The
following article is meant to be a compliment to Jahangir Abadi’s article
entitled “Use of Electronic Piano for Traditional Persian Music”.
When it
comes to improvised Iranian radif music, I prefer to use the
acoustic piano versus the electronic keyboards, because acoustic piano
provides me with the touch sensitivity and rich sound which I require.
Through my involvement with Mr. Jahangir Abadi’s project, however, I now
have become more interested in exploring the unique features of the
electronic keyboards as they apply to my personal music endeavors.
A few years
ago, I received a letter from Mr. Jahangir Abadi, a resident of Iowa. In
his letter, Mr. Abadi explained his goal of documenting scales used in the
radif music in the form of offsets, in
cents, with respect to the standard chromatic scale. Since then, Abadi
has measured and documented the tuning offsets, in all keys, for every
dastgah. As much as I appreciated Abadi’s efforts, at that time I was
not very motivated to get involved with it. I had a Roland keyboard that I
barely used.
As a result
of numerous correspondences with Abadi and his guidance on the Yamaha
PSR540 keyboard with which he generously provided me, I have now become
more open to using the electronic keyboard. The keyboard is just another
valuable tool to help me when I create, rehearse with other instruments,
or teach. In addition to its portability, I enjoy using the ‘scale tuning’
function on the electronic keyboard to quickly change the pitch of
individual keys to match the sound of other instruments - or vocalists. I
can examine various tuning/scales in different keys in a matter of
minutes. Performing the same operations on my acoustic piano would require
hours of my time, not to mention the burden it would put on the piano.
Recently I
have been using the keyboard to demonstrate to my piano students pitch
sensitivity in various scales as well as tahrir and hâlat
which are used in the radif music. In addition, the keyboard proves to be
a useful aid in explaining harmony in improvised radif music on the piano
without taking away the essence that is traditionally conveyed through
monophonic sounds. I have also been recording some improvised music on the
Yamaha JS580 synthesizer/keyboard for Abadi. Although this keyboard does
not offer the touch sensitivity that I require, I am impressed with the
recorded sound quality, which is clearly beyond my level of expectation.
Ideally, an
electronic keyboard should have the following features to make it an
adequate alternative to the acoustic piano used for performing radif
music:
(1) scale tuning
(2) standard key size - same as
piano
(3) weighted, velocity-sensitive
key action
(4) grand piano sound
Tuning and
choice of pitch in improvised radif is dependant on the performer’s
personal taste. The reasons behind the subjectivity and effects of pitch
on the aesthetics are difficult to explain: certain instruments such as
the piano and santoor do not allow for bending of the notes during
performances; therefore tuning such instruments for the optimum aesthetics
can at times be very tricky. I tune the piano purely by feel and without
using any
measurement
devices. The tuning is based on the particular space I intend to create.
An attempt
to document a universal set of pitches in terms of offsets from the
chromatic well-tempered scale for tuning pianos and keyboards for radif
music is a huge task, indeed. A fixed set of pitches can impose
limitations on creativity and style development, but it is certainly a
good starting point for a student of the radif music - an art form which
is primarily passed on through the aural tradition.
Ramin Zoufonoun
November 2005
ramin@zvenue.com
