2.10.2 Turkish classical music

This section highlights issues that are relevant to notating Turkish classical music.


References for Turkish classical music

Turkish classical music developed in the Ottoman Empire in a period roughly contemporaneous with classical music in Europe, and has continued on into the 20th and 21st centuries as a vibrant and distinct tradition with its own compositional forms, theory and performance styles. Among its striking features is the use of microtonal intervals based on ‘commas’ of 1/9 of a tone, from which are constructed the melodic forms known as makam (plural makamlar).

Some issues relevant to Turkish classical music are covered elsewhere:


Turkish note names

Pitches in Turkish classical music traditionally have unique names, and the basis of pitch on 1/9-tone divisions means makamlar employ a completely different set of intervals from Western scales and modes: koma (1/9 of a tone), eksik bakiye (3/9), bakiye (4/9), kücük mücenneb (5/9), büyük mücenneb (8/9), tanîni (a whole tone) and artık ikili (12/9 or 13/9 of a tone).

From a modern notational point of view it is convenient to use the standard Western staff notes (c, d, e, ...) with special accidentals that raise or lower notes by intervals of 1/9, 4/9, 5/9 and 8/9 of a tone. These accidentals are defined in the file ‘makam.ly’ (to locate this file on your system, see Other sources of information). A more detailed description is provided in Non-Western note names and accidentals.


Más nyelvek: español, français.

LilyPond — Notation Reference