The Secret to Playing Taqsim Using Jins Rast (modulating to many different maqamat)

Ever wonder if there is one good trick or tool to use to create a seamless modulation from one maqam to another?

Ever listen to a taqsim where the Oud player confuses your ears and you can’t follow what he’s doing until you realize he’s playing a completely different maqam than what he started out playing?

I know I’ve experienced these situations plenty of times. But I’m now going to share with you something that you will be able to use for the rest of your life as an Oud player.

This article is going to prepare you for a technique series video that will be coming out in the next couple weeks. It will be a maqam/modulation video. It will be the first time I delve into a really excellent trick that took me years to figure out on my own.

Jins Rast Versatility

This articles is all about Jins Rast. It will give you an introduction to how you can use this jins to go into pretty much any other maqam you want to.

I alluded to this in the Maqam Mastery Program, and it becomes clear that Maqam Rast can be very useful in modulation. But I soon realized that I would need to create a whole separate module to cover the versatility of jins Rast. BECAUSE you can use it in many situations.

The Secret to Modulation

It is important that modulation sounds natural and fluid especially in taqasim. This is exactly what happens when applying jins Rast. Jins Rast is so fundamental to Middle Eastern music that it can be introduced almost anywhere and not sound too blunt to the listener. In other words, you can use jins Rast in various ways to bridge gaps between unrelated or distantly-related maqamat.

You can use it to change the tonal center of your taqsim as well.

Jins Rast Intervallic Structure

Look at the intervals between the notes of Jins Rast.

Jins Rast on C:

C, D, E quarter flat, F

It doesn’t matter which note you start on, the interval will always be…

Full step, 3/4 step, 3/4 step.

In other words…

1 step, 3/4 step, 3/4 step.

In the Maqam Mastery Program, we also noted that Jins Rast is also very close to Jins Ajam, which is basically the first four notes of any western major scale.

Jins Ajam on C:

C, D, E, F

Jins Rast on the Oud

There are many positions from where you can start to play Jins Rast on the Oud.

The most ideal positions are from the open strings, like c, g, d, a, f.

Jins Rast in Modulation

Many of the basic maqamat in Arabic music have Jins Rast hidden inside of it, or as an optional ascending/descending motif. For example, Maqam Hijaz, Bayati, Sikah, Saba. Even the “major” sounding maqamat like Maqam Ajam can be manipulated to sound like Rast just by flattening the 3rd and 6th notes in the maqam. So if you are playing Maqam Ajam in C, you would flatten the E natural to a E quarter flat and you can create the taste and flavour of Jins Rast.

Instead of trying to come up with some rules that you can use in your playing, I’ll just show you a good example of the use of Jins Rast in order to modulate to another maqam very suddenly but smoothly.

Start playing Maqam Nawa Athar on C. Develop melody in such a way that you land on C of the upper octave. You can start playing Jins Rast. Play Jins Rast on C all the way up to F, four notes above C. Now you have many options available to you:

You may descend into any Maqam or you can continue playing Maqam Rast from here.

Try descending into Maqam Bayati on G, Maqam Rast on F, Maqam Saba on G…

Two Effects of Jins Rast

I think there are two uses or two effects that Jins Rast can have during taqasim.

1. Neutralizing the mood, or changing the mood without sounding too drastic to the ear.

2. Ability to push the tonal center in a different direction, so you can start a new maqam on a different note.

Techniques Series Video

Hopefully the technique series video that shows various examples of using Jins Rast will be ready for release in two weeks. So stay tuned and you will learn some cool tricks to rock out on your taqasim.