Melody-centered makam approaches in the 21st century: A comparative analysis

Makam theory, which was evolved in Early Republican Period due to the effects of the social policies, went through changes in the following years. Theorists of the period formed a 24-tone tuning system, similar to the 17-tone tuning system of Systematist Theorists (between 13th to 15th Centuries), in compliance with the policies of the period. Theoretical approaches observed in the Republican period are mostly scale based, and they are parallel with the efforts of Westernization movement, nationalization process and the mission of creating a national and "universal" music. Within this framework, makam theories, tuning systems and makam narratives that had been formed by means of the musical policies was transformed in the upcoming periods. 24-tone tuning system was criticized by the majority, and its inadequacies were put forth as part of scientific studies in the second half of the 20th Century. In accordance with these studies, some theorists improved or modified the aforementioned system, and performed studies within the contexts of tuning systems and physics of music. Apart from the studies of tuning systems, new theories of makam constructed by analyzing musical pieces were formed taking the melodic movements of makam in its scope. In view of recent studies, today's theorists have established "new and original" melody-oriented approaches as a result of developments in knowledge acquisition and reinterpretation of studies of previous periods. As the standpoints of musicologists and musical theorists were shaped within the framework of the ideologies in the Early Republican Period, they adopted an approach having similarities to the tuning system of Systematist Theorists. In a similar way, today's theorists have analyzed the studies of the past and reinterpreted them accordingly. Therefore, makam was continuously reinterpreted within the context of music theories throughout the history of the Republic. The scope of this study consists of makam theories established throughout the history of the Republic, and the main purpose is to identify the transformations and alterations by analyzing recent approaches in a comparative-deductive way concentrating especially on their melody-oriented bases. In this study, along with a "content analysis" based on a literature review the "methodological" approaches of the aforementioned research studies are examined.