Arab contributions to music science
Regional, Culture, 8/7/1998

The ethnic blending that occurred during the Umayyad and Abbasid eras brought the music of Arabia into close contact with the musical traditions of other nations. This contact resulted in the cultivation of the new Arab music.

While retaining strong local elements such as the singing of poetic lyrics in Arabic, this music featured new techniques and new musical instruments. During the two periods court patronage of poets and musicians became common practice. The Abbasid caliphs accorded special attention to music, especially caliph al-Amin who was known for his fondness for music.

Among the singers and musicians who won the patronage of the caliphs were Ishaq al-Mawsili and his uncle. Under the rule of the Abbasid Caliph al-Mamoun, Beit al-Hikma (the House of Wisdom) was established with the aim of translating into Arabic a vast number of Greek classics, including musical treatises authored by major Pythagorean scholars and other works by Plato and Aristotle.

The outcome of this exposure to the classical past was enduring and profound. The Arabic language was enriched and expanded by a wealth of treatises and commentaries on music written by prominent scholars who considered music a part of the mathematical sciences. The translation of Greek musical works also provided a new impetus for new inventions in the field of music.

The doctrines of ethos, discussed in Plato's Republic and the Pythagorean doctrine of the harmony of the spheres had a strong impact upon medieval Arabic writings. They contributed to cosmological speculations linking music to such concepts as the Zodiac, the elements and the seasons.

An early contributor was Ibn al-Munajim (who died at the beginning of the 10th century), who made a description of an established system of eight melodic modes. Used during the eighth and ninth centuries, these modes were frequently alluded to in conjunction with the text of the song included in the monumental Kitab al-Aghanai (Books of Songs) by Abu Faraj al-Asfahani.

Al-Kindi, the widely famed philosopher, discussed in one of his books the phenomenon of sound, intervals and composition. Al-Kindi presented an elaboration on the diatonic "Ud" fretting known at his time and proposed adding a fifth string to the four-stringed "Ud"(an instrument similar to the guitar in shape) . He also presented cosmological links between the four strings of the Ud and the four seasons of the year.

Another prolific contributor to Arab music during this period was al-Farabi who authored the Grand Treatise on Music, as a comprehensive work on music. It discusses different topics related to musical science, sound, intervals, musical instruments and compositions. Al-Farabi also described two types of Tunbur (a long-necked fretted lute, each with a different system of frets): old Arabian types whose frets produced quarter-tone intervals which are a part of Arabic musical scale, and another type attributed to Khorasan. Also found in the writings of al-Farabi are discussions on the phenomenon of sound, consonants, lute fretting and references to melodic modes.

Saieddine al-Urmawi is another important name in the field of music during the 13th century. In his works he discussed various aspects of musical knowledge including rhythm and meter. He also expounded on the subject of melodic modes, describing the intervals of each mode in accordance with a detailed theoretical scale to the one found in the Khorasani tunbur described by al-Farabi. Safieddine's musical contribution had a profound influence upon later scholars and particularly upon the musical systems in different parts of Asia including Turkey and Iran.

Despite the fact that there is no evidence that musical notation was employed in actual performance, al-Kindi and Safeeddine left us fragments of songs recorded in a system of notation based on alphabetical symbols.

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