Examination of Turkish flute works in terms of musical features and performance techniques

The rapidly spreading Republican-era policies also had an impact on the arts. Upon Atatürk's orders, talented Turkish youth in the arts were sent to Europe. The Turkish Five, a group of gifted young musicians from Türkiye, created compositions for opera, ballet, orchestra, and various instruments. They incorporated Western-style structures into their works, influenced by their formal training. Among the types of works composed, Turkish flute compositions have an important place in Turkish music due to both the Western forms of the flute and the folkloric elements they contain. This study aims to compare three Turkish flute compositions (sonata and concerto) chosen by expert opinion in terms of their musical characteristics, such as form structure, tonality, tempo, meter units, nuance terms, expression terms, number of measures, number of taces, and performance techniques such as language/articulation and fingering/agility, to reveal the common and different aspects of the three compositions. The study was conducted using mixed methods. The data transformation method known as the convergent mixed model was employed in the quantitative aspect of the study, while a sample case study was used in the qualitative aspect. Three composers were identified in the study's quantitative dimension through a questionnaire distributed to flute educators and artists. The questionnaire was sent to sixty-one flute teachers and thirty flute players. Thirty-three flute instructors and nine flautists answered this questionnaire. The compositions selected by flute instructors and flautists are as follows: "Sonata for Flute and Piano" composed by Ekrem Zeki Ün in first place, "Flute Sonata" composed by Necil Kazım Akses in second place, and "Flute Concerto Smyrna; Myth and Reality" composed by Mesruh Savaş in third place. The quantitative data in the study were analyzed through descriptive statistics using percentages and frequencies. The qualitative dimension of the study involved the collection of documents and data on the sheet music for the compositions. The frequency values were obtained in the quantitative dimension during the analysis of performance techniques in compositions and the comparison of common or distinct characteristics of the compositions. The qualitative dimension was analyzed by content analysis. During the musical analysis, the themes of performance approaches and musical qualities were examined and compared. This information was then organized and displayed in tables, and a content analysis was conducted. The themes and comparisons of these themes regarding the performance techniques and musical characteristics during the musical analysis of the compositions were presented in tables, and content analysis was performed. Regarding performance approaches, the study revealed that legato, emphasis, and staccato techniques were employed as part of the language/articulation techniques. Additionally, the fingering and agility techniques predominantly involved the usage of triole, multiplication, trill, and chromatic scale techniques.