The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: pewd
Date: 2004-09-20 20:48
i have a copy of some turkish folk music, supposedly for clarinet
it has some weird notation i've never seen , thus this question -
its in 4/4 time, and treble clef. 5 lines, 4 spaces.
so far so good.
now the weird part - the 'key' signature has both a B flat and a C sharp
later, it appears to changes key and they insert 2 naturals (b and c) to cancel the bflat and c sharp.
has anyone seen anything like this? both a sharp and a flat in the key signature? or know how i should intrepret it?
later in the same piece it has a b flat sign on the 3rd line with a raised '2' next to it - like b-squared in mathmetics format. any ideas what this means?
my other problem is i've no idea if this is for a B-flat clarinet, or a turkish g clarinet, or what. all it says is 'klarnet meyan' -and i dont read turkish, so am a bit more confused than normal google didn't help me on that term.
thanks for any help with this...
- paul
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: ChrisC
Date: 2004-09-21 00:25
Regarding the combined occurence of a Bb and C# in the key signature, this is probably the simplest way to indicate that it is in the "hijaz" mode, essentially a harmonic minor scale beginnning on the fifth degee--the piece you are referring to would be in a hijaz, with the same notes as d harmonic minor. Turkish folk and classical music approaches (or perhaps surpasses) Indian classical music in terrms of the number and complexity of the modes that are traditionally employed, frequently using microtones at the more advanced level. This entire system is, I believe, known as "makam," and I am not an expert in it. Of all the Turkish makams, hijaz is probably the most frequently employed, and it makes frequent appearances in non-Turkish music from the Balkans and elsewhere in Eastern Europe, going under many different names, particularly in Jewish and gypsy traditions. Hava Nagilah, for example, is essentially in hijaz, as are many more interesting tunes.
Tunes that begin in hijaz often modulate into different modes, hence the negation of the accidentals that you describe.
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Author: Topher
Date: 2004-09-21 01:21
Checking out the Ethnic Clarinet part of this BBoard (http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/list.html?f=2) may also be a great place to find out about ethnic Turkish music.
Just a though.
topher
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2004-09-21 02:09
Hi Paul,
I am not a Turkish klarnet expert, nor do I play one on tv. However, I happen to own a Turkish G clarinet (wooo...some credentials, eh? ).
I have played Turkish music on it. I do know some of the makams mentioned above by Chris. Bb and C# are common in many Balkan modes/makams but are not always notated in the key signature in places other than Turkey.
My Turkish dictionary does not mention the separate word, "meyan." It does have the word "meyankoku" (both the o and u have umlauts) which translates as "licorice root." Looking elsewhere in the dictionary shows that the word "kok" (again an umlaut) means "root." Therefore my best GUESS at "meyan" would be "licorice."
Any other words on the sheet? What appears to be the (written) tonic note of the piece? What is the range for whatever clarinet it is?
You could also check out the listserv at the East European Folklife Center at: http://www.eefc.org I know there are lots of Turkish folks and Turkish clarinetists on there (well, ok...only 2 clarinetists of which I know...but that qualifies as "lots" in USA, right? )
Katrina
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Author: pewd
Date: 2004-09-21 03:37
that was extremely helpful, thank you.
i found a thread in the archives which also helps.
i still can't figure the B-2 (looks like math for B-squared) symbol ; nor can i figure if this is for Bb or G clarinet. The written ranges are all unremarkable, within the staff for the most part.
i'll scan it and put a .jpg out there tomorrow and see if that sheds further light on what this is. actually it will be 2 days, tomorrow's a long day, teaching, symphony rehearsal, etc.
thanks y'all
-paull
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2004-09-21 03:41
Sorry, Paul,
I hadn't noticed the question about the b-squared thingy.
My guess is that that is a microtonal indication. Turkish modes frequently have things like "4-or-5-komas flat or sharp" which means that in an interval of a second, there are 9 komas total, and some modes use one or another version of the half- or quarter-tone as a "regular" note.
Katrina
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Author: pewd
Date: 2004-09-21 03:51
understood. i havent found that particular symbol in web searches yet.
thx.
-paul
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Author: buedsma
Date: 2004-09-23 07:17
check out http://www.bueds.be/webmuziek for some articles about arabian modes. There you will find also one notation form for quarter notes.
I also never encountered the one you mentioned
Another turkish clarinet owner :-)
( music : erkose brothers , with or without anouar brahem )
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