Persian Music

Persian Rhythm:

The common rhythms from Persia are Maqsum, which they say is the mother of all the others, Ciftitelli, Andalus, Basmudi, , Baladi, Sayyidii, Sombati, Waaltida, Tsamko, Jaark and Darj. Maqams vary the rhythm of the original melody and improvise new ones.

Persian Melody:

Ragas often have two notes that are emphasized, usually a fifth apart, each appearing in a separate tetrachord. Both Persian and Indian music may have changing tones like the two versions of the melodic minor scale but Indian music never modulates. In Persian music a new tetrachord is substituted for the upper tetrachord and a new scale is constructed. Persian music also has a ground/ drone but it is allowed to modulate.

Persian music has a stop note and a central note that moves through various modulations. It has very infrequent skips and leaps are filled with ornaments. Leaps always occur over a consonant interval and usually at the ends of phrases before going to the next one. Persian music was never just used in the courts. Yes, the courts used the same music as the popular music of the common people.

In Persian music, it's often the case that the scales have tones which are only 1/4 flat instead of real quarter tones/1/2 flat intervals except in Turkey. This does not produce the visual symmetry as I said before. They must be sacrificing the perfect visual symmetry because some other element of the music is affecting it or is more important. I was pondering this when I came to the insight that if there is a B1/2 #, its tone might easily be confused with C or C1/2b. The same with F1/2b and E or E1/2 sharp. Diatonic scales probably favor less flattedness or sharpedness to maintain the distinctions between notes.

Aesthetics

Nature:

Some aestheticians say the reason we are all so concerned with beauty in art and music is because we don't live close enough to nature. We yearn for it and try to create it. I tentatively add that we may be trying to create it in our own image.

Math and Music:

Pi is a property often associated with beauty. The spiral in sea shells, like that of the chambered Nautilus, have the property of Pi in their construction and are considered beautiful. It seems that math is intrinsic to nature. Often sacred geometry around the world utilizes Pi and goes into the construction of temples and palaces. There are many other ratios that occur in nature and all are fair game for the composer.

e=2.7182818284590452353602874713526624877572470

9369995957

Pi=3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693

9937510582097494

Copeland/ Erdo=.023571113171923293137414347535961677173798

38997101103107109113127

Froda=6.5808599017920970851452403886486491573077

438348074005121512

Omega=0.567143290409783872999686622103555497538

15787186512508135131

Omega Inverse= 1.7632228343518967102252017769517070804360179866

674736345704569

Ramanujan’s#=262537412640768743.9999999999925007

25971981856888793538563373

Phi=1 1 2 2 4 2 6 4 6 4 10 12 6 8 8 16 6 18 8 12 10 22 8 20 12 16 12 28 8

Niven=1233456789 10 12 18 20 21 24 27 30 36 42

Golden String=1.6180339887498948482045863436563811772030

917980576

Tau=122334243426244526264428344628

Ugliness:

Protestantisms belief that the deity should not be represented and that art and music are not to be trusted since they take one away from God, created an architecture by modernists that is bereft of ornament. That’s why modern cities are so ugly. !

Finery:

Yes, we should avoid excessive finery but no ornaments? That’s going too far. Indian sitar music is often too heavily ornamented. For my taste, its use of ornaments should be more sober.

Aniconic Architecture of Persia and Music:

The aesthetic of Persian architecture is such that Allah is never to be represented using any kind of icon. But where the Protestants don’t use any ornaments, the Persians represented the deity in beautiful geometrical patterns, lattice-work and symmetry of which the Allhambra in Moorish Spain and the Taj Mahal in India and wonderful examples.

Thai Music: Tuning

The Thai tuning system is originally derived from the Javanese which in turn was derived from Chinese music theory. The Thai system is based on seven pitches an equal distance apart from each other. This results in a scale which not only does not have a perfect fifth but also has no notes which will be the same as any in the western scales. In Thai music, the fourth and seventh pitches are usually avoided, a practice similar to the avoidance of the 3rd and 7th in China. They function as ornaments or passing tones.