The Modality

Turkish makam and modal jazz, side by side — 29 makams, 14 modes, 64 musicians, and the Crossroads where the two traditions meet. Hear them in A/B comparison.

You've heard music from across the world and felt something move in you — without knowing why. The Modality is how you find out.

Most apps teach music theory as rules to memorize. The Modality teaches it as something to hear — because every musical tradition is really a different way to turn sound into feeling. We start with two of the most beautiful, and we're adding more.

TURKISH MAKAM 29 makams, from Rast to Ferahfeza — each drawn degree by degree, with its microtonal commas marked, its seyir, its mood, the hour it belongs to, and the ney to play it.

MODAL JAZZ 14 modes across two scales: the seven modes of the major scale, and the seven of melodic minor — the language of tension and release, from Lydian dominant to the altered sound.

WHERE THEY MEET The Crossroads is where the two traditions touch. Hicaz and the Phrygian dominant share one ancient interval — hear them side by side, ney against Rhodes piano. Saba and Locrian reach the same depth of feeling by the same turn. Two musical worlds, one tap apart.

THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE MUSIC 64 composers and performers, from Itri and Dede Efendi to Miles Davis and Bill Evans — with portraits, lives, and every place in the app you can hear them. Tap any name on any recording and meet the person.

HEAR IT EVERYWHERE

• Iconic recordings and taksim improvisations for every major makam
• Canonical tunes for every mode — So What, Maiden Voyage, Spain
• Songs you already know, mapped to the makam they live in — classical, arabesk, Anatolian rock
• Play any scale on the ney or Rhodes, from any root

LEARN IT PROPERLY

• A guided lesson path in each tradition, from "What is a makam?" up
• Quizzes that unlock level by level
• A glossary of both traditions' vocabulary — taksim, seyir, voicing, vamp
• Usul rhythm patterns with audio

For curious listeners, for Western musicians meeting microtones for the first time, and for Turkish speakers rediscovering their own tradition.

Two ways of hearing, each one whole. More on the way.