An analysis of musical motifs and phrases formed through time-signature changes: The case of the Turkish Folk Song ‘Bir Ay Doğar’

The aim of this study is to examine how musical motifs and phrases are shaped by time-signature changes in a Turkish folk song notated with more than one time signature, and to discuss what this structure implies for performance. The study is a qualitative document and musical-structure analysis of a single work. The unit of analysis, the folk song ‘Bir Ay Doğar’ from the Malatya/Arguvan region (TRT Turkish Folk Music Repertoire No. 2837), was selected by purposive sampling on the basis of the following criteria: the recurrent and clearly patterned succession of 11/8, 5/8 and 9/8 measures within a single piece, the possibility of tracing motif and phrase boundaries alongside the metric changes, and the availability of the score and its documentation. The succession of time signatures, the within-measure organization (grouping), strong and weak beats, motif and phrase boundaries, melodic expansion and contraction, and the text–melody relationship were analysed on the score. The piece consists of twelve measures; in the first quatrain and in the refrain, 11/8 measures are followed by 5/8 and 9/8 measures, and in every measure the three-unit (aksak) group is placed at the end of the measure. Because this arrangement changes the perception of the beat at each metric transition, it demands attention, preparation and a shared sense of pulse in performance. At the same time, the time-signature changes allow the text-melodic phrases to expand and contract naturally according to their length, support the alignment between the syllabic distribution of the Turkish lyrics and the melody, and lend the piece rhythmic-melodic variety and a regional identity. The findings are limited to a single work and cannot be generalized to the whole Turkish folk-music repertoire; comparative studies of mixed-meter folk songs from different regions are recommended.