What are the rules to compose arab/india/chinese music?

[PabloLuna]

I am curious about the rules to make such music...

[psishock]

Now this is an interesting stance... rules? I really don't think that you should rely on them at all. Listen to arab/india/chinese musics if you like them most and make something with the assimilated experience. There shall not be any "rule" in the world of music.

[PabloLuna]

Every kind of music has rules or features.
I heard that chinese music is pentaphonic, but I do have any idea of what it means.

[Saga Musix]

It's not pentaphonic, it's pentatonic. in a nutshell, pentatonic is "the stuff that sounds asian/chinese".

[psishock]

Every kind of music has rules

Not in my dictionary .
As long as it sounds ok, the sound or the variation will get in my compositions.

[Saga Musix]

the big secret (that is no secret at all) is, that there are still rules, even if you deny that, psishock. you're working with western note material, you're following the rules of trance, etc. It all fits into our western scales and all that. There were some crazy guys in the beginning of the 20th century who wanted to do the contrary, music without rules, but even they failed in doing so. c'mon, you have 12 different keys, there's always some rules!

[psishock]

Rules are not the right word for this Jojo. We have various features in genres yes, as PabloLuna said, but they can be altered as well if one needs that. I am not "following" the rules by the meaning of the term, but use the features from a number of genres.
How should i describe you the way of my thinking? hmmmm.... lets see, i have a big sound chaos in my mind when i'm composing and i'm trying to put every "good" idea on the "paper" before it slips away from my head (some of them slips anyway, some them can be saved, but nevertheless new ones comes all the time). After that, i post-edit the "idea" a bit more to shift the sound, appealing more to the "naked" and my ear also.

[Saga Musix]

it *are* rules, believe me, even if you don't think it are rules. you don't think that because everything that follows the rules sounds nice, and thus, "doesn't need rules" as those would say who don't know better.

[Louigi Verona]

For chinese use pentatonic. For indian try this scale: C, C#,E,F,G,A#,C

[psishock]

They *are* rules, believe me, even if you don't think it are rules. you don't think that because everything that follows the rules sounds nice, and thus, "doesn't need rules" as those would say who don't know better.

oh my.... i am doing it somewhat subconsciously you're saying?

[Saga Musix]

very much so, yes.

[Harbinger]

Right up my alley, Pablo!

I have NEVER composed the musicks you ask, because upon serious research to do so, i ran across an interesting tidbit:

there are RULES! :wink:

Just like composing Western music, these cultures have their own scales, and Arabian music in particular has notes that are foreign to Western ears and Western instruments. (Not only that, each subculture of the Arabic and Islamic world has their own scale!) Far Eastern music not only has an unusual scale (based on the pentatonic, depending upon the region), but as in many Oriental languages, note "inflections" can change the note "meaning".

May i suggest that you visit the Wikipedia and search Arabian or Islamic music. You'll be flooded with a load of information!

[Sam_Zen]

Well, rules are there to break, but I don't think it's the right term. I would say 'properties'.
As psishock states, first it's a matter of listening and analyzing the music.

1 - Chinese. Of course the pentatonic is the cliche thing that sounds 'chinese'. But every province has its own music.
2 - Indian. A classical raga has an ascending and descending scale. I still don't understand how that works.
The rhythm pattern (tala) can be anything upto 19 steps.
3 - Arab. Until the western dance thing came along with the 4/4 thing, most pieces were played in 6/8.
Another aspect : In classical arab music the orchestra plays in unison with the singers melody (Um Khalthoum)

A common characteristic for this "world music" is the fact that no harmonic three-tone chords (solfège) are used as in western music.

[PabloLuna]

Do any of you make any?  
I am very far from those countries to get such music.
So I would not be able to listen their music.

In my country such music does not get into the stores.
Only crappy reggaeton with vulgar lyrics.

[psishock]

I am very far from those countries to get such music.

Not a problem matey, the internet is invented and we don't need to face with these limits anymore.
Have you tried Youtube or similar sites example? There a lot of ways to listen freely to the compositions without pirating them down. Also there are a heavy number of online stores, you can get the desired songs legally for a fair amount of cash, just like you would do in regular stores.