What Dromoi are

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Scales · Lesson 01

In short

Dromoi (δρόμοι, "roads") are the scales of Greek popular music. Their roots reach back to the ancient Greek modes and the Byzantine echoi, and to the makam of the East, which is also where some of their names come from.

Lesson Notes

So far we have worked with two scales, the major and the minor, the foundations of Western music. Greek music, though, uses many more scales. These are commonly called Dromoi, and they are the heart of laiko song.

01What Dromos is

Exactly like the major and the minor, a Dromos is a pattern of intervals that gives it its characteristic sound. Start the same pattern from a different note and the pitch changes, but the character stays.

Three examples

C major (the major you already know)

C hijaz

D hijaz (another tonic, the same pattern)

The first two start on C but have a different sequence of intervals. Hijaz stands out for its three-semitone step (3S) between the 2nd and 3rd degrees. The third, D hijaz, is the same Dromos from another tonic. The pitch changes, the pattern stays.

02Where the names come from

The roots of the Dromoi run deep. First came the system of modes that begins in ancient Greek music theory; it passed into the echoi of Byzantine church music, and through centuries of coexistence with Ottoman music it reaches our popular tradition.

As for the names, most are the same as those of the corresponding makam, with Arabic or Persian roots, which reached us through Ottoman music, in Constantinople and Asia Minor (e.g. Ousak, Hijaz, Rast, Houzam). Other Dromoi took their names from Western classical music (Major or Matzore, Minor or Minore), and others from Greek places or songs (e.g. Peiraiotikos, Tabachaniotikos).

The Dromoi are related to the makam, but they are not the same thing. The makam are far more numerous, and they do not correspond one-to-one with the Dromoi that carry the same name.

03Why the sources disagree

There is a lot of debate around the Dromoi, for two main reasons.

First, there is no single, official theoretical framework. The Dromoi were passed from generation to generation, mouth to mouth, and every musician wrote them down a little differently. So you will find the same Dromos under a different name, or the same name for slightly different notes. Tellingly, during the research done for this site, the books of 8 different respected musicians all disagreed with one another somewhere.

Second, and more important: the musical systems the Dromoi come from, the ancient modes, the Byzantine echoi and the makam of the East, use intervals smaller than the semitone, called moria (commas), and are performed by the voice or by fretless instruments such as the oud and the violin. The bouzouki, however, has frets and plays only fixed notes, with the semitone as its smallest interval (the term for this is an equal-tempered instrument). So when a makam passes onto the bouzouki, it gets rounded to the nearest fixed notes. That is why a Dromos and a makam with the same name sound like relatives, but are not exactly the same.

04How we treat them here

At Kalabortzis we treat the Dromoi the way that suits the bouzouki, and any equal-tempered instrument: as fixed scales, with the semitone as the smallest possible interval. We do not go into the commas and the melodic behaviour of the ancient modes, the Byzantine echoi and the makam.

For the names we keep the most common ones, the ones you will hear and meet most often. Some sources use other names or slightly different notes, and that is normal, as explained above. In practice, what matters is not winning the argument about the "correct" name, but knowing what you are playing and how it sounds. If you want to go deeper into the theoretical and historical debate, there are plenty of sources that cover it thoroughly.

Recap

A Dromos is a sequence of notes, defined by its characteristic sequence of intervals.
The roots of the Dromoi reach back to the ancient Greek modes, the Byzantine echoi and the makam.
A Dromos and a makam with the same name are relatives, not twins. The makam has commas; the Dromos on the bouzouki has the semitone as its smallest possible interval.