Examination of Prosodic and Musical Structures of Muammer Sun’s Original Songs
İvan CelacMuammer Sun (1932-2021) gave importance to prosody. In prosody, the word that is to be emphasized in the sentence should be given the highest sound in the melody. In rhythmic harmony, the syllables in the word are separated by their length and shortness, and accordingly, short or long note values are given in the melody. The main question is how Sun uses lyrics and music features together in his songs. His vocal musical repertoire has a wide variety. Therefore, only his original songs composed for a single adult soloist were evaluated. Four original songs, identified specifically for this study and whose notations were obtained, were examined in terms of prosodic and musical features. The analysis (meter harmony, high pitch harmony, semantic harmony/phrase emphasis and others) applied to the relevant songs constituted the method of the research. In this study, in addition to the prosody in the four original songs of Muammer Sun, structures such as tonal/modal understanding, measurement (rhythm) and scale, melodic structure/intervals, the relationship between high pitches and syllables/letters, and sound width are analyzed. findings have been reached. From the determined findings, the relationship of Sun’s four songs with the relevant theory is presented as a result.
Muammer Sun’un Özgün Şarkılarının Prozodik ve Müziksel Yapılarının İncelenmesi
İvan CelacMuammer Sun’un (1932-2021) söz ve ezgi uyumu olarak bilinen prozodiye önem verdiği varsayılmaktadır. Prozodi, Yunanca (“Prosodia”) vurgu anlamındadır.Prozodi, şiirdeki sözcüklerin vurgulu/vurgusuz hecelerin, ezgide incelik/kalınlık olarak karşılık bulması demektir. Ayrıca, cümlede vurgulanmak istenen sözcüğe, ezgide en tiz sesin verilmesi gerekmektedir. Tartım uyumunda, sözcükteki heceler uzunluk ve kısalıkları ile ayrılırlar ve buna göre de ezgide kısa veya uzun nota değerleri verilmektedir. Bu açıdan, araştırmanın temel sorusu, Sun’un şarkılarında söz ve müzik özelliklerini nasıl bir arada kullandığıdır. Sun’un, sözlü müzik dağarcığı çok geniş bir çeşitliliğe sahiptir. Dolayısıyla bu çalışmanın sınırlılığı çerçevesinde Sun’un tüm sözlü eserlerini incelemek mümkün olmadığından, sadece tek yetişkin solist için bestelenen özgün şarkıları değerlendirilmiştir. Bu çalışmaya özgü tespit edilip notasyonlarına ulaşılan dört tane özgün şarkı prozodik ve müziksel özellikler açısından incelenmiştir. Sun’un belirlediği bir kuramsal çerçeveye dayalı olarak ilgili şarkılara uygulanan analiz (tartım uyumu, tizlik uyumu, anlam uyumu/cümle vurgusu ve diğer müziksel unsurlar), araştırmanın yöntemini oluşturmuştur. Bu çalışmada, üçüncü kuşak Türk bestecilerinden Muammer Sun’un belirlenen dört özgün şarkısındaki prozodinin yanı sıra, tonal/modal anlayış, ölçü ve tartımlar (ritim), ezgi yapısı/ses aralıkları, tiz seslerle hecelerin/harflerin ilişkisi ve ses genişliği gibi yapılar analiz edilip bulgulara ulaşılmıştır. Belirlenen bulgulardan da Sun’un dört şarkısının ilgili kuramla ilişkisi sonuç olarak sunulmuştur.
The world repertoire of oral musical works (songs) undoubtedly has a very rich diversity. This diversity includes folk songs and original songs. Each original song is usually composed in the language(s) that its composer speaks very well. In order for each song to be aesthetic, listenable and easy to sing, it is very important to know and take into consideration the composition techniques/approaches when creating the song.
The results of a research conducted on Muammer Sun’s choir songs examined in this study also show the importance of harmony between words and music. Despite the positive results in the research on Sun, it seems that there is not enough research on this subject, even though the problems of harmony between words and music in composing original songs of Turkish polyphonic music composers are frequently mentioned among musicians.
In this research, which focuses on how Sun uses lyrics and musical features together in his songs, four original songs of the composer, which have not been examined before, were analyzed within the framework of his theory and this theory-based method and findings were revealed. Sun’s theory (1997, p. 63), which he determined as the three subjects of prosody and based on three elements (meter harmony, high pitch harmony, semantic harmony/phrase emphasis) used the analysis method of the four songs included in this study. has determined.
As a result, it was determined that the four songs analyzed were compatible with Sun’s theory. In other words, Sun applied the theory he determined while composing his own songs. It was revealed that the harmony of meter, high pitch and semantic of the four songs examined in terms of prosodic and musical aspects were mostly compatible in terms of lyrics and music. It has been determined that the composer paid great attention to rhythmic harmony (except for deviations in a few words) in the melodies he created based on the lyrics.
The harmony of high pitches in the four songs is delivered almost where it should be, with very rare deviations. While some stressed syllables should be given a high sound, they are melodically given a lower sound. In such cases, when the stressed syllables are considered in terms of pitch harmony, even though they are given to a lower sound melodically, they still give the feeling of being strong/stressed because they are placed in the strong (or relatively strong) time of the measure. This approach is not interpreted as wrong and is sometimes used in song.
The majority of the stressed syllables of the words in the poem are placed in the strong or relatively strong tenses of the measures, and some stressed syllables are placed in the weak tenses of the measures/units, which are not preferred. Since some words are long, double stress is given as primary and secondary stress. Sentence stresses are sometimes seen as single, sometimes as two or three. The sentence stresses, which are more than one in songs, consist of either primary and secondary (one is given to a higher pitched voice, the other to a deeper voice) or stresses of equal importance. These emphases are given to the same sound. The peak emphasis of all poems is placed in an appropriate place in each song according to the meaning of the poem.
When the vocal fields in songs are examined in terms of other musical structures, it is obvious that the vocal characteristics of the singers are taken into consideration. The intervals/meters in the melodies generally consist of intervals/meters that can be sung easily. The tonal/modal structures of the songs are consistent and were composed with three approaches: tonal, modal and maqam. When we look at the songs in terms of meter usage, only 2/2, 3/2, (single measure of 1/2), 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 measures are used; Incorrect measurements were not used.
In short, Muammer Sun composed his four original songs by paying maximum attention to the rules of prosody and other musical structures (sound field, interval structure, etc.). Finally, such an approach is important in terms of the memorability of the song melodies, easy singing, and the listener’s understanding and liking the song better, and if they love it, adding it to their lives.
