Hey, Listen! (II)

Leaning on a more refined approach, the traditional western understanding of music differs from the more modest and generalized understanding found in arid and harsher regions of the world in general, the Arabian idea from music stems from everyday life. The concept that everyone speaks in music even as they are talking and going through their daily routine is the prevailing idea behind the middle-eastern music theory. This concept means that a person can speak or “sing” happy, sad, excited, angry tones based on their state of mind. This “state” is what actually forms the bases for the Arabian understanding of music, and it has been modified and adjusted throughout the generations enough times to be its standalone discipline and science; the science of Maqamat, or states. There are around 9 to 10 known main states:

• Ajam
• Bayat
• Rast
• Sikah
• Kurd
• Saba
• Nawa’Athar
• Nahawand
• Hejaz
• Khumasi

Each state has also several sub-states or  branches. Each Maqam/state follows a specific pattern of notes on a piano keyboard, but having different branches in one main state means having different variations in pattern composition. So a well versed Maqamalogist (a made up word that means: a person who studies the science of Maqamt/states) can tell which branch of which state is playing without consulting literature of looking at the written notes for a melody. Needless to say, this form of knowledge fundamentally differs from the western classes and genera of pop, jazz, rock, and other music. Generally speaking, the classification in western styles comes from the composition of instruments used to make music, while the Arabian music’s base for distinction comes from the melody itself, or pattern of notes (a Maqam can be pronounced with just the voice of a person, while a rock song for example is fully pronounced by the type of instruments used). Interestingly enough, both schools of thought summarize each other’s product into one category based on their own understanding of the music theory; most western music is categorized as an Ajam Maqam/state, while most Arabian songs are just referred to as Arabian when classified in western understanding.

So then, how can someone capture the best of both worlds? And are there examples of successful attempts in the game world?

Most attempts of combination probably miss the mark because they go about implementing a strange foreign style without knowing much about it. So they try to fit it in a an unnatural environment, kind of like putting hand gloves on your feet or socks on your hands…

A song is usually made up of the following:

verse –> chorus –> verse –> chorus –> bridge –> chorus

Because game music usually doesn’t involve vocal performances, the structure above is reduced to the following:

verse –> chorus –> verse –> chorus

And they keep alternating and looping. That is because unlike a normal song, game music has to keep playing for as long as the player essentially wants. And keep in mind that a verse is the main melody and the chorus is like an interval or a segment that breaks the main melody up for better communication to the listener. So the above path would look like the following:

main melody (part1) –> separator –> main melody (part 2) –> separator

This is of course an extremely simplified explanation, but the point here is not to delve into the methodology of developing game music. Experts in the field do a far better job at illustrating such matters. A Composer’s Guide to Game Music – by Winifred Phillips might be a good starting point for those interested.

All of this was basically a set up for the comparison between Arabian and western music and how to better implement Arabian sounds in games. So hopefully next time we can try to structure an Arabian song for a video game, at least theoretically…