Tuning name: Kurd
Synonyms: Aeolian / with fundamental C# = Annaziska
Basic tone sequence (8+1): D/ A Bb C D E F G A
Effect: Warm - Mysterious - Dreamy
Tone range: Heptatonic
Mode:
Phrygian (tonal center 1st note) = major, or
Aeolian (tonal center : Ding) = minor
Semitones : 7- 1 - 2 - 2 - 2- 3 - 2 - 2
Tonal center : DING or first note
Description Handpan tuning D Kurd:
The Kurd tuning is, if you like, the natural minor variant of the handpan tunings. Due to its particularly harmonious combination of notes, it is particularly suitable for beginners. It can be used to play anything from calm and meditative to melancholic to powerful and cheerful, with lots of variation.
Even though this tuning can sound very sentimental, it can also be used to create cheerful soundscapes. For example, the second and third notes each produce a major triad. Just be aware that the second and third notes are played simultaneously. Of course, you can also consciously use this tension to spice up your playing and make the relaxation have a stronger effect afterwards.
This tuning is one of the first seven-note scales to be tuned into a handpan and has become very well known through numerous videos that have gone viral on the internet.
Origin and music theory of the Kurd handpan tuning:
Kurd takes its name from the Arabic/Turkish maqam Kurd. This tone selection also shares the arrangement of the tones with this maqam, assuming that the tonal center is on the first tone in the circle. This creates the complete Phrygian mode, which is characterized by a semitone step from the root note to the second note of the scale and is responsible for the mysterious sound of the scale.
However, an ambivalence remains, as the DING is a fifth below the first note and thus appears like a second tonal center, which allows the mode to change to Aeolian (natural minor). Depending on how you play, you can switch between a natural minor and a Phrygian sound character. With Kurd you can play anything from calm and meditative to melancholic to powerful and cheerful, with lots of variation.
Kurd shares with other minor variations (cf. Celtic Minor/Integral) the leap of a fifth from the DING to the first note. From this fifth step, assuming that the tonal center is the DING, you have all the tone steps of a natural minor scale (aeolian). Kurd's semitone step between the first and second note is special. This step is also present in the maqam Kurd (Arabic or Turkish scale system) of the same name (cf. semai Kurd), but also in the Phrygian mode. The Phrygian mode is used in jazz, psychedelic rock, flamenco and fado, but also in classical music.
Possible tone sequences of the Handpan Scale D Kurd:
Basic tone sequence with 9 notes : D/ A Bb C D E F G A
Tone sequence with 10 notes: D/ A Bb C D E F G A C
Tone sequence with 11 notes: D/ (F G) A Bb C D E F G A
Tone sequence with 12 notes: D/ (F G) A Bb C D E F G A C
Which handpan tuning goes well with D Kurd:
Very suitable for playing together improvisationally:
Also suitable for composing together:
