Cheerful, noble, settling. The most-used principal makam.
Rast is the central makam of Turkish music — the reference point the whole system is measured against. Its scale joins a Rast pentachord on the karar to a Rast tetrachord on Neva, and it resolves on perde Rast, written in Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek notation as G. The mood is bright, dignified and settled.
From perde Rast, the Rast 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, Segâh, Çârgâh, 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.
Rast makam is assembled from the Rast pentachord below and the Rast 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 (ascending).
Rast is an ascending makam. Melodies typically begin around the karar, rise through the Rast pentachord, make a half-cadence on the güçlü Neva, then reach the octave before descending to rest on Rast. Its third degree, perde Segâh, sits a comma below Western B and gives Rast its particular colour.
A major-sounding scale whose third and seventh degrees sit a comma lower than the piano — familiar, but not quite Western.
Cheerful, noble, settling. The most-used principal makam.
Heard in: Itri — Nevakar.
Makams from the same family — they share material and are told apart by seyir and güçlü:
Rast is the central makam of Turkish music — the reference point the whole system is measured against. Its scale joins a Rast pentachord on the karar to a Rast tetrachord on Neva, and it resolves on perde Rast, written in Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek notation as G. The mood is bright, dignified and settled.
In the Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek system the koma steps are 9 + 8 + 5 + 9 + 9 + 8 + 5 — 53 koma in all, one full octave. Named: T – K – S – T – T – K – S.
Rast makam resolves on perde Rast; its secondary centre of gravity (güçlü) is perde Nevâ. Its seyir (melodic path) is ascending.
A major-sounding scale whose third and seventh degrees sit a comma lower than the piano — familiar, but not quite Western.
Rast is grouped here under "Built on Rast", and shares material with Nihâvend, 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.