Journal of Fine Arts: Performing Arts and Music
Year:2018 | Volume:22 | Issue:2 (14)|Papers Count:8

In some recent musical theory, "mode" is distinguished not only by intervallic structure and its position on the general scale, but also by its specific progression. Modes with identical intervallic structure and positions on the general scale, may be distinguished on the basis of melodic progressions. Seyir or melodic progression is an outline, in which the melody must travel along a rather specific path. Ideally, a Seyir should present a widely acceptable guide to the progression of a chosen mode, making it different from one another. The progression of a mode shows the relationship between specific tonal centers. In fact, the Seyir is marked by points of these tones. The relative position of these tones shows the melodic direction of the progression. Also a detailed skeletal exposition of the progression is given in the Seyir. The tonal centers in Persian Classical Music include: Shâhed, Final, Stop and Motaghayyer (variable tone). The Shâhed tone is the center, around which the melody evolves, rest note is a tone on which the melodic segments comes to rest, and Motaghayyer (variable tone) is susceptible to alteration during the course of the Gushe. These tones are comparatively inactive, of course less active than the Shâhed. In the Persian modal system, unlike some other modal systems such as Makam, melodic progression is often closely tied to a specific melody; however melodic progression is an important concept in the creation of the Gushe (the smaller modal unit which constitutes the substance of the Persian modal system); but it never exhibits separately. For this purpose, in this article, according to the 10 transcriptions of one mode of Persian classical music, we try to draw out the dominate Seyir of the melody. These transcriptions are selected from the Darâmad-e Avâz-e bayâte- Esfâhân (The Âvâz is traditionally regarded as a derivative Dastgâh with fewer Gushes and the performance of a Dastgāh or Avaz usually begins with one or more sections called Darāmad), from Radifs of Mirzâ Abodllâh, Mousâ Ma’rofi, Mirzâ Hossein-Gholi, Abollâh Davami, Abolhassan Eqbâl Âzar, Abolhassan Sabâ, Gholâmhossein Banân, Hassan Kasâee, Jalil Shahnâz, and Mohammad Reza Lotfi. At first we will determine the sentences of the transcriptions and then draw the graphs of melodic progression for each of them. In fact, these graphs indicate the basic route of the melody. Similarities which is understood from comparison of these graphs lead us to choose a path for Darâmad-e Avâz-e bayâte- Esfâhân. Based on these graphs, we can see the Darâmad-e Avâz-e bayâte- Esfâhân always begins with activating the Shâhed tone, then often it has a descending movement that goes to the stop tone, and then go back to the Shâhed. In the following melody, usually involves the upper tones of the Shâhed. These similar paths can be divided in two groups that are identified as the beginning and the ending paths. The complexity of these paths makes the melodic progression (Seyir) of Darâmad-e Avâz-e bayâte- Esfâhân.

the process of making musical instruments is important to all communities. Although it helps us to understand different parts of the musical instrument that how it could affect the sound they finally produce, it could also affect the improvement of musical instruments and musicianship. This paper tries to find out the styles of making Tars in order to classify them according to their similarities and differences. The main objective of this study is to find the special styles that each instrument-maker has employed. This will help to realize the strings that each particular creator has used. The main hypothesis is that although the Tars are overtly the same, there are some differences which could help us to recognize different Tars from one another. Finding the differences comes from the physic of the Tar rather than the sound produced by it. Therefore, this study raised few general questions to all the creators of Tars in Tehran. After studying the surveys, it was decided to choose a statistical society which is smaller and precise in order to enhance the accuracy. By consulting the professors, two generations of Tar-makers were selected. One belongs to the previous generation who passed away but their musical instruments exists and are kept by the musicians, and the other belongs to the present generation, among whom only four were chosen. By finding the Tars of previous generation, we got more specific to the musical instruments which had signs and seals on it, and are kept by the professional musicians; therefor, they are least probable to be fake.Several photos were taken from the musical instruments from different angels in same conditions. A form was created including the information about the exact size of different parts of the musical instrument and a complete feature of each musical instrument. More detailed questions were also asked from the four producers of the Tar, including the main points in producing a Tar in each level of production. They were also asked to illustrate their exact styles according to their stencil (all the styles includes size, thickness and the way to achieve the thickness of the instruments’ handle and the space division of fret). Besides, for comparing the information and size of the instruments, some pictures were taken. Eventually, the research came to the conclusion that there are some significant differences in Tars. The differences are in the measure of the knobs in two sides of the body, the figure and the distance measure connecting the body and Nagaareh (the twin body) from back side, the pins on the peg box, the pins on the saddle, the distance measure of bowl and Nagaareh connection, the outside figure of the bowl and Nagaareh, the balance of the musical instrument as laid on the floor are the most important differences of the Tars. These differences could show the signs of recognizing the creator’s product. Although finding out the differences needs years of experience.

