Although the Department of Turkish Music of the State Conservatory of the Anadolu University was established in 2015, it was granted the permission to enroll students in May 2017 upon the approval of the Council of Higher Education of the qualifications of faculty members.
Currently, there are more than 30 conservatories (Turkish music and classical Western music) under various state universities in Turkey. Notwithstanding the fact that the number of conservatories teaching classical Western music alone is higher, it is a pleasure to see that many music institutions that had been first established as conservatories for Western music have recently been adding Departments of Turkish Music to their organization, and that they are rapidly progressing toward becoming “National Conservatories” without compromising the globally acknowledged systematics of Western music education.
The primary goal of the faculty of the Departments of Turkish Music should be to preserve maqamic music which is one of the most important elements of civilization shaped by the socio-cultural and political moves of the Turkish people in their history; to transfer it to future generations accurately and in all its authenticity; and to prevent its popularization in urban recreational music with a view to avoid further blood loss.
Moreover, maqamic music is also one of the major musical elements used by contemporary composers that long for novelty, are open to change, and produce the music of the future. Another important qualification to be gained while striving to become a “National Conservatory” is to equip instrumentalists, composers, conductors and theoreticians that are receiving Western music education with knowledge on Turkish maqamic music, thereby enable our graduates with a background in Western music to perform on international stages with the know-how unique to Turkish maqamic music, and to earn Turkey a more respectable place in world music with this contribution to arts and music. In summary, the primary aims of establishing a Department of Turkish Music in the State Conservatory of the Anadolu University, which has thirty years of experience as a Western music conservatory, are to raise generations that will preserve the authenticity of maqamic music, to educate them as maqam performers that are also knowledgeable about Western music, and to enable them to take part in contemporary original productions easily. Besides, those that receive Western music education will be informed about traditional maqamic music, and this added benefit will contribute to their originality on the international music stage, and will allow them to represent our culture as well.
Education at the Department will be in the kanun, kamancha, tanbour, oud, ney, Turkish music violin, fasıl singing, folk music singing and baglama disciplines, and, among others, will aim to help students achieve a superior performance level with their own instruments, and transfer the tradition to the future with the least loss possible.