A Study Of The Unconventional Rhythm Types And Metres In "Hami Muqam"

"Hami Muqam" refers to a variety of Uyghur Muqam that exists in the area of Hami Prefecture, such as the areas of Taojiagong Town, Huayuan Town, Karadun("Wufu"), Erfu Town, Tianshan Town, Xishan Town of Hami City, and Zhuomaohu Town, Xiamaya Town and Weizihu Town of Yiwu County. More attention has been paid to the Hami Muqam because of the local factors, such as geographical location, religion, ethnic language, and ethnic customs. And all this made Hami Muqam distinctive and unique. However, it is noticed that there has not been sufficient studies on the Muqam due to the limitations the recording equipment, recording technology and the musical ontological researches concerned. And it is also noticed that there have been different ideas about the features of the partial rhythms and metres which are marked in the collected melodies of "Hami Muqam" that was published. Thus no definite conclusions about them have been made. This situation results in some difficulties for further studies of Hami Muqam. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the right types of the rhythms and meters through use of the methods combining the computer data procession and identification by hearing in order to re-examination of the different ideas about parts of the patterns of the rhythms and meters of Hami Muqam.The present study, using some of musical parts of"Hami Muqam"compiled by the Department of Cultural Affairs of Hami Prefecture and published by People's Music Press in 1994, attempts to re-examine the patterns of the music rhythms and meters of Hami Muqam by use of the methods combining the computer data procession and identification by hearing And the music data are analyzed and classified so as to obtain the types of the re-examined music pieces. Then the author uses this method to analyze the music materials of Hami Muqam in different areas and collected in different times. And finally a text of the analysis is given with some types of the music rhythms and metres in Hami Muqam. It is hoped that this study will be of help for the transmission and development of Hami Muqam.The present paper consists of four parts: the first part discuses the studies on Hami Muqam, and explains the aims, academic significance and methods of the present study; the second part deals with the study process with emphasis on the preparation work before the examination and the examination itself; the third part reports the findings based the re-examinations based on the different data collected, and a careful comparison is given on the data recorded in different areas and times. And in the last part the paper is devoted to discuss the author's analytical conclusions concerning the factors that resulted in the unconventional types of the music rhythms and metres in Hami Muqam.