Pianos Are Out of Tune – A Discussion on Equal Temperament and Oud Music

Did you know Pianos are intentionally tuned “out of tune”? Yes it’s true. Modern Pianos are all tuned using a system called “Equal Temperament”. In fact, you can’t use your ear to tune a Piano in equal temperament because our ears don’t hear notes in this manner. Piano tuners use a device and they need to know how much each note needs to be “out of tune” in order to…

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Arabic and Persian Music – Arabic Maqam and Persian Dastgah Comparison

  Arabic and Persian Music – Arabic Maqam and Persian Dastgah Equivalents I thought it would be interesting and essential to write a post for those who want to get their bearings on Arabic and Persian scale systems. This post compares the Arabic Maqam to Persian Dastgah to show where and how they overlap. I have never seen a comparison of this kind before. It is relatively a superficial comparison…

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Arabic Maqam Theory – A Brief Introduction

This article is going to be a concise introduction to Arabic maqam theory. My hope is that this will break down the basics for you to understand what is going on in Arabic music in terms of what scales are being played and how to modulate. For a beginner, one of the most important things to do in order to learn this music is to listen to Arabic music a…

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