The “Time-Makam Analysis Model” as a graphic notation: A playful tool for collaborative improvised music

This study seeks to explore the creative performing processes that arise from the use of graphic scores. To achieve this, it uses the Time-Makam Analysis Model to demonstrate how this type of notation can produce “playful” creative processes that are open to evaluation from an ethnomusicological perspective. The study presents a practical, experimental, and multidisciplinary approach to graphic notation, it discusses the individual and collective relationships that performers have with a score of this type, and examines the spontaneous decision-making processes involved. The study is also intended to support performers’ collective creative decision-making, their playful thinking, and their improvisational skills. First, the introduction gives an overview of the concept of notation and provides a historical perspective for contemporary graphic scores. This is followed by an examination of the Time-Makam Analysis Model and its association with graphic notation, and a psychological discussion of creative, playful thinking processes. The final section contains field notes from two performances in which the author of this study took part: an online recording by the SAVT improvisation trio (Elif Canfeza Gündüz classical kemenche, Merve Salgar tanbur, and Zeynep Ayşe Hatipoğlu violoncello) and a real time collaboration with Ülkü Çağlayan (body movement and violoncello).