Melodic melange

The two words Improvisation and Modal originate from the Latin words Improvisus and Modus.

Some attemps to define parameters in jazz:

Our work has roughly followed the timeline showed below, although parts of all headlines have been involved all the time. It is like a circle where everything is connected to each other and really cannot be separated.

PROCESS and METHOD

RECORDINGS

SHARING – Concerts and Seminars

REFLECTIONS
MEETING

BACKGROUND

ME music was influenced early on by ancient Greek music theory. (Thus; both Western and ME music owes much of its foundation to ancient music theory and have later on evolved in different directions). A unique way to use scales is Maqam, which represents methods and rules for how to use a particular mode. Today Maqam is regarded as the most sophisticated form of oriental music, an art that requires much practice in both music and emotional and philosophical theories. Essential in performing a maqam is a careful use of tone in relation to silence. It requires an ability to improvise and compose which is similar to other forms of music such as jazz.

The word Maqam literally means a valuable place. It also means the foundations of a structure. In modal improvisation the word is used to stress the structure of the improvisation. Today it is sometimes used as equivalent to the scale of the mode, which doesn’t necessary mean one octave scale; it can be all the notes or sounds used in the mode which can be 7 notes, but it might be 5 or 12 or 14 notes or more. 

One feature of the Maqam music is the fact that a Maqam is a flexible concept. It allows the player to create new Maqams, either as structure for improvisation or even as choice of notes and sounds.

Middle Eastern music in itself has many styles. Even inside what is classified as classical music, one can find a lot of different types of music which are are mainly influenced by local music and tastes of various regions of the Arab and Middle Eastern cultures.

 For example the improvisation in Iraqi style, generally is about performing one colour or mode, where the player tries to examine his ability to express within this mode. In Egypt on the other hand, especially in secular classical music, improvisation is more as showing the ability of mixing a certain mode with other modes; the more complicated modulations done the more the player is praised and appreciated. Back to Iraq, too many modulations can be seen as a lack of imagination and less ability to fulfill the colors of the mode.

  This phenomenon is also influenced by type of instruments used. An example is the Santur in classical Iraqi music, which is an instrument tuned to one mode at a time. However from another perspective, the choice of instruments might follow the aesthetics of the culture. This is why many instruments in Egypt and Syria were considered as folk instruments and were not accepted as part of the classical circles, basically due to the limited ability of such instruments to play many scales and modulations.

 
PREUNDESTANDING

In 2009, Ahmad and Anders made a tour in Sweden with Indian tabla player Fazal Qureshi. (Fazal and Anders have played together since 1988). During rehearsals and concerts we created a fundament for a common repertoire and an understanding of each other’s backgrounds and musical personalities. In 2011 we played some duo concerts and started to prepare for the project that resulted in an application for an Artistic Development project. In November 2011 we toured and recorded in India with Fazal and other Indian artists.

A major challenge when having musical collaborations between different musical cultures is how one relates to pulse and rhythm. In this project, we will not discuss this aspect, although we have noted an interesting difference in phrasing and relationship to the pulse or beat between the oriental musicians and the jazz musicians.

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Some more obvious results of our work are:

The CD Ley Lines was released in India in the spring 2013 and is a collaboration with Fazal Qureshi and other indian artists.

Basically this perspective is influenced by the following two questions: what do I think as an ME classical musician of the project? How did it challenge me as a musician?

One extremely important value is the theoretical, practical and even personal investigation of the work. In the beginning of this project we tried to exchange ideas about music, theory and backgrounds. This gave us a chance to understand each other as individuals and as performers. This also enabled us to decide in which direction we should proceed, and to avoid some of the obstacles that might occur.

Later we reach the point of designing a scale, and searching for how to use it in a music that makes sense. Here I need to say that as an ME musician I am used to find relations between notes and tetra chords (4 notes) in a melodic way or a horizontal way. The intonation of a note is based on what is played before and after. The vertical Harmonic relation is not a strong part of the ME tradition.

We made a set of ingredients including the root, the characteristic notes, basic chord and rhythmical pattern. This was the case of the piece Arpeggio, where we can here the root D, and the d minor chord, plus the characteristic notes G# and C#, all of it put in a uneven rhythmic loop sounding like a tampura (Indian drone isntrument). With the repetition of this pattern, one can feel strongly the harmonics of the mode, putting both the improviser and the listener in the right state or mood.

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PROCESS AND METHOD

have of course been important premises of how we used the structures. Idiomatic aspects have been taken into account. Even if we have been challenged by the limitations, our ambition has been to make our playing feel organic.

2. Practical. The starting point in playing (i.e. Troll) An idiomatic approach.

When starting with a theoretical or technical idea, it had to be idomatic and musically possible and organic for us both to play.

We have allowed our playing to take time and the music has grown organically without deciding in advance about length and final form.

The scale is new for both of us but we can clearly relate to it.

The music that came out of these ideas is very expressive and has a strong emotional quality. In a spontaneous way we really used sound and silence as ways of expression which was part of our purpose to explore. Since the material and concept was new to both of us we really had to listen carefully and could not rely to any phrases and "licks" from our earlier repertoire and tradition. This could have been a reason to why this music became so strong in its expression.
One essential aspect for Anders was to use different tonics within the modal concept. It could have been more easy to play in one key with one pedal point (like an indian tanpura in a raga). Bringing the western idea of changing tonic to the same scale, thus creating a sense of different chords and harmony was one way of developing the music within a framework of modality as well as idiomatic and stylistic possibilities.
Music that came out of these improvisations are;

+Arpeggio Duo, (Elegy for our Fathers), which was developed into Arpeggio Quartet.

