Iranian Musical Instrumentology

• Tar
  The tar is a stringed plucked instrument with frets. It is made from wood, skin, bone, animal gut (or synthetic strings), and metal. Its total length is about 95 cm. Although no references to it exist in ancient times, the tar has been one of the main instruments of Iranian music for the past 200 years. The Iranian tar player sits, placing the tar horizontally on their thigh, with the neck of the tar on the left and the resonator on the right. The player moves their left hand along the frets while plucking the strings with a plectrum in the right hand.
• Resonator
  The resonator consists of a hollow, pear-shaped wooden body in two parts: a larger bowl and a smaller one, both open on one side. The larger part is called the kaseh, and the smaller one is called the naqareh. The open ends of both are covered with animal skin, with the bridge placed on the skin of the larger bowl. The resonator is typically made from mulberry wood, and the skin is usually from thin parts of goat or lamb.
• Bridge
  The bridge is usually made from the same bone used on the neck and nut. It measures approximately 5 cm in length and 2 cm in height. It stands on the skin surface with two small legs, allowing the strings to pass through shallow grooves carved into the bridge. To hold the bridge in place, short threads pass through small loops on the bridge and attach to the tailpiece at the end of the resonator.
• Neck
  The neck is made from hard woods like walnut or mulberry, forming a solid cylinder about 50 cm long and 40 cm in diameter. The front side, where the fingers are placed, is flat, while the back is semi-circular. Frets are tied along the neck at specific intervals. Bone strips are inlaid along the neck’s sides to enhance both its beauty and durability, preventing wear from constant finger contact. The neck connects the naqareh at one end and the headstock at the other.
• Headstock
  The headstock or tuning peg box is a small hollow box made from the same wood as the resonator. It holds six tuning pegs, three on each side, corresponding to the tar’s six strings.
• Tuning Pegs
  The tar has six tuning pegs, each made from wood, designed like large nails with broad heads. The part gripped to turn the peg is wider and is located outside the headstock, while the narrower part, where the string is wound, is inside the headstock.
• Nut
  A thin, low piece of bone about 2 mm high and as wide as the neck, placed between the neck and the headstock. It has shallow grooves through which the strings pass on their way to the tuning pegs.
• Frets
  The tar typically has 28 frets, made from animal gut or nylon thread, wrapped three or four times around the neck at specific intervals. The knots align with a groove on the neck’s surface. The position of the frets is not fixed and can be adjusted slightly when playing different modes.
• Tailpiece
  A small piece of wood or bone at the bottom of the resonator, with notches that hold the twisted loops or knots of the string ends.
• Strings and Material
  The Iranian tar has six metal strings of varying thicknesses. Typically, the first and second strings are white steel, about 0.2 mm thick. The third and fourth strings are brass, with diameters ranging from 0.22 to 0.18 mm, and are tuned in unison. The fifth string, a sympathetic string, is also white steel with a smaller diameter and is tuned to the same pitch as the first and second strings. The sixth string is a low brass string, about 0.38 mm thick, and is tuned an octave lower than the first and second strings.
• Range
  The tar’s range spans nearly three octaves.
• Tuning
  The six strings are usually tuned in descending fourths and octaves. However, the tuning can be changed depending on the musician’s needs, particularly in the twelve modes of Iranian classical music, where the fifth and sixth strings often have variable tunings.
• Notation
  The tar is notated in the treble clef (G clef on the second line).
• Plectrum (Mezrab)
  The plectrum is a small metal piece, usually made of brass, about 3 to 4 cm long. The part held in the hand is covered with wax for comfort.
• Additional Features of the Tar
  The tuning of the strings and the placement of the frets can be adjusted when playing the different modes and songs of Iranian classical music, but the descending fourths or fifths intervals between the main strings are typically preserved. The fifth string, called the vakhon (sympathetic string), was reportedly added by master tar player Gholam Hossein Darvish during the Qajar era.

You can find various techniques, such as scratching (arpeggios) and two- or three-note chords, on the tar. It is also possible to play notes on the bass string using the right thumb. All the qualitative elements of Iranian music—vibrato, ornaments, rapid trills, and glissandos—can be performed on this instrument.

Master Ali Naqi Vaziri extended the neck of the tar to the naqareh, adding six additional frets, thus expanding the instrument’s range by a perfect fourth. In his books, Vaziri proposed a system using microtones, offering 29 frets before reaching the naqareh.

Panjekari /pændʒe kɑːɾi/

is an advanced playing technique where the right-hand fingers pluck the strings without using the plectrum, producing melodic notes by pulling the strings.

“Gerefteh” */geɾef’te/*

or pizzicato refers to a playing technique where, immediately after the last sound, its resonance is muted by one or more fingers of the same hand.

“Poosh” */puːʃ/*

is a term used for playing on the naqareh (the smaller resonator) to create a softer and more refined sound. Sometimes, a stroke is played with the plectrum, and in the resonance, the fingers of the left hand play a short note.

The sound of the tar can be altered by modifying the size and carving of the bowl, the naqareh, the linings, and the skin, allowing the creation of tars with different ranges and tones. The alto and bass tar are the most common examples of these. Some of these instruments were made experimentally and did not become widely popular.

In tar playing, as with other instruments, certain standard notations are used for finger placement and creating specific techniques. The most common ones include:

• 0 = Open string, indicating an absolute pitch.
• ^ = A right-hand stroke, meaning the pluck is played from top to bottom.
• 7 = A left-hand stroke, meaning the pluck is played from bottom to top.
• T = Indicates a note is sustained or held by the plectrum.
• + = Signifies playing with the left thumb on the bass string.

The continuous and equally rapid alternation of right- and left-hand plucks is known as “Riz” (tremolo).

In finger placement on the first and second strings, 1 is for the index finger of the left hand, and fingers 2, 3, and 4 are used in order for the subsequent notes. These numbers are written above the note. For the second and third strings, a small semicircle is drawn under the numbers, and for the bass string, it is drawn above the numbers, indicating the use of those strings and the respective finger placement.

Terms like “upper neck” (close to the headstock), “middle neck”, and “lower neck” (close to the naqareh) are common in tar playing. All signs and symbols related to musical expressions and movements in music theory can also be applied to tar, and these symbols are used accordingly.