, or GG) but would still be considered magam bayyati in each position. Theorists, on the other hand, would give a new name to each unique scale; thus each change in a mode's upper tetrachord would result in a separate magam. Also, transpositions of a given mode are often given their own unique names, so thar theorists might recognize fifty, sixty, seventy, or more magamat. Theorists generally group their dozens of magimat into nine “families” (faa; plural, fal) based on the modes’ lower terachord, providing a significant commonality between performers’ and the- orists’ conceptualizations CHANGES IN MAQAIM CONCEPTUALIZATION OVER TIME ‘The second half ofthe twentieth century saw arise in institutionalized music education throughout much of the Arab Middle East. As discussed above, in the music theory ‘aught at these instieutions each magam is presented asa specific scale, which is then analyzed in terms of tonic pitch and intervallic and tetrachordal structure. Students are not explicitly taught about nontempered tunings, accidentals, or specific paths for the melodie unfolding of each maqam. The most talented students will come to learn these aspects of the traditional magam system over time (by prolonged and intimate contact with respected repertoire through transcriptions, recordings, and live perfor- ‘mances). Other students, however, seem to accept contemporary theory as if it were comprehensive; they grow up believing that there is only the tempered scale of rwenty- four notes per octave, and thus barat? does nor have a slightly lowered E8 and a slightly mised BS. Similarly, they do not understand that a magn might have a specific path for its melodic unfolding: compositions in magi bayyati are therefore fice to follow any path whatsoever. This suggests that melodic modal practice might ‘well change overtime. Such change has, of course, occurred in the past. or example, Mikhail Mashiqa’s treatise of 1840 presents dozens of magimat from that period which simply no longer exist today. Similarly, from the end of the nineteenth century to roughly 1930, a scholarly or academic Arab magdm practice flourished, featuring a number of magi- ‘mat that have since largely faded from common practice. For example, magiim bayyatt ‘was considered separate and distinct from two modes of similar scalar structure: ‘magim mubayyar (in which movement was said to begin in the octave and then descend) and magm husayni (which emphasized the note A, emphasized the note BS cover B-flat, and had a number of distinct melodic characteristics). Today, however, these later two modes are largely lost, though they remain as distinct modes by virtue of respected compositions such as sama’? Husaynt Tatyos and sama’t Mubayyar Jamil Bey. To the extent that they still occur, they are subsumed under an all-encompassing magi bayyat. In conclusion, the Arab system of melodic modes exists in parallel dynamic realms of theory and practice. Each realm has experienced significant changes over the last 100 to 150 years. Contemporary theory is a somewhat recent produc, largely de- signed for institutionalized scetings. The “common practice” definitions of the present-day magimat predate this theory, representing a performance practice from the nineteenth and early ewentieth centuries and possibly eatlier. However, there UNDERSTANDING MUSICS OF THE MIDDLE EAST hhave been significant changes in this practice, especially the loss ofa large number of modes that once existed, We can expect changes in both theory and practice to continue in the fuure. ‘REFERENCES ab Fret, Mii Sus. 1986 Magma a ‘nig alrabine: dra ly, Tp bDiraLjamahy ‘Ree, Heney George. 1936. "Msi" In Eng hpi of tam, AS-735 ede Bl. Laborde Jean Besjsnin de 1780, Ba su le smoiqueancinne et moderne. Nl. Pasi npc rere de PhD. Pie. Mareat, Scot 19898. "Arab Musi Theory in the Modern Period.” Ph.D. dissertation, Unive Sy of California La Angeles 19890 "The Peidizason of Modem ‘Arab Mase Theory: Coninity and Change in the Definition of the Magamaa” Pace Rev of Ednamasialgy 535-9, 1992. "Modilaon in Arab Music Documenting Oral Concepts, Peformance Rule, and Suateies” Edmoruslegy S60}171-195 1993s “Solo IncramentlImprovis- sion Tags) in Arab Misi” Mid ast 19936, "The Inesfacebeeneen Theory tnd Practice: The Cate of Intonation in Arab Music” Auten Mini 240)39-58. -Mahaga, Miki, ¢1840 "ab Rsla b- shikabiyya 8 ina abmisgiyyn” Unpublihed anus. 1899, “aL Rial iba 8 i al-mcsgiyy I'-ilane Milt Masten.” le ‘Maabrig. Bina Imprimerie Catholique. ‘Muhammad, Subaye ‘Abd alAate 198, Aion das a-msgaa‘eoba. Caio: Di Kb -Qawmiyya. Racy Ali Jad. 1976, “Recotd Industry and Egyptian Tadivonal Music: 1904-1932." Eine elegy Wi) .25-A 1977. "Musica Change and Commer

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