Abstract:

This study presents a review of Turkish maqam music from various perspectives, including education/instruction, theoretical studies, and performance activities at the Municipal Conservatory of Istanbul (MCI) from its establishment until 1986, at which point the conservatory was assigned to Istanbul University. In Turkey, among the state-owned educational institutions that teach maqam music, the first one was Dârülelhan (the House of Melodies), which was established in the late Ottoman era and later converted into a conservatory. Using the framework of a descriptive method, this study explores the scope and abolishment of and a theoretical return to Turkish maqam music at Dârülelhan, as well as the activities of Türk Musikisi İcrâ Heyeti (the Turkish Music Performance Ensemble) and the Tasnif ve Tesbit Heyeti (Classification and Evaluation Committees). Initially, MCI was envisaged as a national conservatory that would teach polyphonic European and Turkish maqam music at the same time; however, it became an institution dedicated to polyphonic music education instead. This was largely due to the process of Westernization, which had been ongoing since 1826 and gained strength with the proclamation of the Republic. With a regulation adopted in 1944, during the chairmanship of Sadettin Arel, the conservatory resumed daytime Turkish music education on a theoretical level, without instrumental education. Abandoned in 1926, scholarly maqam music resumed after a 50-year break with the establishment of Istanbul Technical University Turkish Music State Conservatory in 1976. However, this 50-year gap without education does not seem to be closed yet, given the absence of scientific certainty on a theoretical level and of performance unity within the maqam music, as well as the inadequacy of historical accounts and research on maqam.

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