Jins
In traditional Arabic music theory, a jins is a set of three, four, or five stepwise pitches used to build an Arabic maqam, or melodic mode. They correspond to the English terms trichord, tetrachord, and pentachord. A maqam is made up of two or more ajnas.
Etymology
The Arabic word جنس probably derives from the Greek word or else from the related Latin word genus, either way from the same Proto-Indo-European root. The basic meaning is that of a kind, family, or race. The same Arabic word is also used to mean genus in biology, and gender.Meaning of a jins
Traditional music theory texts tend to describe a jins as a concrete set of pitches, and they are often quick to give mathematically precise intervals for the ideal version of each jins. Their authors were probably influenced by the writings of ancient Greek music theorists going back to Pythagoras, and their intention had more to do with deriving ideal musical scales from basic mathematical principles rather than simply using mathematical tools to describe scales that are basically products of human culture.A more modern approach is to accept performance practice as the arbiter of truth, and to use the concept of ajnas to describe that practice as naturally and faithfully as possible. This results in several deviations from the traditional concept of a jins that are useful:
- A jins need not contain exactly 4 pitches, but could contain 3, 5, or even greater numbers of pitches.
- The intervals with a jins are not mathematically fixed to one ideal form, because different regional styles and even different individual performers can use differently tuned intervals as part of their artistic expression.
- A jins is not only a set of pitches, but can include at least two kinds of special, distinguished pitches: the tonic, and the ghammaz. Traditionally the tonic is always considered to be the lowest pitch in the jins, but there is no convincing reason for this and sometimes a clearer analysis can be made in terms of ajnas that go below the tonic as well.
- The realm of melodic influence of a jins often extends above or below the proper notes of the jins, especially to the "leading tone" or pitch immediately below the tonic, which is commonly used in melodies and lies a particular interval below the tonic for each jins.
- In addition to all that, each jins has certain melodic fragments that are more expected or traditional in the idiom of Arabic music, and substantially deviating from them results in melodies that are rarer or more experimental. In other words, each jins comes with its own "vocabulary" of phrases that musicians draw from to build idiomatic melodies.
Standard tonics and transposition
A jins is defined and recognized by its intervals, so it can be transposed to a different absolute pitch and still be considered the same jins. Unlike Western major and minor scales, however, ajnas are not transposed to more than a handful of appropriate tonic pitches. The reason for this is partly tradition and partly because of the ergonomics and mechanical capabilities of different instruments. For example, players of stringed instruments such as the oud or violin generally prefer the tonic and ghammaz of a jins to be on open strings. An even more obvious example is the "Arabized" accordion, which may be equipped with only a limited set of quarter-tone notes, such as E half-flat, A half-flat, and B half-flat — this greatly restricts the keys in which the non-semitonal ajnas can be played.The ajnas below are presented on their "standard" tonics, which are the traditional versions first taught to music students. In some cases the jins actually shares its name with the name of the pitch in the historic 24-tone Arab tone system, for example "Rast" is both the name of a jins and the name of the note C, which is its standard tonic.