The Great Book of Music

...its parts and segments. Thus, the spaces between the letters are filled with additional notes that lack corresponding letters. Another type is full of notes original: "mamlu' al-nagham", which is where the letters are not spaced far apart, and most of them are filled with notes that are fundamentally arranged within the group of the melody. A third type is a mixture of both categories. Then, he mentioned how poetic utterances poetic utterances: "al-aqawil," the spoken or sung text that forms the linguistic basis of a vocal composition. and notes are partitioned, and how letters are distributed across notes, or notes across letters.

He also mentioned the beginnings and endings of melodies, and the notes used to facilitate transitions modulations or shifts between musical sections between parts. He followed this by mentioning the emotional and imaginative states of notes, and the categories of complete melodies original: "al-alhan al-kamila," melodies that satisfy both the ear and the soul through structural and poetic perfection. Finally, he concluded this treatise with a sound discourse on the goals of melodies and their role in humanity. He noted that the practitioners of this art original: "al-sina'a," literally "the craft" or "industry," referring to the professional practice of music have sometimes pushed it beyond serious matters of speech into categories of vulgar utterances used for play and amusement, until this art was nearly held in contempt by virtuous people and those whose aim was to benefit from it in the imagination of speech that is serious—neither frivolous nor vulgar.

As I provide the preface for this book, I present it hoping that it will be the best reference for those engaged in studying the elements of knowledge and the science of music. They will find in it useful principles regarding both theoretical and practical matters, and the appendages of this art. I hope it serves as an incentive for practitioners of singing and composition original: "al-talhin" to choose utterances that are beneficial to humanity, and to create their melodies in a style that links our national language with the methods of musical arrangement within it. Indeed, this art is most worthy of being one of the most important characteristics of our Arabic nationalism.