The Western natural minor — calm, grave.
Bûselik makam has the intervals of the Western natural minor (Aeolian) scale, built as a Bûselik pentachord on the karar plus a Kürdî tetrachord on Hüseyni and resolving on perde Dügâh (A). Its character is calm and grave.
From perde Dügâh, the Bûselik dizi runs through these degrees across one octave. A degree is labelled with a core perde name where it lands exactly on one, and with its degree number otherwise. The letters are the koma value of each interval: T = tanini (9), K = büyük mücennep (8), S = küçük mücennep (5), B = bakiye (4), A = artık ikili (12). Press play the scale — every perde sounds at its true position in the 53-koma octave, microtonally, not rounded to a piano key.
The dizi lands on these named core perdes: Dügâh, Çârgâh, Nevâ, Hüseynî, Gerdâniye. The degrees in between carry no core perde name and are shown by number.
Turkish music is written for one reference tuning (Bolâhenk); differently sized instruments transpose it down — Süpürde by a whole tone, Kız by ≈ a fourth, Mansur by ≈ a fifth. The written perdes don't change, only the sounding pitch.
The same seven steps drawn against the core perde lines, so you can see the melodic shape and exactly which degrees sit between the piano keys.
Each dot is a degree's true koma height above the karar. Reddish dots don't sit on a core perde — they fall 'between the keys'. Turkish scores write these with the koma / mücennep accidentals.
Bûselik makam is assembled from the Bûselik pentachord below and the Kürdî tetrachord on Hüseyni above, meeting on one shared perde. What defines the makam is not only the scale but its karar (Dügâh), its güçlü (Hüseynî), and its seyir (ascending).
Bûselik is ascending: it opens near the karar Dügâh, rises through the pentachord to the güçlü Hüseyni, and reaches the octave before coming back down to rest. The güçlü on perde Hüseyni is what marks it as Bûselik rather than Nihâvend, which carries the same shape but leans on Neva.
The natural minor scale exactly — the weight on perde Hüseyni as the güçlü is the tell.
The Western natural minor — calm, grave.
Heard in: Dede Efendi's Bûselik works.
Makams from the same family — they share material and are told apart by seyir and güçlü:
Bûselik makam has the intervals of the Western natural minor (Aeolian) scale, built as a Bûselik pentachord on the karar plus a Kürdî tetrachord on Hüseyni and resolving on perde Dügâh (A). Its character is calm and grave.
In the Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek system the koma steps are 9 + 4 + 9 + 9 + 4 + 9 + 9 — 53 koma in all, one full octave. Named: T – B – T – T – B – T – T.
Bûselik makam resolves on perde Dügâh; its secondary centre of gravity (güçlü) is perde Hüseynî. Its seyir (melodic path) is ascending.
The natural minor scale exactly — the weight on perde Hüseyni as the güçlü is the tell.
Bûselik is grouped here under "Resolving on Dügâh", and shares material with Kürdî, Uşşâk, Hüseynî, Nevâ, Karcığar, Bayati. These are told apart not by their scale but by their seyir and güçlü.
This scale is given in its standard Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek / conservatory form and is checked to close the octave at 53 commas. There is always a small gap between what the theory writes and what a performer plays.
Back to the Turkish Makam tool for all seven çeşni, the perde ruler and the 20 makams; for the history of makam and maqam see the Middle Eastern Music lesson; for Western scales, the Scale Library.