Deciphering Persian Music: A Systematic Approach Through Modal Classification and Synthesis
(2024)
author(s): Bamdad Khoshghadami Hosseini, Soroosh Ghahramanloo
published in: Research Catalogue
This research aims to develop a comprehensive notation system for Persian music that supports improvisation, composition, and analysis of its modal aspects. By drawing parallels to how chord symbols function in jazz, the study introduces a system to denote pitch classes (maqām) and melodic contours (māyeh). Utilizing historical methodologies from Safī al-Dīn al-Urmawī's "Kitāb-i Advār", the research presents an innovative framework to represent modal cycles and microtonal nuances. As a case study, the 'Radif' of persian music is decoded and presented using this new system, demonstrating its practical application. The outcome is a detailed, practical guide that enhances the understanding and performance of Persian music, illustrated through examples of Setar improvisation and comparative analysis of melodic figures.
Keywords: Persian Music, Modality, Radif, Dastgah, Maqam, Improvisation
Microtonal Piano Solos
(2019)
author(s): Saman Samadi
published in: Research Catalogue
This exposition represents a collection of Saman Samadi's piano pieces for which he used an innovative microtonal pitch organization derived from Persian classical music. An album consisting of the recordings of these eleven pieces, performed by the composer, was published on digital music platforms on the 7th of January, 2015.
A brief analysis of sound characteristics in Santur's various techniques
(last edited: 2024)
author(s): Mirsaeed Hosseiny Panah
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
In this exposition I will show various techniques in Santur and highlighting the unique sound characteristics within each. For this purpose, I will utilize the spectromorphological approach of describing and transcribing the sound objects, developed by Professor Lasse Thoresen.
I have incorporated all significant traditional techniques and also explored extended techniques on this instrument.
Shekasteh Mouyeh
(last edited: 2019)
author(s): Saman Samadi
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
Radif – or, the traditional repertoire of Persian classical music, consisting of more than 200 short melodic motions (gusheh), which are arranged into seven principal modes (dastgāh) with five secondary branches of these modes (āvāz) – is the oldest documented version of Dastgah music, developed by Mirza Abdollah in the 19th century. This exposition represents the confrontation of these microtonal modes with and within electroacoustic music material and techniques, and the problematisation of the results along with objects of video-art and visual effects, creating a set of compositions that would exhibit novelty; furthermore, the assemblage of them for and through a live performance utilizing improvisational methods as an attempt to expand timbral possibilities in a contextual relationship with Western contemporary classical music. The aim of this artistic research is producing a syncretistic multimedia work of art that could serve in assimilating two perspectives of Eastern and Western into a new coalescence towards the grail of a universal totality of classical forms.
