DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2015.v03i06.013

Pages: 1169-1173

In the history of Persian music, as well as rhythmic idiophones, there were idiophones which were responsible for playing melodies. Although the numbers of these instruments were few, we can observe a continuity of use in melodic idiophones at various moments of Iran’s history. These idiophones were tuned to different frequencies and played tones and melodies. Three melodic idiophones which have been mentioned in the musical treatises are: Kasat (Kasat-e Chini), Tasat, and Alwah (Alwah-e Foulad). In the current study, we examine melodic idiophones in Iran’s musical history, with reference to the existing literature. As well as general information about some of the melodic idiophones that were used in Iran, there are discussions about the instruments’ external structures or morphology, their tonal ranges, the simultaneous playing of some tones, and their performance techniques. For example, the form of the instrument often determined its musical abilities. The number of tones made by a Kasat-e Chini was related to the number of its bowls, and in an Alwah, it depended on the number of steel plates. What arises from the tonal derivation of these melodic idiophones shows that they could play tonal scales of their own music system called Safi al-din`s seventeen-tones scale, and sometimes thirty five tones, or two octaves. These instruments, in addition to playing tones and melodies, were also capable of playing counterpoint.