Experiments on the Relationship between Perde and Seyir in Turkish Maqam Music
“When I was a kid, the elders in the village could tell the maqam of a piece just by listening.” While interviewing performers, enthusiasts, and experts in traditional Turkish taksims (improvisations), variations of this comment were made many times. Some of the respondents claimed to be able to identify the maqam of a taksim, but others believed that this ability might now be a lost art. This paper documents a series of experiments (based on caricaturized or skeletonized taksim-like creations) designed to determine if it is possible to identify the maqam from purely acoustical features, and, when possible, to determine the relative importance of the various audible features that may be used to establish the maqam. Two basic classes of features are investigated: perde (the set of pitches used in the performance) and seyir (which relates to temporal motion within the piece, for instance, repetitive, rhythmic, or common motives). The experiments provide evidence that both kinds of features contribute to the ability to recognize maqams.
presentation slides available here