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Miras-ı Saz

Lesson 15 / 19 · New makams

Hüzzam

A deep, solemn makam with Segah (B koma flat) as its tonic and Neva (D) as its dominant, adding the Hicaz color to a Segah tonic.

  1. Read the makam page

    Its scale, tonic and dominant pitches, structure and seyir.

  2. Listen to the scale

    Ascending and descending scale: keep the tonic in your ear.

  3. Test your ear

    Five questions: which makam does the scale being played belong to? Get at least four right.

  4. Play and get scored

    Turn on the microphone and slowly play or sing the scale from tonic to tonic. We measure how many commas each pitch deviates; 70% or more passes.

  5. Play a piece in this makam

    Play a piece from the sheet music archive and follow the score.

Lesson notes

Structure

It is formed by the Hüzzam pentachord on Segah, that is, the Segah trichord joined with the Hicaz tetrachord on Neva.

Melodic progression (seyir)

It follows an ascending melodic path (seyir): the melody moves with the Hicaz tetrachord on Neva and comes to rest on Segah.

In the dictionary

A makam with karar Segah and güçlü Neva. The Hicaz tetrachord built on Neva (Neva–Hisar–Eviç–Gerdaniye) gives it its deep, dignified color. Dictionary entry

Example pieces from the archive (45 in total)

The Hüzzam makam page: scale, seyir and all its pieces

Related concepts

  • Segah: The main pitch 8 commas (a büyük mücenneb) above Dügah; written in Western notation as B koma flat (1 comma below B). It is the characteristic pitch of the Rast and Uşşak tetrachords; the makams Segah and Hüzzam come to rest on this pitch.
  • Hicaz tetrachord: A tetrachord made of a küçük mücenneb, an augmented second and a küçük mücenneb (S A S: 5 + 12 + 5 commas); built on Dügah it gives the pitches Dügah–Dik kürdi–Nim hicaz–Neva.