Phone and tablet · iOS · Android

The usuls of Turkish music, by hearing and playing.

Usulzen shows an usul on a cycle ring, in two-line notation and on the kudüm. It plays real kudüm recordings, teaches syllable by syllable, then asks you to strike with both hands.

80BPM · eighth note

9/8

This page is silent; you hear the kudüm in the app.

Aksak

right hand · outer left hand · inner thick = strong

Views

One usul, carried through every card.

The usul and tempo you chose above drive every view below. As you scroll, the cards stack on top of each other; the cycle keeps going.

Notation

Two-line usul notation

The upper line is the right hand, the lower line the left. Note values come from the mertebe: in 9/8 the unit is the eighth note, in 4/4 the quarter note. The stroke being played lights up on the notation.

Dashed lines separate the groups of the usul.
Mertebe and tempo change while playing; the cycle never slips.
The stroke list shows the hand, duration and weight of every syllable.

upper line · right hand

lower line · left hand

Kudüm

Which mallet, which bowl

The right mallet strikes both bowls: Düm on the right bowl, Te on the left. The left mallet strikes only the left bowl. On Hek both mallets come down together. The rings are the skin vibrating.

The sound is chosen by the mallet that strikes and the bowl it hits.
The right bowl is heard on the right, the left bowl on the left.

right mallet · both bowls left mallet · left bowl only ring = vibration

Learn

Seven syllable lessons

They start with Düm and Tek and go as far as the velvele. Every lesson takes its durations from a real usul pattern: Nim Sofyan, Sofyan, Aksak Semai, Fahte, Türk Aksağı.

Listen first, then count along as you play.
Tap a lesson to run it here.

Practice

Tap, strike, measure

The screen splits into two hand zones. Strike with the right hand at the right moment and it counts as a hit. The app first measures your device's latency; the audio guide and the gradual tempo increase speed you up step by step.

±40 ms exact, ±90 ms close.
Try it here: F left hand, J right hand, or tap the zones.

Taps0

Accuracy–

Avg. deviation– ms

Readywatch the ring, strike with the stroke

Usuls · 17 usuls

Simple and small usuls, with their sources.

The atlas records 66 usuls. Each usul opens as it is checked one by one against printed sources; the large usuls are next. Tap an usul and the ring at the top and every card will show it.

Sound

Real kudüm, timed to the sample.

This page is visual only. In the app you hear every stroke from a real kudüm recording.

4 takes

No mechanical repetition

Every stroke is a single hit cut from a real recording. Several takes of the same stroke rotate in turn; strong, semi-strong and weak strokes are separate recordings.

20–240 BPM

Changes while playing

The scheduler plans ahead. When the tempo or the mertebe changes, the absolute speed of the notes is kept: switching from 9/8 to 9/4 takes 60 BPM down to 30.

±40 ms

Measured timing

In Practice the deviation of every tap is measured in milliseconds. You play and pause from the lock screen and the notification; Stage view plays full screen.

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