iranian cinema is well-known in international movie festivals. A lot of internal and external researchers have conducted many researches about Iranian cinema and its filmmakers. Usually these researches are affected by cultural studies and have the same approach to content and meaning. This has become the reason that we have few researches about visual aspects and cinematic structures in Iranian cinema. One of the neglected issues of visual aesthetics analysis in Iranian cinema is the dialogic moments: scene in which two or more characters talk to each other. Since dialogic moments have been used frequently in movies, its use has become conventional, and almost no movie can be found without them. One of the dominant conventions in directing dialogic moments is shot/reverse shot technique. This research tries to analyze Iranian filmmakers’ approach to dialogic moments and aims to reveal how their visual expressions have been transformed. In order to achieve this, 10 movies from 2001 to 2011 have been selected as statistical period of the research. These movies are: Killing Mad Dogs (Bahram Beizai, 2001); I am Taraneh: 15 (Rasul Sadr Ameli, 2002); Light Nights (Farzad Motamen, 2001); Gavkhooni (The River’s End) (Behrooz Afkhami, 2003); Green Fire (Mohammad Reza Aslani, 2007); Day and Night (Omid Bonakdar and Keyvan Alimohammadi, 2008); About Elly (Asghar Farhadi, 2008); A Seperation (Asghar Farhadi, 2010); A Walk in the Fog (Bahram Tavakoli, 2009); A Cube of Sugar (Reza Mir-Karimi, 2011). First, the nature of shot/reverse shot (as the dominant pattern for visual expressions of dialogue scenes), and its characteristics will be discussed. In this part, we review a brief historyof forming the shot/reverse shot in order to define where this pattern began and in which years it had been developed and became customary in cinema. Then, all the movies in the statistical domain of the research will be reviewed in order to indicate what percentage of the dialogic moments formed in these works have been using shot/reverse shot. Two concepts, "Becoming" and "Became", in cinematic image and its effect on dialogic moments will also be examined. The concept of "Becoming" in the picture alludes to moments which are continuous in the present time and develop, while the concept of "Became" alludes to those which are removed of continuity and time. Reviewing the substance of shot/reverse shot shows that this découpage pattern postpones the picture from the spectator, and transforms it into something that has happened in the past. Then recurring samples of this pattern will be analyzed and an attempt will be made to single out films that have chosen the dominant pattern. Finally, films that have gone beyond shot/reverse shot and have questioned its established position will be discussed. In this chapter, few works are resolved which have creative suggestions for picturing the dialogic moments, and do not bind themselves of a repeated pattern. This research will show that although most Iranian films of this period, have been dominated by shot/reverse shot, there are some movies which have deviated from the expected cinematic technique.

