Maqam Melodies: Pitches, Patterns, and Developments of Music in the Middle East and Other Microtonal Writings

This book discusses microtonal tunings in the Arabic maqam, prevalent in the Middle East and Central Asia, which employs microtonal intervals from Pythagorean tuning by perfect fifths. The ratio 3/2, as the third overtone in the overtone series, is used as a multiplier leading to numeric ratios for all pitches in the tetrachords and pentachords of the maqam. Musicians today are highly curious about expanding the pitch palette and are already employing microtones in their music, from folk rock to classical music. The maqam is among the few extant analyzed systems of music from antiquity that reflect the methods of the Greek Genera, in terms of tuning and function. The book also discusses Charles Ives’s use of microtones, Bach and his use of microtones, and a score of Hypercube, the seminal composition discussed in the author’s first book, Polytempic Polymicrotonal Music, which was not published in its entirety in the former book. The text covers microtones philosophically, questioning the efficacy of such tunings. This book is accessible to the beginners in the field and will be beneficial to musical analyses in colleges and universities also by showing detailed analysis of Bach chorales in their original modes, and how their tuning presented complete character shifts by the microtones they contained by mean-tone temperament, an offshoot of Pythagorean tuning during the Baroque.

Peter Alexander Thoegersen was born in Los Angeles, USA, in 1967. He earned his doctorate in music composition from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, in 2012. He wrote his thesis on polytempic polymicrotonality, previously untouched as a stylistic genre, with only a single precursor in the literature, Charles Ives’s Universe Symphony (1915). Polytempic polymicrotonality offers expansive potential for the re-emergence of pitch and rhythm in contrast to extended technique noise gestures prevalent today. Dr Thoegersen, a drummer, extrapolates rhythms and explores polytempo and four-way independence, wherein each independent ＂limb＂ becomes its own part, or voice, with its own tempo, and ultimately, its own microtonal system--approaching a radical new polyphony not yet practiced in musical literature. He has had his works premiered in Europe, Australia, and the United States. His eponymous CD Three Pieces in Polytempic Polymicrotonality (2019, New World Records) has had nine reviews and made to three top ten lists for 2019’s best CDs. His song cycle Facebook: What’s On Your Mind? was released on Flea Records in April 2021. Dr Thoegersen’s most recent album, Alien Music (2022 Magic&Unique Records), is available for streaming on Spotify and Apple and is also available at Amazon.