Dramatic, passionate — the sound of the call to prayer. The augmented second gives it away.
Hicaz is the makam of the call to prayer and the Mevlid — dramatic and passionate. It joins a Hicaz tetrachord on the karar to a Rast pentachord on Neva and resolves on perde Dügâh (A). The augmented second inside the Hicaz tetrachord is its unmistakable sound.
From perde Dügâh, the Hicaz 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, Nevâ, Hüseynî, Evc, 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.
Hicaz makam is assembled from the Hicaz tetrachord below and the Rast pentachord on Neva above, meeting on one shared perde. What defines the makam is not only the scale but its karar (Dügâh), its güçlü (Nevâ), and its seyir (ascending-descending).
Hicaz has a mixed ascending-descending seyir centred on the güçlü Neva. The augmented second (artık ikili, 12–13 koma) between the second and third degrees is stated early and returned to constantly. The wider Hicaz family — Uzzâl, Hümâyun, Zirgüleli Hicaz — shares this scale or most of it and differs by seyir and güçlü.
A wide augmented-second leap right above a low, half-step second degree — the single most recognisable sound in the makam system.
Dramatic, passionate — the sound of the call to prayer. The augmented second gives it away.
Heard in: the ezan, the Mevlid.
Makams from the same family — they share material and are told apart by seyir and güçlü:
Hicaz is the makam of the call to prayer and the Mevlid — dramatic and passionate. It joins a Hicaz tetrachord on the karar to a Rast pentachord on Neva and resolves on perde Dügâh (A). The augmented second inside the Hicaz tetrachord is its unmistakable sound.
In the Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek system the koma steps are 5 + 12 + 5 + 9 + 8 + 5 + 9 — 53 koma in all, one full octave. Named: S – A – S – T – K – S – T.
Hicaz makam resolves on perde Dügâh; its secondary centre of gravity (güçlü) is perde Nevâ. Its seyir (melodic path) is ascending-descending.
A wide augmented-second leap right above a low, half-step second degree — the single most recognisable sound in the makam system.
Hicaz is grouped here under "The Hicaz family", and shares material with Hümâyun, Uzzâl, Zirgüleli Hicaz. 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.