this paper attempts to suggest a new method for harmonizing Persian classical music according to the interval structure of Dastgāh Segāh. One of the requirements was made when performing solo was overshadowed, and then the tendency to use ensembles was increased. Each sort of ensemble needs polyphonic music, and scholars have sought to find a way to produce polyphony in Persian harmonic format. From 1954 (1314), this criteria has been used to examine polyphonic Persian harmony. However they are generally based on the principles of western music, and as a result, there are some deficiencies. The phenomenological method which is going to be used here, is a method that replaces the current external framework of examination of Persian harmony with a different framework from within Persian music. Considering that and the potential and structure of Iranian music, the method presented here is to investigate phenomenon internally; the reason for selecting the Dastgāh Segāh is that, compared to other Dastgāhs, it has the most “Mojanab interval” (135-145 cent). In this method, all the notes in each main Gūshe of the five credible Radif are taken into account, and considering usage statistics of them as well as the books analyzing Radif, the most significant notes for composing a chord for that specific Gūshe are chosen. The chosen Gūshes are those with specialized modal qualities, which we have called them the main Gūshes of Dāstgah Segāh, that include: Darāmad, Zābol, Mūye, Mokhālef, Mağlūb. The modal ambience of Dastgāh Segāhis formed by unifying the component modes of each main Gūshe and representing an appropriate harmony for the whole Dasgāh. For a more accurate analysis of these Gūshes, the five credible Persian music Radif (Radif Sāzi Mirzā Abdollāh, Aghā Hosseingholi, Mūsā Maroufi, Montazem-ol-Hokamā, and Radif Avāzi Abdollāh Khān Davāmi) are compared with each other. The assumptions of this paper can be summarized as follows: 1. The possibility of composing some chords with interval Mojanab (wider than a minor second and narrower than a major second) can be found by structural analysis of the currently available intervals of Dastgāh Segāh in different Radifs; 2. The main chords of Dastgāh Segāh can be explained based on the structure of modal Gūshes of that Dastgāh since a Dastgāh is formed by the modes which are arranged in a particular order; 3. For composing chords proportional to Dastgāh Segāh, the role of notes such as Shāhed, the final and other important notes in each Gūshe, needs to be considered. The findings suggest two types of chord for each Gūshe. The first chord contains the main notes, and the second one suggests the main notes are accompanied by the notes which play a melodic role in that Gūshe. Thus, for making a connection between these chords considering the arrangements of Gūshes in Dastgāh Segāh, melodic notes in an appropriate harmonic connection are used.

in the history of modern Iranian theatre, the establishment of official and academic institutions responsible for teaching theatre is noteworthy. How such institutions were founded, and what sort of functions they were supposed fulfill and other societal factors, is a historical perspective which has not undergone a rigorous study. The present paper will focus on the history of Iranian theatre, employing a sociological approach. The theoretical framework used for this study, is that of French sociologist and theorist of the 1970’s and 1980’s, Pierre Bourdieu. His most well-known book Distinction, gives us a model for analyzing different "social capitals". In his opinion, cultural activity requires a specific legitimacy to flourish. In other words, without a specific purpose, cultural activity becomes small and meaningless. The fledgling theatre of the Reza Shah's era was not an exception. Although theatre was introduced in Iran in the late 19th century and the first major Iranian plays were written during that time, the essential and substantial growth of this art took place during Reza Shah Pahlavi's reign during which the first academic institutions were established to expand and maintain the art of theatre in the country. In this specific period, one of the major tactics in the organization of cultural activities was the establishment of an official and bureaucratic institution for the supervising and guiding artistic endeavors. After Reza Shah's coronation as a king, modernization was based on a nationalistic and central power, which took its basis from the army and bureaucratic organizations. The newly established field of Iranian theatre was also under strict supervision of the governmental organization named Sazmane Parvaresh e Afkar(Organization for the Growth of Thoughts) in order to gain the legitimacy it required for the new cultural situation of the country. This organization paved the way for the foundation of the theatre schools in order to train educated theatrical artists. These artists were not simply trained, but were actually driven towards issues which were of interest for the central government, thus referring back to Bourdieu’s "social capitals". That is why we see plenty of nationalistic plays and performances in that specific time scope, fulfilling the visions of the societal modernization in the eyes of the reigning king. The present study deals with this issue by considering the cultural grounds of the early 20th century in Iran, and studies the process of the establishment of theatrical schools, which provided educational capital for the cultural capital of the people active in theatre of that time. The article shows the efforts on the part of the central government to control non-central theatrical groups which were believed to be a resisting margin against the government. The other factor that is considered, is the development of a new generation of theatre artists who behaved differently in comparison to their predecessors, and aimed to drive their artistic productions towards aesthetic values. This created a change within a change. As a reaction to all of these changes, the cultural capital led to the emergence of artists who were ultimately driven away from politics towards aesthetics in their theatrical productions.

