Taksim: The Art of Modal Improvisation

If usul governs when notes occur, taksim governs how a performer thinks in a makam. Taksim is unmetered solo improvisation — a single musician tracing the melodic identity of a mode without rhythmic accompaniment, without notation, without a predetermined path beyond the one the makam itself prescribes. It is where understanding of a mode becomes audible: not the ability to play a scale, but the ability to speak the makam's language.

What taksim is

Established The word taksim comes from the Arabic taqsim, meaning "division" or "distribution." In Ottoman and Turkish classical music, it denotes an instrumental improvisation that introduces, punctuates, or transitions between composed pieces. The performer explores a makam's melodic territory in free rhythm — there is no usul, no beat, no metric cycle. Time bends to serve the melody.

Established Signell describes taksim as the form through which Turkish musicians demonstrate command of a makam. A convincing taksim requires internalized knowledge of the seyir — the characteristic melodic path — along with fluency in the makam's cesni components, its points of emphasis, and its cadential formulas. A performer who can play a makam's scale but cannot produce a coherent taksim in it has not yet learned the makam.

The arc of a taksim

Attested A taksim is not formless. Though unmetered and improvised, it follows a recognizable dramatic arc shaped by the makam's seyir. The general structure moves through three phases:

1. Opening (low register). The taksim begins in the lower part of the makam's range, near the karar (tonic). Initial phrases introduce the root cesni — the tetrachord or pentachord anchored at the tonic — establishing the mode's identity for the listener. Phrases are short, exploratory, and often end with brief cadences on the karar.

2. Ascent and development (middle and upper register). The melody climbs through the makam's scale toward the guclu (secondary emphasis) and beyond into the upper register. This is where the taksim's expressive center lies — phrases grow longer, tension increases, and the performer may explore the upper cesni or introduce brief modulations (gecgi) to related makams. The guclu functions as a melodic way station where phrases gather weight before the final descent.

3. Descent and cadence (karar). The taksim returns to the lower register, reaffirming the original makam. The final phrases narrow toward the karar through conventional cadential formulas — including the yeden (leading tone) — and the taksim concludes on the tonic. A strong karar cadence signals unmistakably that the improvisation has ended.

Practice This arc mirrors the seyir, which is why understanding seyir is prerequisite to performing taksim. A taksim in Rast opens around the karar (Rast perde), ascends through the Rast pentachord to the guclu (Neva), explores the upper register, and descends back to Rast. A taksim in Hicaz foregrounds the characteristic augmented-second interval of the Hicaz cesni from the very first phrase.

Modulation (gecgi)

Established A taksim need not remain in a single makam throughout. Gecgi — modulation — is the practice of departing temporarily into a related makam before returning to the original. Aydemir documents how each makam has characteristic modulation targets: makams that share cesni components, common perde positions, or historical affinity.

Attested Modulation serves a structural purpose: a brief departure into a neighboring mode creates contrast and extends the taksim's arc. But modulation that does not serve the main makam's logic is digression. As Farraj and Shumays observe, a taksim ultimately returns to and cadences in the makam where it began — the opening and closing are fixed by tradition; the middle offers room for personal expression.

Practice Beginning improvisers should master taksim within a single makam before attempting gecgi. Modulation requires hearing the pivot point where one makam's territory ends and another's begins — a skill that depends on having internalized multiple makams individually.

Types of taksim

Attested Turkish pedagogical sources distinguish several functional types of taksim, classified by their role in a performance:

• Opening taksim (giris taksimi) — introduces the makam at the start of a performance or fasil suite. The most common type.
• Interlude taksim (ara taksimi) — appears between composed pieces in the same makam, providing contrast.
• Transition taksim (gecis taksimi) — bridges two pieces in different makams, modulating from one to the other.
• Joint taksim — two or more musicians improvise together, alternating phrases. This demands acute listening.
• Index taksim — the longest form, presenting multiple makams in succession to demonstrate command of the modal system.

Taksim in the fasil suite

Established In Ottoman classical music, the fasil is a suite of composed and improvised pieces in a single makam, ordered by form and usul. As Feldman documents, the suite opens with a taksim that introduces the makam, followed by the pesrev (instrumental prelude), vocal compositions (beste, sarki), and the closing saz semaisi.

