Naqmey-e Sahar (The Melody of Dawn) A Piece for solo violin, woodwinds, percussions and strings by Ali Montazerighahjaverestani, B.S., M.A. A Doctoral Project in Composition Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts Approved Dr. Mei-Fang Lin Chair of Committee Dr. Peter Fischer Dr. David Forrest Dr. Mark Sheridan Dean of the Graduate School December 2016 Copyright 2016, Ali Montazerighahjaverestani Texas Tech University, Ali Montazerighahjaverestani, December 2016 Acknowledgments I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. Mei-Fang Lin for all her kindness, time and encouragement. Dr. Lin taught me many things about composition and contemporary musical styles. Completing this dissertation would not have been possible without the support of Dr. Peter Fischer who offered his expertise both in composition and in pedagogy. Additionally, Dr. Michael Stoune was particularly generous with his consideration and instructions about the process of graduation. I owe a great debt to Dr. David Forrest for agreeing to be one of my committee members. I also want to thank all my friends and classmates from whom I learned a lot. This piece is dedicated to my parents, who supported me all my life, especially after I left my homeland in 2011. ii Texas Tech University, Ali Montazerighahjaverestani, December 2016 Table of Contents Acknowledgments……………………………………………………..………………….ii Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………...iv Chapter 1: Introduction……………………………………………………………………1 Chapter 2: Musical Sources………………..……………………………………………...6 Chapter 3: Analysis of Naqmey-e Sahar............................................................................11 1st movement………………………………………..………………...…….……15 2nd movement………………………………………………………….…….…...21 3rd movement…………………………………………….………………….…...26 Chapter 4: Conclusion…………………………………………….……………………...31 iii Texas Tech University, Ali Montazerighahjaverestani, December 2016 Abstract Naqmey-e Sahar (The Melody of Dawn) is a composition for solo violin, woodwinds, percussions and strings. The majority of the melodic materials used in this piece came from Iranian popular songs and traditional tunes or melodic patterns from Radif (a collection of modes in Iranian music) in addition to original themes that are composed based on the same musical sources. The harmonic system used in this piece is based on quartal and secundal chords while tertian chords with added notes are also used occasionally in this piece. The piece contains three different movements with no space in between. Even though each movement has its own characteristics and special features, different movements share the same musical ideas. The 1st movement is in ABCAB form, and it is the longest movement of the piece. It employs melodies in the modes of Māhur, Chahārgāh, Dashti and Shur as well as those based on folk songs. The 2nd movement is written in ABC form and demonstrates a lot of concepts of Radif, mostly in the mode of Esfahān. The middle section of this movement is an ametric cadenza that uses many melodic and rhythmic figures from Radif. The finale of the piece is a fast dance-like movement in ABC form that uses a very simple rhythmic motive as the basic idea. Not only do the principal themes from the 1st movement reappear in this movement, the final section of this movement also brings back the same atmosphere as in the very beginning of the piece. iv Chapter 1 Introduction Since August 2011 when I left my home country, Iran, I started a new compositional style. In the past, I had written many pieces for traditional Iranian ensembles and a few pieces for symphonic orchestra or chamber ensembles. My compositional techniques were based on traditional melodic materials accompanied by tertian chords. Since 2011, I tried to use musical materials derived from traditional Iranian music while employing chromatic harmony and other twentieth-century western compositional techniques such as the usage of quartal and secundal harmony, polytonality and polymodality, as well as symmetrical patterns. Of course, it is not a new method for composing. The foundation of my musical style is based on the techniques of previous nationalist composers, particularly Iranian composers. Since the late nineteenth century, nationalist composers such as Dvorák, Sibelius, de Falla and Bartok utilized folk tunes and other traditional musical materials from their cultures. In the middle of the twentieth century, Iranian composers also began writing music for symphonic orchestra and western ensembles in combination with traditional instruments in nationalistic styles using the Iranian modal system. Ali-Naqi Vaziri1 and Ruhollāh Khāleqi2 are among the pioneering composers who created music in this style. My thesis piece Naqmey-e Sahar (The Melody of Dawn) is a piece for solo violin, woodwinds, percussions and string orchestra that utilizes popular traditional songs and newly- composed melodies based on traditional folk Iranian music. Since certain concepts of Iranian 1 Ali-Naqi Vaziri (1887-1979) was a composer, tar player, and the first musician who transcribed the Radif and wrote the first book about the theory of western and Iranian music. He was the first composer who composed orchestral Iranian music. 