File:A stroll through some retuned maqams.mp3

This is my first attempt at writing a song based on Arabic Maqam scales. I am sure this departs from any authentic tradition in a number of ways, but at least two of these are intentional. First of all, I used a more contrapuntal style than is typical of Arabic music (only two parts, mind) rather than the more typical monophonic style.

Second of all, I wrote it in 34 EDO. My idea was as follows: The Rast tetrachord is generally written in 24 EDO notation as C D Ed F, which looks a lot like a tempering of a 9:10:11:12 tetrachord, where 12/11 and 11/10 (as well as 10/9 and 9/8) have been tempered together, although numerous sources say that 24 EDO is only a crude approximation of what is played in real Arabic music. Anyway, I figured I'd be rebellious and use something that tempered 11/10 and 10/9 together, while leaving the other intervals distinct. This is best thought of as a tradition I hope exists somewhere, rather than anything I can confirm actually does.

This song is mostly in "Maqam Rast," but there're a couple brief excursions into "Maqam Huzam" and a middle section in "Maqam Saba."

In more detail:

From 0-0:16 the song begins monophonically on Oud in "Maqam Rast", which I rendered as C Dv Ed F G Av Bd C, (at least when the scale ascends. I often lower Bd to Bb^ of descent as is idiomatic, but sometimes I lower Av to Ab^ as well, e.g. at 0:23.)

From 0:16 - 0:39 the song continues in Rast, but the Oud is joined by a Clarinet.

From 0:40 - 0:45 there is a brief excursion into "Maqam Huzam," which I rendered as Ed F G Ab^ Bv C Dv Ed

From 0:46 - 0:55 there is a section in "Maqam Saba," which I rendered as Dv Eb^ F Gb^ Av Bb C Db^ Ev F

From 0:55 - 1:02 there is a transitional section, where I've modified the closed octave version of "Maqam Saba" by lowering Av to Ab^. This results in Ab^ C Eb^ Gb^ forming an arpeggiated harmonic 7th chord, which on reflection I think is functioning like a German Augmented 6th chord pointing back to the dominant of Rast.

From 1:02-1:36 on the material from 0:16-0:45 repeats pretty much verbatim, although there are a couple little flourishes at the beginning and end of the reprise.

For the notation above, FCGDAEB makes the usual circle of fifths (the fifth is 20/34th of an octave, or about 706 cents), b lowers the pitch by 4 EDO steps, d lowers the pitch by half that (2 EDO steps), and ^ and v respectively raise or lower the pitch by 1 EDO step. This is the same as the textual notation used in the README for the n-TET tuner plugin I used to create this mp3. See https://github.com/euwbah/musescore-n-tet-plugins/blob/master/README.md#key-signatures .