{"id":802,"date":"2025-05-27T10:17:52","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T15:17:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nassaubaymusiclessons.com\/?p=802"},"modified":"2025-05-27T10:17:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T15:17:52","slug":"the-intricate-harmonic-structure-of-maqam-sehnaz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nassaubaymusiclessons.com\/?p=802","title":{"rendered":"The Intricate Harmonic Structure of Maqam \u015eehnaz"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Maqam \u015eehnaz <\/em><\/span>is a mode in Ottoman classical music, which is also known as maqam music, after the term used for mode in this tradition (maqam<\/em><\/span>).<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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While homophonic performance <\/em><\/span>has remained an essential part of its aesthetic to this day, maqam music started incorporating tertian harmony <\/em><\/span>at some point in the 18th century, and the process was complete by the 1850s. This transformed the harmonic structure of the traditional modes to a significant degree, so that even the still bare, unaccompanied melody, now effectively implies tonality<\/em><\/span>, chord progressions<\/em><\/span>, cadences, <\/em><\/span>and resolves melodic ideas (sentences) logically within the timeframe provided by rhythm and form.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The resulting harmonic structure is unmistakably tertian, yet it is heterodox with respect to traditional tonality, often breaking the strict rules of functional harmony. It is shared with maqam-influenced musical styles of the Balkans and Eastern Europe, such as klezmer music<\/em><\/span>, the only difference being that in these modern idioms it is explicated by virtue of chords and bass lines. By inferring rules for harmonic development from the various polyphonic practices in these styles, it is possible to detect the trail left by the modern maqam melody to reveal a very intricate and dynamic harmonic canopy.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u015eehnaz Saz Semaisi <\/em><\/strong><\/span>by Kemen\u00e7eci Nikolaki<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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This late 19th or early 20th-century composition is an instrumental concert piece in the saz semai<\/em><\/span> form, written in the aksak semai <\/em><\/span>rhythm (10\/8, notated in the score below as 5\/8). The \u015eehnaz <\/em><\/span>mode uses A double harmonic major<\/em><\/strong><\/span> as its primary scale: <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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