Art
Ehsan Zabihifar; Seyed Shahin Mohseni
Abstract
The current article presents a review, translation, and analysis on the brief and invaluable Kitāb al-Nagham of Yhaya ibn alMunajjim - a scientist in third century - in which there is Isḥāq alMawșilī’s account on the "Old School of Qina". This School, which existed before translating Greek ...
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The current article presents a review, translation, and analysis on the brief and invaluable Kitāb al-Nagham of Yhaya ibn alMunajjim - a scientist in third century - in which there is Isḥāq alMawșilī’s account on the "Old School of Qina". This School, which existed before translating Greek books and is largely inspired by the pre-Islamic music, is much different, regarding the culture, from what alFarabi introduced. The core of this treatise is first to study the number the main notes and position them on the Oud and then explicating the notion of "Majrā" which was innovated by Isḥāq alMawșilī‘s analysis of the notation system indicates that the system is founded on ten notes which can develop into two Majrās: Binsir and Vustā consisting of eight and seven notes respectively. These two are different in at least two notes and have the other notes in common. The analysis also disproves what has been asserted so far and that Majrā is similar to mode and scale. The term “Imād” is introduced as the standard note to tune instruments accordingly. Terms such as “Saut” and “Tabaqa” which are used in the text have different meanings than what they denote today. The treatise also discusses the number and the purpose of oud’s strings. This treatise is one of the oldest works in theoretical music which has adopted an analytical approach and at the same time is similar to the practical tradition of music. This current article includes a translation of the original text in Persian, based on which a text-oriented analysis and an explication of alMunajjim’s ideas along with criticism of older accounts are presented.
Art
Ehsan Zabihifar
Abstract
The Basics of Melody Creation in Composition was published by Markaz publication in 2016. The author of the book attempts to address the subjects of melody in 8 separate chapters. The text is smooth and easy to understand and the book cover design is adorned and unobtrusive. The author's musicologists' ...
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The Basics of Melody Creation in Composition was published by Markaz publication in 2016. The author of the book attempts to address the subjects of melody in 8 separate chapters. The text is smooth and easy to understand and the book cover design is adorned and unobtrusive. The author's musicologists' approach to address the subject, the use of multiple and varied sources, the multiplicity of text-related examples and illustrations, and the abstract and conclusion presentation at the end of each topic were among the most important features of this book. Considering the topics discussed in the chapters and the educational and analytical process presented, a suitable title was not selected for the book. Also, in general, the first, third, and sixth chapters of the book, the main content of which are more coherently raised in other books, cannot be considered a point in this book. In contrast, the perspective raised by the author in Chapters 2 and 8 is a special and useful discussion about the melody that has not been addressed in other Persian-language books.
