MofA Week 3: Music in theory, theory in practice

Bird's eye view of the history of music in the Arab world

• Film: Dananeer (1940). Three levels of reading:
  • ...as a representation of 9th c Abbasid culture
  • ...as a representation of perceptions of "Arab history" in 1940
  • ...as a representation of Egyptian music in 1940

• Theory: consider the relation among
  • formal (music) theory (e.g. philosophical treatises)
  • informal discourse (about music) (e.g. work of Scott Marcus on intonation, modulation)
  • (musical) practice (composition, improvisation) (e.g. analysis of performances by Dr Jihad Racy)

Arabic theory of music (science, metaphysics)

• • Caliph Ma'mun (r. 813-33) and Bayt al-Hikma
  • Influence of Greek philosophical treatises on Arab music theory
    • Music as part of quadrivium (music, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy)
    • Word "musiqi" ("musiqa") enters Arabic from Greek, comes to imply theory
  • Key figures: philosophers
    • al-Kindi (d. 870)
    • al-Farabi (d. 950)
    • Ikhwan al-Safa (late 10th c)
    • Ibn Sina (d. 1037)
    • Safi al-Din al-Urmawi (d. 1294)
  • Two kinds of theory:
    • Metaphysical
    • Sonic
    • We'll talk about the latter today
  • Influence of Greek treatises:
    • Pythagorean tuning
    • Double octave system
    • Tetrachords
    • General notion of systematic exposition
  • Difficulties in interpreting medieval theory
    • Relation of theory and practice? Theory may be prescriptive, descriptive, or independent.
    • Theory of earlier period is filtered by later ideologies
    • Many works and all sound is lost

Components of theory of sound

• • Tonal theory
    • Pitches and scales
    • Modes
  • Rhythmic theory

Tonal theory

• Ud as reference
  • 5 strings: bam - mathlath - mathna - zir - hadd
  • 4 frets: sababa - wusta - binsir - khinsir
  • 5 notes per string (but some are variable)
  • Each string provides tetrachord (jins)
  • Jins species (anwa`)
    • First degree fixed (mutlaq)
    • Fourth degree fixed (binsir) - major 3rd
    • fifth degree fixed (khinsir) - perfect 4th
    • Second and third degrees are variable (sababa and wusta)
  • Jins combine to form scales, basis for modes
  • Approaches to consider:
    • Theorization of Old Arabian school (Hijazi, with retroactive Greek and prescriptive influence): e.g. Ibn al-Munajjim
    • Theory of the philosophers: e.g. al-Farabi (Greek influence, ethnographic approach)
    • The Systematists: e.g. Safi al-Din al-Urmawi (prescriptive systematizer)
    • Modern theorists from the 19th c onwards