Attested Taksim also recurs within the fasil as interludes between vocal pieces. In modern practice, a second taksim often appears midway through the suite before a change of tempo or mood. The fasil thus alternates between composed structure and improvised freedom.

Established The singer's counterpart to taksim is gazel — free-rhythm vocal improvisation on a poem. Together, taksim and gazel provide the unmetered, personal expression that balances the metered, composed forms.

Arabic taqasim

Established The Arabic tradition calls the same practice taqasim (singular: taqsim). The structural principles are shared: a solo performer improvises within a maqam in free rhythm, beginning near the tonic, ascending through the ajnas (the Arabic equivalent of cesni), and cadencing back on the tonic. The performer may be accompanied by a percussionist or by another instrumentalist sustaining a drone.

Attested Farraj and Shumays describe taqasim as beginning in the lower ajnas of the maqam, establishing it for listeners before the performer explores the full range and potentially modulates. The return to the original maqam is obligatory. In Arabic performance, the wasla (concert suite) intersperses taqasim between composed forms such as the muwashshahat, bashraf, and samai, just as the Turkish fasil uses taksim between pesrev, beste, and sarki.

Freedom and structure

Practice Listeners sometimes compare taksim to free jazz or Western free improvisation. The comparison obscures more than it reveals. Free jazz deliberately breaks from predetermined structures. Taksim is improvisation within a structure — the makam prescribes which pitches are available, where emphasis falls, how the melody should move, and how phrases must cadence. The performer's freedom operates within these constraints, not despite them.

Established Signell notes that Turkish musicians judge a taksim not by its novelty but by how convincingly it traces the seyir of the makam. An unexpected phrase is admired when it illuminates the mode's character; the same phrase is criticized when it violates the mode's logic. The art lies in finding personal expression within a shared framework.

Performers of note

Established The recorded history of taksim begins with Tanburi Cemil Bey (1873--1916), the Ottoman tanbur virtuoso whose early 78 rpm recordings captured taksim performance for the first time. Feldman notes that Cemil Bey greatly contributed to the taksim genre in Ottoman classical music, and his recordings influenced generations of musicians who followed.

Established Among oud players, Yorgo Bacanos (1900--1977) performed on Turkish Radio for over fifty years; his taksim variations are still studied today. Udi Hrant Kenkulian (1901--1978), the blind Armenian-Turkish oud master, was described by Harold G. Hagopian as "most respected for his improvisational taksim." Cinucen Tanrikorur (1938--2000) composed over five hundred pieces in the classical tradition and was equally renowned as an improviser.

Established In the Arabic tradition, the Iraqi oudist Munir Bashir (1930--1997) elevated the Arabic oud to solo concert performance. His taqasim recordings established phrases so distinctive that musicians call them "bashirisms." Simon Shaheen, the Palestinian-American oud and violin virtuoso, titled his 1993 album Taqasim: Art of Improvisation in Arabic Music.

Learning taksim

Attested Taksim is traditionally learned through the mesk (master-apprentice) method: the student listens to the master's taksim, absorbs the phrasing, and gradually begins to improvise under guidance. As Turkish pedagogical sources emphasize, the microtonal character and emotional quality of a makam "cannot be fully captured on paper" — taksim must be learned through the ear.

Practice The path to taksim ability follows the stages outlined in How to Practice a New Makam: deep listening, scale mastery, cesni isolation, seyir study, composition learning, guided taksim, and finally free taksim. A performer who attempts taksim before internalizing the seyir produces what experienced musicians immediately recognize as aimless wandering — technically possible notes without melodic direction.

Practice Start with a single makam you know well — Rast and Ussak are common starting points because their seyirs are well documented and widely recorded. Follow the seyir faithfully before attempting personal expression. Practice over a drone: the sustained tonic keeps your intonation honest and your cadences anchored. Meshk provides drone and pitch reference for this purpose. Record your taksim attempts and compare them to master recordings — where does your improvisation follow the seyir convincingly, and where does it lose direction?

Taksim is not a technique to be acquired but a capacity to be developed — the capacity to think inside a makam fluently enough that improvisation becomes speech rather than translation.