Context
Theory
Comparative modal theory, string acoustics, microtonal psychoacoustics, and notation systems.
- 01Makam and Dastgah: Shared Roots, Divergent PathsA comparative overview of Turkish makam and Persian dastgah — their common origins in medieval Islamic music theory and how they diverged.
- 02Turkish Makam and Arabic Maqam: One Family, Two SystemsHow Turkish makam and Arabic maqam share deep roots yet differ in tuning, terminology, structural theory, and performance practice — and why treating them as the same system misleads.
- 03Notation Systems for Microtonal Music: Writing What Lives Between the NotesHow Turkish, Persian, and Arabic traditions adapted — and resisted — Western staff notation to capture microtonal intervals that standard notation cannot express.
- 04The Theory-Practice Gap: Why the Grid Is Not the MusicHow spectral analysis, computational pitch studies, and centuries of oral tradition reveal that makam and dastgah performers don't follow the theoretical frameworks we write down — and why that matters for anyone learning this music.
- 05Psychoacoustics of Microtonal PerceptionWhat experimental research reveals about how the human auditory system processes intervals smaller than a semitone — categorical perception, cross-cultural training effects, and why makam and dastgah musicians hear things that 12-TET listeners do not.
- 06Comparative Modal Theory: Makam, Dastgah, Maqam, and RagaA structured comparison of the world's major modal music systems — what they share, where they diverge, and why comparing them illuminates each tradition without collapsing them into one.
- 07Intervals Between the Frets: How Middle Eastern Music Measures Pitch DistanceThe named interval categories of Turkish makam theory — bakiye, mucennep, tanini, and artik ikili — how they are measured in Holdrian commas, and how they combine to form the cesni that define each makam.
- 08The Physics of a Plucked StringHow string length, tension, and mass determine pitch — and why the harmonic series, inharmonicity, and plucking position shape the timbre of the oud, tanbur, and their relatives.