the second Pahlavi reign implemented many policies with distinct intention of modernization. With such grand vision for the country, this changes ultimately had great impact on the arts and their direction within the country. One such discipline was in theatre and the film industry. Iran filmmakers launched an unconventional cinematictrend after the announcement and implementation of policies based on the expansion of capitalist relations and political repression of dissidents through modernization of Iranian society during the second Pahlavi ruling in 1950s and 1960s. Various reasons can be identified for this evolution; but Iranian filmmakers associated with the literary circles of the Iranian community in the context of modernization and adaptation of modern cinema, were one part of these major changes. Khesht va Ayeneh (1344) by Ebrahim Golestan, is an exemplary film that both the content and form are different and innovative. Khesht va Ayeneh in addition to being affected with the new wave of cinema before the Revolution, is completely in contrast to the direction of those years in which cinema was heavily indebted to European artistic cinema. Mise en scène and the movement of the camera, the editing film as well as screenplay and dialogue writing style that were influenced by modern literature, are some of the key components that have become fundamental characteristics in Golestan's movie. Realistic and symbolic language come together in Khesht va Ayeneh. In other words, while the film defines a realistic story with the help of dialogue, filming technique, framing and so on, it takes a modern, metaphorical and poetic form to itself. This is how the use ofsymbolism and poetic language along with realistic logic creates the element of atmosphere in classic cinema as well as in the language of film. The main theme inKhesht va Ayeneh is the collapse of human relations and their sacrifice in traditional society juxtaposed with the challenges of modernity, a reflection of the society at that time. Mikhail Bakhtin, one of the main theorists of the twentieth century literature, suggests that the logic of conversation is a way to order a modern literary structure. His focus on literature is completely related to linguistic structure and structuralism. One of Bakhtin’s main theories is that words are social signs of active and dynamic implications that reflect different meanings among different social classes as well as various social and historical conditions. Bakhtin presented the works of Feodor Dostoyevsky as a Russian example for Dialogism theory. Dostoyevsky's stories are multi-sound and polyphonic structure. He does not impose his views as an author, but each of the story characters have their own logic and sound, and can freely express their own statement. Khesht va Ayeneh is based on this theoretical analysis. The purpose of this study is a cross-examination of how conjunction of literary art and theater changes with the modernization of this period. Khesht va Ayeneh features the views of Bakhtin and his conversational logic, mirroring modern narrative techniques in literature, which in turn becomes an influential focal point for some leading Iranian filmmakers.

