# 8.2 Taqsīm and composition

The performance you have been listening to alternates episodes of taqsīm, or improvisation, with sections from Samai Bayati, the composition being performed. As you have heard, the performance starts with a taqsīm (played on the ‘ūd) that makes use of a collection of notes that sometimes includes B half flat and sometimes B flat.

Table 4 outlines the entire performance, including parts not yet discussed. Three sections follow the opening improvisation. The full orchestra comes in at 01:32, introducing the composition Samai Bayati per se. At 03:29, there is another taqsīm, this time performed on the qānūn, an instrument whose plucked strings are laid out across a sounding board (see Figure 13). Then at 06:11, the orchestra enters again and plays the remainder of the composition.

Figure 13 The qānūn, an instrument whose plucked strings are laid out across a sounding board

## Activity 13

Allow around 20 minutes

Read through Table 4, then listen to the full performance (repeated below) while following the table.

## Table 4 Sections and note sets in play in Samai Bayati

Time code | Instrument | Observations | Note set
00:00 | Solo ‘ūd (taqsīm) | The solo begins, using the set of notes with B half flat (see Example 11 on previous page). | Set 2
00:53 | The solo continues, now using the set of notes with B flat (see Example 12 on previous page). | Set 1
01.26 | Solo ‘ūd returns to the set of notes with B half flat (see Example 13 on previous page). | Set 2
01:32 | Full orchestra (composition) | The orchestra enters with the opening melody of the composition. | –
02:03 | The orchestra introduces a melody that recurs several times. This is melody R, and it makes use of Set 1. | Set 1
02:32 | The orchestra plays a contrasting melody. | –
03:01 | The orchestra plays melody R again. | Set 1
03:29 | Solo qānūn (taqsīm) | A soloist plays a taqsīm on the qānūn. | –
06:11 | Full orchestra (composition) | The orchestra enters again. | –
06:39 | The orchestra plays melody R again. | Set 1
07:07 | The music speeds up slightly and takes on a new rhythm. Sections of the orchestra now play in alternation. | –
08:01 | The orchestra slows down slightly, returns to the original rhythm, and plays melody R one last time. | Set 1

Listen especially for (a) the alternation between taqsīm and composition and (b) a recurring melody, heard four times: at 02:03, 03:01, 06:39 and 08:01.

Video 4 Samai Bayati performed by the Classical Arabic Orchestra of Aleppo (make sure to open the link in a new tab/window)

If you have time (either now or later), work through Activities 12 and 13 again to help internalise the sounds and structures of the music.

As you have learned, Arab music theory divides the octave into 24 notes. However, performers typically only use a subset of these notes in any given performance or section of a performance. (This is also true of other traditions. In many pieces and passages of Western music, for example, musicians only use seven of the twelve notes available to them.)

While following Table 4 in the previous activity, you may have noticed that from 01:32 onwards the column entitled ‘Note set’ occasionally contained a dash rather than the name of a note set. This is because, while the recurring melody at 02:03, 03:01, 06:39 and 08:01 makes unambiguous use of the collection identified as Set 1, the pitch content of the other sections is more complicated.

For example, the material from 01:32 to 02:03 employs both B half flat and B flat (albeit in different octaves). From 02:32 to 03:03, the music also uses the two versions of the B (this time in the same octave) as well as F half sharp and E natural. The qānūn taqsīm introduces some new notes, too.

Don’t feel daunted if you find it difficult to hear such details; the key thing is to be able to hear something of the use of E half flat, B flat, and B half flat in the opening minute and a half of the performance. It may be an encouragement to know that the author of these teaching materials needed to draw on the guidance of an expert (Saeid Kordmafi) to be able to point out certain nuances of the performance!

OpenLearn - Introduction to music theory 2: pitch and notation
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