Ross Daly | The ‘Modes’ of Cretan Music in Improvisations & Compositions

Type of seminar: Open – Music Group

Level of participants: Intermediate

Reading sheets: No prerequisite for participation

The music of Crete belongs to the broader family of modal musical traditions and is thus closely related to the majority of musical traditions found in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. However, like all regional musical idioms, it has very specific and distinguishing features that define its unique and special character. Cretan Music, like all modal musical traditions, employs a complex network of modes that closely resemble the system of Makams (ubiquitously found in the Eastern Mediterranean), as well as the modes of Byzantine music.

In this seminar, we will examine the Modal dimension of a large number of Cretan pieces. We will also see how these modes act as the foundation of compositions as well as of improvisations (Taksim).

Timetables:

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