the audience has always played a particular role in the history of theater, and the quality of interaction between the audience and the performance has determined the success or failure of the work of art. One of the most fundamental elements of theater, is the audience that attends the performance and contributes to the reshaping of its destiny. Each performance inescapably has gaps in the presentation of its pictures and concepts. In the end, it becomes the spectator who has the duty of completing the performance in his/her mind and believe in them. Focusing on the delicate interaction between the performance and the audience’s reception has vital significance. If the audience fails to comprehend even a small and insignificant part of the performance, this interaction will be a failure as well. Since the ages of Plato and Aristotle until the present century, the whole attention of theorists and critics has exclusively been directed towards the artist. Nevertheless, starting from this century, they started to concentrate on the audience and to pay a closer attention to the audience’s role in the performance. Since then, theorists have begun to draw some cycles in which there was no longer a passive audience, and incidental activities of perceiving and understanding the work of art, have completed the artist's work. One of the major expressions of this attention, has been the phenomenological theory of Edmund Husserl. Phenomenology seeks to achieve the true essence of phenomena through themselves. This key sentence is the beginning of our research ahead. Husserl removes the surface layers of phenomena, within a method that is known as the "archaeological method", in order to reach more profound levels of understanding in their inner expression, and this is what the theater aims to do: Going into the depths of what the audience will perceive from a dramatic performance. The theater intends to take its audience into the deepest layers of meaning. For this purpose, it uses any possible means, such as actors, puppets, or even objects. The ultimate purpose of this research is to investigate the audience's perception of "Puppet Theater". However, this result will be obtained by making a comparison between the "puppets" and the "theater actors". We will use Edmund Husserl’s method, known in the literature as the reduction of phenomena, and the removal of prejudices towards them. Findings will convert the puppet from a lifeless object into an actor, and consequently into a credible character. This conversion has a direct impact upon the perception of audience and it makes the audience’s mind fill the gaps, which are encountered during the performance. These gaps are much wider in the puppet theater than in the ordinary theater with actors, and the audience obviously has to act more in it. The reason for this difference is that the puppet as a theatrical phenomenon, has to bring together a wider gap than the actor in order to be perceived by the audience as a theatrical character.

wolfgang Rihm premiered his latest opera (Dionysus) on 2010. In this fantasy, Rihm has innovatively combined Greek Myths with Nietzsche’s controversial life events and thoughts in a surprisingly delusional manner. The libretto is drawn from the text of Nietzsche's Dionysian-Dithyrambs – the philosopher's final confrontation with the ecstatic god of his own aesthetic theories. Rihm in Dionysus opera utilizes music and orchestral excitations, different types of symbols in stage design and manipulated libretto, in order to express his philosophical perception of Nietzsche’s thoughts. Authors of the present manuscript have previously assessed the libretto and symbols used in the Dionysus opera in a separate study entitled "An analysis of Dionysus opera by Wolfgang Rihm, storytelling and choice of symbols". This paper studies mainly Rihm’s composing techniques and his attitude toward musical components specifically in the music of Dionysus opera. Rihm’s music is a combination of contemporary techniques incorporated with Mahler and Schoenberg’s agitated passions which were well appreciated by his contemporaries as a movement against Boulez and Stockhausen’s avant-gardism. In 1970, he was considered as a pioneer of the movement known as "new simplicity". Composers who joined this movement, strove for an immediacy between the creative impulse and the musical result (in contrast to the elaborate pre-compositional planning characteristic of the avant-garde), with the intention also of communicating more readily with audiences. In some cases, this meant a return to the tonal language of the 19th century as well as to traditional forms and instrumental combinations which had been avoided for the most part by the avant-garde. Among the composers most closely identified with this movement, only Wolfgang Rihm has established a significant reputation outside Germany. Rihm’s music shows a tendency towards late-romantic music and prominent composers including Wagner, Strauss, Mahler and Berg. His compositional thoughts have remained unchanged throughout his career. He describes each of his works as "free-standing part of a kind of work in progress". Regardless of the medium utilized (large orchestra, small ensemble or solo instruments), Rihm astonishingly manipulates sound characteristics. Meanwhile, he develops a unique personal definition of musical elements and concepts including sound space, sound sign and generative pole which are discussed in this manuscript. Since he has a specific method to progress a musical idea, Rihm’s music cannot easily be categorized using traditional formal perspectives; this does not imply that his works are completely formless. The sense of progression in his music is not regarded as "development", because development in its traditional meaning sustains a thematic root which is normally applicable to a distinct part of a piece. This study mainly focuses on generative poles, which Rihm has embedded in music of Dionysus. To achieve this goal, authors partially benefited from an article by Richard McGregor, entitled "Interpreting compositional process in Wolfgang Rihm’s Chiffre cycle". In addition, other important components of his music such as rhythm, meter, tempo, orchestration and instrumentation are briefly mentioned and finally his attractive glimpse at tonal music (a tonality that appears and fades away like a phantom) is discussed.