Transcription of Kadri Şençalar's oud taksims and analysis of his performance style

In this study, the contributions of Kadri Şençalar, one of the most significant oud players of Turkish Music, to the oud technique and his unique style have been determined through transcriptions and analysis of 17 oud taksims of Şençalar. In this study, the photographs of Şençalar, his documents including his life and taksims are obtained from TRT Archives and Music Department Archives, private archives of Aydemir Tuncer, İbrahim Kararoğlu, Bayramcan Boy, Ramazan Şerif Şekerci, Yüksel Şençalar, Yıldırım Özkaraman and Mehmet Emin Bitmez as well as newspaper clippings. 17 taksims were identified from various makams in the archives. Among these taksims, three are passage taksims: Bayâtî, Evc, Hicâz, Hüseynî, Hüzzam and the transition from Hüzzam to Segâh; Karcığar and the transition from Kız tuned Hicâzkâr to Bolâhenk Hisâr Bûselik, Kurdîlihicâzkâr, Mahur, Müstear, Rast, and the transition from Sabâ to Rast, Sûz-i Dil, Sûz-nâk, Uşşâk and Yegâh. The related taksims are transcribed and written in today's notation system in the FINALE notation program. Ornamentation techniques, expression elements, rhythmic variations and position usage used by the performer are included in taksim notations. Descriptions of the makams were taken from musical sources spanning between the 17th and the 20th century. It is seen that Şençalar used nine different schemes. There are schemes where he made transitions to "conclusion" sections without separating them from the "body" or "meyan" sections. In addition, when we look at the makam descriptions in the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th century Edvar books, it is seen that the use of makam in the examined taksims mostly aligns with the descriptions of Ekrem Karadeniz. Bayâtî taksim differs from the other examined taksims; they are remarkable in terms of revealing the different abilities of the performer.As a result of the findings, Kadri Şençalar stands out among Turkish music oud players for his unique performance and musical understanding.