This piece explores a sound world that involves elements from the music of the west and Persian music. I have adopted elements such as orchestration and counterpoint from western musical practices as well as combining multiple Persian tuning systems to create a new tuning system with a unique sound. The title of the piece is constructed from the beginning of the names of each tuning system (Chehargah, Segah, Shoor, Esfahan, and Mahoor). The music is in a state of transformation. Thought out the piece the listener will hear a fabric of sound that is constantly being transformed in intensity, timber, texture, and harmony.
For this piece, I have combined 5 Persian dastgahs (tuning systems) of Chehargah, Segah, Shoor, Esfahan, and Mahoor to create a new tuning system with a unique sound world. Below, I have shown each individual Persian dastgah with the pitch center of "A", and at the end, the combination of all of them. In CheSeShooEsMah, this new scale or dastgah is played by almost all members of the ensemble during the climax of the piece. Guide: Half-flat: It’s a quarter tone. It means a tone half-way between the actual flat and the natural version of the note. Example: B half-flat is a tone half-way between B-natural and B-flat Half-sharp: It’s a quarter tone. It means a tone half-way between the actual sharp and the natural version of the note. Example: C half-sharp is a tone half way between C-natural and C-sharp Chehargah: A _ B half-flat _ C sharp _ D _ E _ F half-sharp _ G sharp _ A Segah: A _ B _ C half-sharp _ D _ E _ F half-sharp _ G _ A Shoor: A _ B half-flat _ C _ D _ E _ F _ G _ A Esfahan: A _ B _ C _ D _ E _ F half-sharp _ G half-sharp _ A Mahoor (known as the major scale in western music): A _ B _ C sharp _ D _ E _ F sharp _ G sharp _ A CheSeShooEsMah: A _ B half-flat _ C half-sharp _ C sharp _ D _ E _ F _ F half-sharp _ F sharp _ G half-sharp _ G sharp _ A
I was born in Portland, Oregon, but when I was 9 months old, my parents moved to Iran, where I grew up. At 17, I came back to the United States to study music. I completed my degree in music composition at the University of Oregon in June 2017. My professional history includes awards such as first-prize winner at the Frost International Composition Competition, third-prize winner of the Golden Key International Composition Competition, and the honorable mention for the Elevate Ensemble international call for scores. I was also given the “Outstanding Undergraduate Composer” award by the composition department of the University of Oregon. In September 2018 I will move to Montreal, Quebec, Canada to start my master studies in music composition at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, where I am the recipient of Max Stern Fellowship in Music as well as Graduate Excellence Fellowship.