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Usul (music)

Found in: Turkish words and phrases Turkish music

In Ottoman classical music, usul is an underlying rhythmic cycle that complements the melodic rhythm and sometimes helps shape the overall structure of a composition. An usul can be as short as two beats or as long as 128 beats. Usul is often translated as "meter", but usul and meter are not exactly the same. Both are repeating rhythmic patterns with more or less complex inner structures of beats of differing duration and weight. But a student learning Turkish music in the traditional mek system first memorizes the usul kinetically by striking the knees with the hands. The student then sings the vocal or instrumental composition while performing the underlying usul. This pedagogical system helps the student memorize the composition while internalizing the underlying rhythmic structure.

Usul patterns have standard pronounceable vocables built from combinations of the syllables dum, du-um, tek, tekkyaa, teke, te-ek, where dum, du-um indicate a strong low beat of single or double duration, and tek, tekkya, teke, te-ek indicate various combinations of light beats of half, single or double duration. Long usuls are compound metric structures that underly longer sections of entire compositions.

In Ottoman times, the usul was realized by drummers. Drums are generally omitted in modern performances except for Mevlevi. When performing music for the Mevlevi ceremony, drummers traditionally play embellished (velveleli) versions of the usuls.

Instrumental improvisations (taksim) and vocal improvisations (gazel(Ghazal), mersiye, etc.) are generally performed in "free" rhythm, with no usul.

The melodic counterport to usul rhythmic mode is makam melodic mode. The parallel system to usul in Indian music is tala.

Usul

2-) Nim Sofyan

3-) Semai

4-) Sofyan

5-) Turk Aksagi

6-) Yuruk Semai, Sengin Semai, Agir Semai

7-) Devr-i Hindi, Devr-i Turan

8-) Duyek, Agir Duyek

9-) Aksak

10-) Gulen

11-) Yuruk Semai

12-) Semai (Waltz)

13-) Sengin Semai

14-) Aksak Semai

15-) Agir Aksak Semai

16-) Artik Aksak Semai

17-) Turk Aksak Semaisi

18-) Arab Aksak Semaisi

19-) Zafer

20-) Turk Aksagi (Sureyya)

21-) Cifte Sofyan (Raks Aksagi)

22-) Aksak

23-) Agir Aksak

24-) Aksak Sofyan

25-) Oynak

26-) Kadim Evfer

27-) Evfer

28-) Agir Evfer

29-) Nim Evfer

30-) Durak Evferi

31-) Firenkcin

32-) Fi rengi Fer'

33-) F e r '

34-) Katakofti (Musemmen)

35-) Bulgar Darbi

36-) Turk Darbi (1. Sekil)

37-) Turk Darbi (2. Sekil)

38-) Turk Darbi (3. Sekil)

39-) Huner Darbi

40-) Tek Vuru

41-) Karadeniz

42-) Raksan

43-) Aksak Semai Evferi

44-) Hefta

45-) Devri Hindi

46-) Mandra (Devri Turan)

47-) Nim Devir

48-) Mevlevi Devri Revani

49-) Devri Revan

50-) Dolap

51-) Devri Turki

52-) Darbi Arabi

53-) Nazli Devri Hindi

54-) Devri Kebir

55-) Nim Evsat

56-) Evsat

57-) Dilruba

58-) Fahte

59-) Lenk Fahte (Nim Fahte)

60-) Sirin

61-) Hezec

62-) Harzem

63-) Cenber

64-) Agir Cenber

65-) Muhammes

66-) Nim Berefan

67-) Berefan

68-) Nim Hafif

69-) Hafif

70-) Nim Sakil

71-) Sakil

72-) Remel

73-) Havi

74-) Darbi Fetih

75-) Zencir

76-) Darbeyn

77-) Bektai Raksi

78-) Darbi Kurdi

See also

Iqa'

Wazn

External links

[*] Rhythmic layers in Turkish art music

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Usul (music)