Transformations of vocal performance practices in turkish maqam music regarding transitions between tradition and modernity

The examination and comparison of different performance styles of vocal performance examples of Turkish maqam music were allowed and determined mostly by sound recording methods at the beginning of the 20th century. Through the performance recordings in question, the artists' stylistic details; phonetic structure, use of sound and breath, particular intonations, ornamental elements, nuances, metronome preferences, improvisation methods etc. were possible to examine from different angles—as far as this technology allows. On the other hand, these stylistic accumulations, transferred from master to student, carry extremely rich cultural codes in the background. These joint productions, which draw attention to the remarkable differences in their internal structure as they move away from the "tradition", have blurred the definition of "traditional performance" understandings over time. In order to properly examine the artistic nature of these understandings, it is necessary to correctly evaluate the aesthetic qualifications of these existing audio recordings. In the light of first-hand audio recordings, oral testimonies and written documents, this study aims to make basic inferences about the performance practices of the leading voice masters in the history of sound recording and to describe the nature of performance in detail on the axis of traditionality-modernity. In this way, the research data should be filtered as objectively and comprehensively as possible and put in a conceptual framework on a solid foundation to reflect the course of the (Turkish) modal sound art in the 20th century. As a matter of fact, the variable parameters of the aforementioned course point to the need to develop new conceptual frameworks in direct proportion to the new performative accumulations gained by the artists in terms of training and performance standards. This study, which is a modest introduction in order to meet this need, aims to open up/inspire new performance and evaluation criteria on a holistic axis, proposes to be a source for them, while trying to be a guide based on scientific foundations for describing the vocal timbres and qualities, especially in the geographies where maqam music is practiced. Therefore, it seems necessary to create tangible data by correctly combining the scattered information clusters that can shed light on the course of vocal performance in the history of classical Turkish music performance, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries, in order to make sense of this complex sensory structure. In this regard, today, in the musicology literature in the context of vocal performance, the examples of examinations and research that are process-oriented, spread over a wide period of time and contain a lot of data to be studied, which are generally approached with a distance, are still limited in number, despite their potential comprehensiveness and multiple comparison opportunities. Based on this limitation, focusing on the historical course of the performance and its qualitative breaking points, focusing on process and temporality, and comparing these with written documents and audio data, constitutes the course of this study. Roughly speaking, identifying the differences in attitude and permeability points observed in traditional performance approaches and following the course of fractures, simplifications, differentiations and transformations in the sound world that occur simultaneously with social turnings can be interpreted as a prerequisite. Due to the nature of the study, qualitative research method was used together with descriptive method and scanning model. In this way, by researching the subject in depth, a research process open to all kinds of information gathering process was preferred, based on the principle of holistic approach. In addition, the research data were handled as they were, in their own conditions, their current situation was determined, their characteristics were described, and the relationships between the data were determined; "What was it?", "What is it?", "What is it about?" In addition to questions such as "Why?", "How?", "In what way?" Answers to questions such as these were also sought. Based on these methodological details, it has been determined that the classical style, which has a dominant position in the art of vocal performance of Turkish music, has theoretical and practical qualities that are far beyond its stereotypical and common uses in the performer jargon, and contrary to popular belief, it is nourished by an extremely rich infrastructure in terms of performativity. The cultural and performative dynamics surrounding the classical style, which interacts with other styles, have created completely different trajectories in the course of performance of the 20th century, with their potential to be developed. Although the holistic view created by these dynamics, some of which are not clear enough even today, contains a kind of anachronism potential, it has been adopted as a basic principle in this study in order to build on a healthier foundation by combining the intersection points of Turkish music history and sound art.