The makam most open to Western harmony — romantic, elegant.
Nihâvend makam has the intervals of the Western harmonic and melodic minor, and is the makam most open to Western-style harmony. It joins a Bûselik pentachord on the karar Rast to a Hicaz tetrachord on Neva and resolves on perde Rast. In effect it carries the Bûselik pattern to the Rast pitch level.
From perde Rast, the Nihâvend 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: Rast, Dügâh, Çârgâh, Nevâ, 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.
Nihâvend makam is assembled from the Bûselik pentachord on Rast below and the Hicaz tetrachord on Neva above, meeting on one shared perde. What defines the makam is not only the scale but its karar (Rast), its güçlü (Nevâ), and its seyir (descending-ascending).
Nihâvend has a descending-then-ascending seyir: it often begins in the upper octave, works down to the güçlü Neva, then explores the lower Bûselik pentachord before settling on Rast. Composers frequently harmonise it with functional chords, which few other makams allow.
Western minor with a raised leading tone — carried on perde Rast rather than Dügâh.
The makam most open to Western harmony — romantic, elegant.
Heard in: instrumental semais, film scores.
Makams from the same family — they share material and are told apart by seyir and güçlü:
Nihâvend makam has the intervals of the Western harmonic and melodic minor, and is the makam most open to Western-style harmony. It joins a Bûselik pentachord on the karar Rast to a Hicaz tetrachord on Neva and resolves on perde Rast. In effect it carries the Bûselik pattern to the Rast pitch level.
In the Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek system the koma steps are 9 + 4 + 9 + 9 + 5 + 12 + 5 — 53 koma in all, one full octave. Named: T – B – T – T – S – A – S.
Nihâvend makam resolves on perde Rast; its secondary centre of gravity (güçlü) is perde Nevâ. Its seyir (melodic path) is descending-ascending.
Western minor with a raised leading tone — carried on perde Rast rather than Dügâh.
Nihâvend is grouped here under "Built on Rast", and shares material with Rast, Nikrîz, Sûzinâk, Mâhur, Kürdîlihicazkâr. 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.