+ Meditation Duo (Caravanserai), which was devloped into Meditation.
When comparing our duo session in April, the quartet session in June and concerts in September and November it is clear how the music changed over time, from the first loose sketches towards more defined forms. (NB we are not claiming that the latter is better music, just that it is different). The open qualities of the duo session made us very alert and communicative to each other and to the spaces in music. The quartet session had an approach, though two months had passed and the material had developed. Also the fact that we were four musicians demanded a little more of arrangements and decisions about musical form. Finally, when listening to the concert from november, the music is affected by the audience and the dramaturgy of a live performance.
Music ex from the ALBUM
Arpeggio is based on a pattern from the scale in rubato with a melodic line on top. The second part is a faster 4/4 rhytm with a saxophone improvisation.

In the first part, a common method in oud music was used; musical patterns from an earlier composition (Diaspora for solo oud) were transposed into the new mode. The oud acted like a tampura, with a rubato approach to give the arpeggio a more melodic touch. The continuous repetition of the cycle worked to create a meditative sound environment.

The second part was very similar to the previous one but with faster tempo and more rhythmic characteristics. We have kept the bass note D as a drone and changed the harmonies in the higher register. This is as an example of a combination of the two musical worlds we were trying to bring together.
(Music ex, 7, 9, 10. Score ex 4)



Meditation is based on three tonics within the scale and a slow moving bass line starting i C# moving to D and finally Bb. The tonics were chosen from which notes within the mode that had a pure fifth. Flute (with matusi headjoint) improvisation starts, followed by oud and finally together. (Music ex 5, 8. Score ex 5)

Practical angle – an example
Troll
During the quartet session in June 2012, Anders had brought with him an overtone flute in the key of A, which is a copy of a traditional sheperds flute from scandinavia (sälgflöjt). Basically, this instrument uses the natural harmonics in an open and closed tube and combining them (as well as 1/2 covered) creates a diatonic scale which approximately is A dominant lydian (mixolydian with a #4). The constructor of the flute added another hole, giving more options to create notes. Using open tube and with a variation of opening and closing the additional hole one can play a scale that is close to what would be called a D - minor harmonic scale (with A as tonic) or, in an arabic terminology starting with a hijaz tetrachord.

On this flute, most of notes except for the tonic (A) and the fifth (E) had micro differences from the equal tempered scale on the piano, thus a lot of microtones. This came from an idiomatic reason and the sound inspired Ahmad to improvise his solo using many of the same microtones, though connected to his tradition.

The melody is derived from a scale that often is referred to a ”Messiaen scale, 3rd mode”. G A Bb B C# D Eb F Gb.

A-part is based on a melody created to a dance performance inspired by gouaches by Louise Bourgeois. A bassline and a second harmony were added to emphasize on a harmonic change between G minor and Eb minor. The B-part is a melody moving round a sequence of chords B minor, Eb minor and G minor, all chords within the scale used in a mediantic way. A bassline was composed to it.

The oud solo is based on the A part and the saxophone solo on the B-part chords. This piece was an attempt to use a modal perspective, although using different chords. A challenge was that the music still would work idiomatically for the oud and the oriental percussion to play (see also section Meeting).

A melody that came out of an improvisation some years ago in C phrygian mode. The second time melody is played the minor third is changed to a major, creating an F minor harmonic scale or a C hijaz tetrachord. In addition to this, microtones and bending were used, especially between flat and sharp 7th. Using techiniques from indian bamboo flute playing on his western silver flute, Anders can spontanuesly use glissandi and microintervals in his playing.

This piece was built on a 10/8 cycle. In oriental music the slow 10/8 cycle (Semai) is the most common cycle used in classical instrumental music. On the other hand the fast 10/16 cycle (Georgina) is very common in Iraqi folk music. Ahmad tried to combine both cycles using the Georgina (10/16) structure in a slower tempo. The melody of Blue Dove is build on a maqam Formula also used in Iraqi music, G minor as a main mode, with colors of D Hijaz and C Nekriz, then to F hijaz, Bb Major and D minor.

The piece is written in 8/8 but with a bridge of 11/8 which is also used in the improvised part. The melody is in C minor mixed with C Nawaathar (C Harmonic minor with Augmented 4th).

In three pieces (Meditation, Sounds of Sufi, Meditation duo) Anders used a new invention called ”Matusi headjoint” which is inspired by the Chinese bamboo flute dzi dzi which has a membran that vibrates and creates an intense, almost reed sounding quality. Flute builder Eva Kingma has made such a membran to the silver flute headjoint which can be opened and closed with a key, controlled by a fine thread. The sound from the Matusi was an important inspiration while interpreting and improvising with the scales, again a practical and idiomatic starting point, combined with the theoretical aspect. The Armenian duduk (reed instrument) and ney flute music from the Sufi tradition has been an inspiration for Anders regarding e.g. sound, emotional expression and spiritual dimensions. Anders is using special fingerings on silver flute and soprano saxophone to achive special sonoroties and glissandi.

MEETING
In the beginning of the journey of this project, we had to limit our field of investigation to make it easier for us to find clearer results that we can build on for a future continuation. Of course the limitation were on both types of music and instruments. From the Oud and ME side, technically we had to abandon the quarter tones and focus more on diatonic or tempered modes. Musically we focused on the tonal side of the improvisation and not on the structural side (which is also used very much in ME improvisation). One of the reasons to focus on the equal tempered scale was that we wanted to implement our music on western instruments, such as the piano.

When you encounter something or someone that is different from yourself it can work as a mirror where you get a chance to see and hear yourself with new eyes and ears. This might occur on both a micro and a universal level.