Rast makam in Arabic music and Turkish music

The Makam music one of the fine arts closer to the depths of the human soul, where Makam music gives the human imagination and the expansion of human perception in life. That type of music addresses the hidden feelings more than addressing the conscious feelings, and this stems from the importance of Makam music in human life and arranged the importance of each Makam in the musical forms. That gives rise to the importance of the Makams that plays the fundamental role in the construction of Makam music. Arabic and Turkish music depends on its construction on two essential elements tones and rhythms. The main Makams and their families are the principal sources of the compositions. In Arabic and Turkish music are distinctive by the vast number of its Makams on which the form of the melodies depends, but the science of the Makams are considered the principal element on which Makams created the Instrumental and Lyrical forms of the composition. Since the appearance of music categories in Arabic and Turkish Makam families, there a rose discussion between those who wrote in this field, such as amateur specialists and theorists and applied scientists. The outstanding points which raised discussion between the number of Makams, Makams families, the method of notating Makams and analysis of the Makams which would lead to the conclusion in original Makams, classification and the discussion of differences. The Makams in Arabic and Turkish music is an expression of a group of tones composed and blended together until they acquire a complete total texture, carrying colour and a unique tonal distinctive character. Each Makam is specialized by its particular emphasis on certain tones, by different intervals in its scalar notation where the dimensions are different. Therefore the researcher decided that the essence of the Makam study and its theoretical and practical problems be a necessity in a period of science and technology, seeking for an arriving at a fixed definition of the Makams in Arabic and Turkish music and an agreement between them on the theoretical considerations and methods of application. The scales sequences and navigation characters of Makams expressed by the authorities of Safiyuddîn took different forms over time. For instance, Safiyuddîn Uşşak is the following TTB Tetrachord in the definition, on Nevâ TBT tetrachord, also Buselik BTT tetrachord. These Makams are entirely different from the ones known in Arabic and Turkish Makam Music. In general, after the Safiyuddîn and almost in the last 700 years, the only Makam that has not changed its construction for Arabic and Turkish music is Rast Makam. That is what led the researcher to do a comparative study between Arabic and Turkish music in Rast Makam, where it is the Makam agreed upon throughout the ages. Moreover, the research problem which determines the difference of opinion between theory and practice regarding the Rast Makam is often used in Makam music forms, whether in Arabic music or Turkish music. However, a comparative study has not been conducted before to shed light on the concept of the Rast Makam and its various dimensions, pitches, symbols, musical forms, also the similarities and differences in Arabic and Turkish music. The research aims to define the origin of Rast Makam in Arabic and Turkish music, an analytical study in the history of Makams in both kinds of music, demonstration of the essential differences in names and content of Rast family in which represented in Arabic and Turkish Music. Defining the concept of Rast Makam and its various musical ranges in Arabic music represented by Egypt, and also defining the Rast Makam and its various musical ranges in Turkish music represented by Turkey. The musical forms in Arabic and Turkish music, defining and transitions the melody of Rast Makam in both kinds of music through the sample selected in the Lyrical forms and Instrumental forms. The research came in five chapters, the first Chapter it is an introduction, the 2nd chapter the researcher conducts a study on the history of Makams, in which the researcher deals with the historical stages of the development of Makam music in Arabic and Turkish music. The third and fourth chapters, Rast Makam in Arabic and Turkish music. In both chapters, the researcher identified the Makam in a systematic manner followed by both Arabic and Turkish music throughout his studies at the Higher Institute of Arabic Music in Egypt and Istanbul Technical University-Conservatory in Turkey. The researcher is engaged in the necessary steps to learn music, whether in the Egyptian or Turkish methods. The fifth chapter, the research conclusion and an explanation, the comparison between Rast Makam and their family, the conclusion came with the Rast Makam different style and differernces in some of the families construction between Arabic and Turkish music. Also the different frequencies, pitches, musical ranges and musical forms in Arabic and Turkish music. The Makam behaviour what distinguishes both kinds of music, where the process of melody is different in the use of Makam, this is one of the fundamental aspects of the difference and distinction between Arabic and Turkish music. Hence the difference in the method of music composition, as the process of the Makams gives the composer different dimensions to be applied in the desired musical form, and this is one of the influences that make the difference in musical forms. Finally, the researcher concluded this study with a considerable amount of references which included Arabic, Turkish and English sources, also bibliography in addition to a collection of the musical notes and recordings for the musical forms and personal interviews. That research is a small attempt to facilitate and elaborate the Rast Makam and its family in Arabic and Turkish music.