Chapter 16

Continuous Forms

Continuous Forms

• Musical compositions in which themusical elements create continuity; thatis, no internal divisions or interruptionsare created. There is little or no contrast.

Continuous Forms

• Two forms of continuity--

•Pattern-Based

•Text-Based

Pattern-Based Continuous Forms

• Western European--

InventionPreludeFuguePassacagliaChaccone

Inventions• Invention (a discovery, an original product of the

imagination) is a title Western European composers from the baroque through the twentieth centuries give to short, single-movement keyboard compositions, particularly compositions in contrapuntal texture.

• Bach’s two-part inventions were originally called praeambulum and were part of a collection of keyboard pieces that he composed as teaching pieces for one of his sons, Wilhelm Friedemann.

Inventions• Two-part Invention no. 13 JS Bach

PianoPiano and Vibraphone http://web.grinnell.edu/courses/mus/mus213-01/BachInv13.html

Imitative [polyphonic]LeaderFollowerInversionRetrograde

FugueA more complex example of pattern-based continuous music is the fugue. A fugue is a contrapuntal composition built on a short melody called the subject.

•Subject Answer ExpositionCountersubject

• Toccata and Fugue in D minor-Bach

Harmonic Progressions• Refer back to the discussion of the

blues in Chapter Nine

–Blues Progression I I I IIV IV I IV IV I I

Turkish Continuous  Forms • Melodic

–makams (maqams) –basic pitch sets (scales)quarter (micro) tones

• Egreti karar –main melodic tone

• Improvisation– taqasim

Maqam• In Arabic music, a maqam (plural maqamat) is a set of notes (like a scale) with defined relationships between them, like a raga. Maqamat are best defined and understood in the context of the Arabic music repertoire. The nearest equivalent in Western classical music would be a mode.

• Example of a maqam—the Bayati

• Example of Bayati in a song- “Ataba”

Instruments of Turkish Classical Music

• Ud (Uod)The oud is one of the most popular instruments in Arabic music. Its name derives from the Arabic for a thin strip of wood, and refers to the strips of wood used to make its rounded body.

Strings-cont.

• Tanbur (Tambur)

The Tanbur, in the East, refers to a category of popular lutes of various sizes, proportions, and sounds, with the common characteristic that their necks are longer than their bodies.

Strings-cont.• Kanun (Qanun or qanoon) • The qanun is a descendent of

the old Egyptian harp and has been an integral part of Arabic music since the 10th century. The word qanun means 'law' in Arabic. The qanun was introduced to Europe by the 12th Century, becoming known during the 14th to the 16th Century as a psaltery or zither.

Other Instruments--Winds• Ney• The ney (Farsi for 'reed')

is an open-ended, obliquely end blown flute made of cane. They ney was known in the Near East since antiquity. It is nine-jointed, and usually has 6 holes in the front for the fingers to play and 1 hole underneath for the thumb.

Percussion Instruments• Riq• The riq is a small

tambourine traditionally covered with a goat or fish skin head, stretched over a wooden frame inlaid with mother of pearl. The riq has five sets of two pairs of brass cymbals spaced evenly around the frame, and called 'sagaat' in Arabic.

Percussion Instruments

• Kudum• Kudum is a small

double kettle drum with the copper cup covered in camel or sheep skin and playedwith a pair of stickscalled "Zahme".

Percussion Instruments• Bendir or Douf-(Doof

or Duf) • The bendir is a flat frame

drum with a pair of snare strings stretched across the back of the head to give it a little buzz when played. It is associated with Sufi Rituals. It is used to create merriment and to stir the emotions. The thundering tones of the Daf are unsurpassed by any other drum.

Musical Ensemble-• The Turkish musical ensemble is called a

Mutrip

Sufi Music

• The word sufi is derived from the term sahafa. In the times of the Holy Prophet Hazrat Mohammed, the message of Islam was spreading far and wide by missionaries and conquests. The sahafa was one band of men who were totally devoted to prayer and meditation. Worship and search for spiritual perfection was their only aim. Over the centuries the sahafa became those holy men who are now called sufis.

Sufi Music

• The film soundtrack to The Last Temptation of Christ, on which Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan performed, was of crucial importance in bringing the religious music of Qawwali (Sufi) to new audiences.

• Today, Sufism has an estimated 9 million followers. Sufis can be traced across North Africa, East Africa, the Balkans, the Central Asian Republics of the former USSR, east across Malaysia and Indonesia, and also within the many Middle-Eastern nations traditionally associated with Islam.

Sufi Music

• used for religious purposes

• accompanies the Whirling Dervishes

– The Whirling Dervishes trace their origin to the 13th century Ottoman Empire. The Dervishes, also known as the Mevlevi Order, are Sufis, a spiritual offshoot of Islam.

The Ritual Dance or Sema• The Mevlevi (also spelled as mawlawi)

Ritual dance or sema consists of several stages with different meanings:

• The first stage, Naat-i Sherif, is a eulogy to the Messenger of Islam and the all Prophets before him, who represent love. This eulogy is followed by a drumbeat (on the kudum) symbolizing the divine command ‘Be’ for the creation of the entire universe.  

The Ritual Dance or Sema• The Naat-i Sherif is followed by a Taksim, an

improvisation on the reed flute or ney. This expresses the divine breath, which gives life to everything.

• Then follows the Sultan Veled procession or Devr-i Veled, accompanied by peshrev music; this is a circular, anticlockwise, procession three times around the turning space. The greetings of the semazen, or whirling dervishes, during the procession represent the three stages of knowledge: ilm-al yaqin (received knowledge, gained from others or through study), ayn-al yaqin (knowing by seeing or observing for oneself) and haqq-al yakin (knowledge gained through direct experience, gnosis).

The Ritual Dance or Sema• Whirling is one of the tools used by Sufis (Islamic

mystics) to come closer to Allah/God.

The Ritual Dance or Sema

• This is followed by a recitation from the Qur’an, the Sura (Chapter) Mary on the miracle birth of Jesus and his mission.

Sultan Veled Peshrev

• Peshrev  ––  musical prelude• Long, melodic phrases• Irregular phrases, conjunct motion

• Grand Cycle (devr-i-kebir)–– 56 beats

• Sufi Meditation Song