ABSTRACT
This essay is the result of my 35-year study of the great musician, head of Azerbaijan’s largest performing school, and mugham People’s Artist of Azerbaijan Bahram Mansurov (1911‒1985), as well as his methods and techniques of training. Having received training from Mansurov over six years (1979‒1985), here I analyze the characteristic features of his approaches to mugham performers as well as to researchers of mugham. The essay defines the main features of his method and three stages of training: the tar as the main musical instrument for mugham; the destgah cycle and its parts and functions; and the creative role of the tar player. I illustrate the study with numerous examples of performances by the master and his students. This allows for the examination of similarities and differences among individual treatments of the cycle, as well as performing techniques and their role in the formation of the musical form. The essay aims to illustrate the tuning of musical instruments and intervals through analysis of the methods, including comparative, musical-historical, correspondence, and ethno-organological methods, as well as the notation of Mansurov’s and his students’ performances of mugham, and modern computer analysis (conducted in Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory together with A.V. Kharuto, PhD (tech.)). As a result, I will draw some conclusions about the relationship of the destgah cycle and its parts with the individual artist, and the concept of studying mugham in terms of traditional musicians as researchers.