2 Ruhollāh Khāleqi (1906-1965) was a prominent Iranian composer, violinist and music teacher, and one of Ali-Naqi Vaziri’s students. Texas Tech University, Ali Montazerighahjaverestani, December 2016 music and its modal system are employed in this piece, it is necessary to discuss briefly the theory of Iranian music, especially the modal system and specific terms relevant to Naqmey-e Sahar. In this chapter, I will define the terms and concepts related to the modal system in Iranian music. In chapter 2, specific folk songs and traditional musical materials that have been used as the source for this composition will be introduced. Finally in chapter 3, I will provide an analysis of the piece. The basic scale in Iranian music contains seventeen degrees. Besides all twelve pitches used in the well-tempered system, five more pitches are used in Iranian music. As the quarter steps are used in Iranian music, specific accidentals are also used. These accidentals are Sori (which raises a tone by a quarter step) and Koron (which lowers a tone by a quarter step). Since these accidentals are only used by Iranian musicians, I prefer using half-flat and half-sharp in this document instead. The modal system in Iranian music consists of a collection of melodic patterns called Radif. Radif (“row” or “series”) is the complete repertoire of musical materials in Iranian music consisting of twelve different modal systems including 7 dastgâhs (“systems” or “sets”) and 5 âvâzs (“songs”). Each dastgâh comprises a group of melodic segments called gusheh (literally, “corner” or “cantle”). All of the gushehs in a dastgâh have a root in a main mode representing the fundamental characteristic of that dastgâh. These modes are shown in Example 1. Each gusheh is a short piece distinguished from other gushehs based upon its melodic contour, rhythmic pattern, the changeable tones and the central tones. 2 Texas Tech University, Ali Montazerighahjaverestani, December 2016 Example 1: Dastgāhs3 Radif is not only used as a main pedagogical tool for teaching Iranian music, but it is also used by performers and composers of Iranian music as a basis for improvisation and composition. 3 Jean During, Le Répertoire-Modèle de la Musique Iranienne: Radif de Tar et de Setar de Mirza‘Abdollah, Version de Nur ‘Ali Borumand (Tehran: Soroush, 1991), 18-22. 3 Texas Tech University, Ali Montazerighahjaverestani, December 2016 Âvâzs are modal systems derived from dastgâhs, but they are not as extensive as dastgâhs. Âvâzs derived from a dastgâh differ from the main dastgâh in their central tones. Dastgâh of Shur has four Âvâzs: Abu atā, Afshāri, Bayāt-e Tork and Dashti4. The central tone of Bayāt-e Tork is the second scale degree of the Shur scale, while that of Abu atā and Afshāri is the fourth scale degree and that of Dashti is the fifth scale degree of the Shur scale. Homāyun has only one Āvāz called Bayāt-e Esfahān or Esfahān. The central tone of Esfahān is the fourth scale degree of Homāyun. Example 2 demonstrates sample melodies of each Āvāz5. In this example, Bayāt-e Tork, Abu atā, Afshāri, and Dashti are derived from the mode of Shur in G while Bayāt-e Esfahān is derived from the mode of Homāyun in D. Example 2: Sample Melodies of each Āvāzs 4 In some versions of Radif, another âvâz called Bayât-e Kord is also introduced. 5 Dariush Tala’i, Radif of Mirza Abdollah: Pedagogical and Analytical Notation (Tehran: Mahoor, 1995), 87, 99, 128, 143, 295. 4 Texas Tech University, Ali Montazerighahjaverestani, December 2016 The rhythmic patterns found in the Radif cover a broad range from clearly measured rhythms to non-measured ones. Many rhythmic patterns are derived from poetic meters, as in the case of Kereshmeh (coquetry). Kereshmeh is a gusheh found in dastgâhs of Shur, Homāyun, Māhur and Navā. All gushehs, which are called Kereshmeh, have the same rhythmic structure, while the melody of kereshmeh is different in each dastgâh. Example 3 shows the gusheh of kereshmeh in Shur6. Example 3: Kereshmeh in Shur A typical traditional performance consists of the following parts: 1. pīshdarāmad (prelude, usually in slow tempo) 2. darāmad (a free-metric instrumental improvisation based on the initial gusheh of the dastgâh) 3. Sāz o āvāz (a free-metric vocal and instrumental improvisation based on the various gushehs of dastgâh accompanied by an instrument) 4. Chahārmezrâb (literally means "four plectra", an improvised or composed piece, which almost always has 6 or 12 beats in a fast tempo, suited for demonstration of virtuosity) 5. Tasnif (song, accompanied by the whole ensemble) 6. reng (a dance-like closing composition, usually in 6/8 with dotted-note rhythmic patterns) It should be noted that improvisation is not the most appropriate word for the situation mentioned above about darāmad and Sāz o āvāz because the music is not completely 6 Hormoz Farhat, The Dastgâh Concept in Persian Music (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 109.