science

Persian musical instruments

Persian musical instruments is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Persian musical instruments rather than just read about it. In short: Persian musical instruments or Iranian musical instruments can be broadly classified into three categories: classical, Western and folk. Most of Persian musical instruments spread in the former Persian Empires states all over the Middle East, Caucasus, Central Asia and through adaptation, relations, and trade, in Europe and far regions of Asia.

Key takeaways

Persian musical instruments belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Persian musical instruments to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Persian musical instruments from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Persian musical instruments or Iranian musical instruments can be broadly classified into three categories: classical, Western and folk. Most of Persian musical instruments spread in the former Persian Empires states all over the Middle East, Caucasus, Central Asia and through adaptation, relations, and trade, in Europe and far regions of Asia. In the ancient era, the Silk Road had an effective role in this distribution.

String instruments Orchestral

Tar Setar Kamancheh Ghaychak Barbat Chang (instrument)/Angular harp Santoor Qānūn Shurangiz

Folklore

Dotar Tanbur Tar (Azerbaijani instrument) Divan (diwan or divan sazı, type of Bağlama) Sallaneh Sorahi Suroz Rubab (instrument)

Wind instruments Orchestral

Ney Folklores

Balaban (instrument) Donali Doudouk Dozaleh Garmon Karna Ney-anbān Sorna Historical

Nafir

Percussion instruments While Arabic and Persian are separate languages, to a great extent the cultures intermixed during and after the Muslim conquest of Persia. Arabic became the lingua franca from the Middle East to the edge of China and into India, much as Latin was in Europe. As a result, the list below may contain Arab words that don't belong, but may also include words shared by both languages. An example is daf (دف), for which the Arab word is also daf or duff (plural dofuf). Similarly, conquests and cultural intermixing have made Turkish words available, such as kudum.

Membranophones

Idiophones

Shaken idiophones

Lamellophones

Images from Turkestan These images are from the Russian Turkestan, circa 1865-1872, an area in which Persian, Turkish, Arab/Islamic and Mongol peoples conquered and settled over the ages. When the Russians conquered, both Turkish and Persian languages were being spoken. The images of musical instruments show the mixing of cultures; some such as the tanbur appear normal for Persian culture. But there are variations, such as a kamanche that appears to be a bowed tanbur, and the kauz or kobyz, which is a Turkish word for an instrument that is closely related to the Ghaychak, a Persian instrument.

Others The electronic keyboard is a popular western instrument. There are numerous native musical instruments used in folk music.

See also Music of Iran Persian traditional music

References Abbas Aryanpur and Manoochehr Aryanpur, The Concise Persian-English Dictionary, Amir Kabir Publication Organization, Tehran, 1990. David R. Courtney, Fundamentals of Tabla, Vol. I, Sur Sangeet Services, Houston, 1998. Michael Kennedy, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, Oxford Univ. Press, London, 1980. Cemsid Salehpur, Türkçe Farsça Genel Sözlügü, Tehran, 1996. Mehdi Setayeshgar, Vazhe-Name-ye-Musighi-ye-Iran Zamin, Tehran, Vol. I (1995) & Vol. II (1996).

External links

Introduction to Iranian Indigenous and Local Musical Instruments by Kamran Komeylizadeh

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Persian musical instruments

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Persian musical instruments claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Persian musical instruments before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Persian musical instruments ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Persian musical instruments

In research: Persian musical instruments appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Persian musical instruments in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Persian musical instruments is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Iranian inventions, Persian musical instruments, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Persian musical instruments outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Persian musical instruments in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Persian musical instruments means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Persian musical instruments out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Persian musical instruments in simple terms?

Why does Persian musical instruments matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Persian musical instruments?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Persian musical instruments.