Maqam: the Notes Between the Keys
Some music lives between the piano's keys. Arabic music is built on modes called maqamat, and some of them use quarter tones: half of a half step, pitches a piano simply doesn't have. Hear E flat, E natural and the note right between them, build Maqam Rast (C D E half flat F G A B half flat C) and compare it with C major, then meet Maqam Hijaz and its wide gap, D E flat F sharp G, the same augmented second as the harmonic minor. A maqam is more than a scale: it has typical phrases, important notes and ajnas, building blocks of three to five notes. The fretless oud plays the in-between pitches freely, and an improvised prelude that explores a maqam is called a taqsim; twelve-note equal temperament can't, so a piano can't play Rast in tune. Our in-between notes are synthetic approximations, and every phrase is our own.
In this lesson you'll
- Hear and explain a quarter tone, half of a half step: E half flat sits halfway between E flat and E natural, where the piano has no key, and see the two in-between notes of Maqam Rast as extra dots on the circle.
- Build Maqam Rast (C D E half flat F G A B half flat C) and compare it with C major, and play Maqam Hijaz's D E flat F sharp G on the piano with a short phrase across its augmented second (E flat to F sharp, the same gap as the harmonic minor).
- Explain why a maqam is more than a scale (typical phrases, important notes, ajnas of three to five notes) and why twelve-note equal temperament can't play Rast in tune, while the fretless oud can.
Remember
Arabic music is built on modes called maqamat; some use quarter tones. Maqam Rast is C D E half flat F G A B half flat C: its E and B sit halfway between flat and natural, about a quarter tone below the piano's E and B.
A maqam is not just a scale: it has typical phrases, important notes and ways of moving between ajnas, building blocks of three to five notes. Maqam Hijaz (D E flat F sharp G) has an augmented second, the same exotic gap as the harmonic minor.
Twelve-note equal temperament (lessons 48 and 49) has no quarter tones, so a piano literally can't play Maqam Rast in tune; the oud, a fretless lute, plays the in-between pitches freely, and an improvised prelude exploring a maqam is called a taqsim.