CLASSIC TURKISH MUSIC

"I was at ATATÜRK's table from time to time. They liked to talk about music themselves.

We came back from Yalova. ATA complained of malaise, a cold, and did not seem cheerful.

I was sitting at the other end of the table. They were talking to Nuri Conker and other friends. Sometime:

- Doctor, let's talk a little bit about music, they said.

- If you will excuse me, I said, let's start with the definition of music first.

- As you wish, they said.

After the description of the music, I talked about the differences in pitch, spacing, melody, harmony and polyphony between Western and Oriental music. I wrote down what I was going to talk about earlier. I said that both music has been loved for hundreds of years mainly by the influence of habit. I said that Western music has achieved theoretical and practical evolution, and that due to the state of polyphony, it has achieved universal (international) success with its forms of harmony orchestration and instrumentation. Although it is a fact that our music needs harmony in order to be able to take the stage, I have stated that there is a definite need for the establishment of a music academy such as the Language Institute in order to be successful in this, first of all, in order for our music theory to be prepared for harmony. I continued that such an institution is necessary in order to put harmony in our music and to be able to work without disturbing its monumentality and foundations. There are things that need to be done before harmony with our music, which has reached perfection in the form of a melody, I added that it will be possible to make our music melodious by saving it from its simâî (superiority of ear pleasure) form. We should translate phrases such as irha (keep loose), balance (residual sounds), small mucennep (small conjoined sounds), which have been used in our theory for a long time, into Turkish. Only a musical institution can clear hundreds of needs, such as the series, which has long caused controversy among theorists, and is not suitable for surgery, the contradictions in the quartet and quintet rules, and the mistakes in the classification of the makams being simple and ink. Although some masters from the music connoisseurs take good measures in this and other matters, these remain isolated. Although the division into intervals rather than octal 24 is an important issue that has long occupied the connoisseurs of music and has taken place in our theory, its application can also be addressed by this musical institution. If this method is accepted, the harmony ability of many maqams will be manifested. Since the harmony of each maqam will emerge from its own melody and some curtains will be removed (removed) for harmony, it seems that it is possible to make this sacrifice easy and less with small divisions. In this way, since the structure of the Turkish melody for harmony will not be damaged, harmony in our music may belong to some of our composition forms. Examining our maqams and melodies from this point of view and making preliminary preparations is again the work of a music institution. Our melodic music is like a skein of silk with hundreds of colors or a fine needlepoint. Weaving them on looms by separating them and adapting them to harmony methods is a delicate work. In this way, it is possible for our music to appear on the stage as an opera in accordance with our literary taste. In this situation, it would not be right to put everything on the shoulders of the musician. In the music institution to be established, there must also be writers, poets, artists and writers. First of all, there must be harmony between these elements. This starts with an impartial, authoritarian start. Today, it is thorny for those who are not accustomed to the harmony and sounds of our melody with the western technique. The orchestration, which is arranged according to the harmony derived from our own melody, will again be the ibda of the music institution (putting out something beautiful). The music of the world, saturated with its own voices, will be astonished in this state. That's it, sir."

ATATURK:

“I need to find myself a music teacher,” he said, and got up.

It was 10.30 am, he saluted us and left. We got up too. When we entered the corridor, Nuri Conker caught me:

- Doctor, you knew all this, why didn't you tell us until now?

"It was not his turn, sir," I said.

ATATÜRK, who did not say a word that night, embarrassed me three months later, one night in Ankara with these words:

- The doctor gave us a music conference, I especially thank the doctor, I benefited a lot.

- I will try to give the critique of this long speech made by Doctor Şenozan in the presence of ATATÜRK later, when I interpret ATATÜRK's thoughts.

Source: www.kultur.gov.tr