Identical to the Western major scale — bright, firm, childlike.
Çârgâh makam has exactly the intervals of the Western major scale, built as a Çârgâh pentachord plus a Çârgâh tetrachord and resolving on perde Çârgâh (C). Because it uses no microtonal perdes, it sounds plain and firm to Western ears.
From perde Çârgâh, the Çârgâh 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: 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.
Çârgâh makam is assembled from the Çârgâh pentachord below and the Çârgâh tetrachord on Neva above, meeting on one shared perde. What defines the makam is not only the scale but its karar (Çârgâh), its güçlü (Nevâ), and its seyir (ascending).
An ascending makam that moves straight up from the karar Çârgâh through the güçlü Neva to the octave. In classical practice it is used less than its şed (transposed) forms — Mâhur and Acemaşîrân — which carry the same intervals to a different pitch level.
The Western major scale, note for note — no comma inflections anywhere.
Identical to the Western major scale — bright, firm, childlike.
Heard in: children's songs, marches.
Makams from the same family — they share material and are told apart by seyir and güçlü:
Çârgâh makam has exactly the intervals of the Western major scale, built as a Çârgâh pentachord plus a Çârgâh tetrachord and resolving on perde Çârgâh (C). Because it uses no microtonal perdes, it sounds plain and firm to Western ears.
In the Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek system the koma steps are 9 + 9 + 4 + 9 + 9 + 9 + 4 — 53 koma in all, one full octave. Named: T – T – B – T – T – T – B.
Çârgâh makam resolves on perde Çârgâh; its secondary centre of gravity (güçlü) is perde Nevâ. Its seyir (melodic path) is ascending.
The Western major scale, note for note — no comma inflections anywhere.
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.