Abstract of My Dissertation Project

For the record, here's what I'm up to over here:

Taksim: Improvisational Practices in Republican-Era Classical Turkish Music (and their Implications for Current Definitions of Makam)

"By comparing current solo improvisations (taksim-s), recordings of such performances from throughout the twentieth century, and the definitions of their makam-s (melodic modes) as found in currently used Turkish music theory textbooks, this study aims to determine the major changes to both improvisational practices per se, and to the definitions of makam-s over the course of the Republican period so far (i.e., since 1923). This study takes improvisational practices employed in the taksim genre (called gazel when sung, rather than played on an instrument) as the central practice of classical Turkish music, and as the touchstone for definitions of makam-s. This point of view differs from the standard 20th century way of reckoning makam definitions in partially Westernized theoretical terms, which instead uses unchanging, canonical repertoire-oriented examples rather than improvisational practices as models."

(In other words, I'm studying what musicians are actually doing - and how they think about what they're doing - as contrasted with what the textbooks say they're doing.)

It's shaping up to be a very fun project, and I'm getting a lot of positive feedback from musicians here who think this sort of study is long overdue, and are very willing to improvise on video for me and to analyze their own playing with me afterward. I'm looking forward to beginning that phase after the upcoming Kurban Bayram holiday. Meanwhile I'm collecting old recordings and music theory textbooks (old and new) for comparison.

Newly Arrived

Well, actually I've been here in İstanbul since November 8th. The first week was characterized by heavy jet lag, compounded by staying in a cheap hotel in Asmalımescit, a notorious "party zone" at least since Marco Polo lived around here in the 13th century, and still rocking well into the wee hours. (Can't believe I lived there for 5 months back in 2005, doing master's work on the cümbüş - did I sleep at all?) The rooms below mine were inhabited by four Russian ladies - prostitutes, one has cause to suspect - who regularly returned "home" around 5 am for an hour of crying jags, screaming competitions and general drunken throwing things at each other, prelude to another hour of loud apologies and tearful making up. Apparently the management was profiting more from their stay than from mine, and would do nothing to halt their charming repartee.

After four days I moved to the American Research Institute in Turkey in much quieter Arnavutköy ("Albanian Village"), a block up from the Bosporus (see photo above): two floors of old manuscripts and seven rooms for visiting scholars such as myself (and doesn't it feel all warm inside to say so? I half feel like sewing elbow patches on my jacket and buying a pipe, but it is not a requirement.) Both of these neighborhoods are on the European side of the city, but I'm hoping to move into a place in Üsküdar, on the Asian side, around January first, after fellow UCSB ethnomusicology grad student Denise G. has moved out of it (though we'll be sorry to see her go). Eventually I'll post photos, and then we can not believe the amazing view, together.

Since overcoming the lag, I've been having preliminary meetings with some key musicians whom I hope to interview/record for my project (more about which in another post, soon), and gathering up some books and CDs I'll need also, but Kurban Bayram ("Sacrifice Holiday," commemorating Abraham's near-sacrifice of - ahem - Ishmael) is coming up and everybody says, "sounds good; come back after the holidays." Gives me time to polish up the paper I've written for the Sakıp Sabancı International Research Award 2009 Competition (Topic: "Pluralism in Contemporary Turkish Society and Politics," first prize $20,000), which finally gives my master's thesis something exciting to do.

Meanwhile, I got my residency permit (ikâmet) today, which went fairly smoothly thanks to Ülkü hanım at the Fulbright office (many thanks), who patiently waited with me amongst the many Bulgarian and Central Asian immigrants there, wielding her formidable bureaucratese at all the right moments... it only took five hours and about $380. Now I'm legal... whee!

Well, as you can see, I am only just getting my feet wet with this blogging business... let's see how it's going so far... more to come soon (I suppose).

(photo by Aslı)