Qanun Qanun is one of the oldest original Iranian instruments that has the ability to play the melodic modes of Iranian music. Its structure is in the form of an upright trapezoid and is classified as a string-absolute percussion instrument. The instrument is made of old walnut wood, along with metal, bone and string, and the musician in a sitting position, places the instrument on the table or foot in the direction of the larger side is in front of him/her, and with two index fingers on the right and left which the plectrum is attached to them begins to play. The Qanun belongs to the cythare family and is classified in terms of structure as one of the groups of absolute plectrums of alveolar particles that has free string. It does not need to be stopped and nail the string and polyphonic sounds can be played with it. History: The invention of the Qanun is said to date back to the time of Plato, but others believe that Farabi was the inventor of the Qanun and that it originated in Khorasan. But according to credible evidence, the Qanun has reached Europe from the Far East, and by mechanizing the instrument, they have made the Qanun one of the largest stringed clavier instruments. Since the time of Mahmoud II, Omar Effendi has brought the Qanun to Turkey from the Levant, and Farabi invented it with 45 strings, referring to it in his book Al-Musiqi al-Kabir. Safi al-Din called it "Nazha." The name Qanun is derived from the Greek word kanon, which means law and order. Kanon was a monochord used to represent the laws of physics and sound in Greece. The European psaltery is derived from Arabic Qanun. In the Sithon sculptures of the San Diego Cathedral, there is traces of a medium mezzo canon. Qanun (Kanun) is the Arabic name for a psaltery which has a trapezoidal shape and 64 strings. The oldest document of the laQanun is found in Assyrian carvings. The Qanun was abandoned after the Timurid period following the ban on music in Iran. In the paintings of Isfahan's Forty Pillars Palace, related to the Safavid period, two images of " Mir Qanuni" playing the Qanun can be seen. The Qanun flourished for a time until about 1271, when it was revived in Iran by Rahim Qanuni and later by his son Jalal. Although both were illiterate, Mehdi Meftah, a music school graduate, followed the way of playing it. Lady Simin Aghazari and Maliheh Saeedi are also among the best musicians in the Qanun, and they play this instrument in a very beautiful Iranian style, and of course they had many students. Structure of Ganun: resonance box It consists of a vertical trapezoidal trapezoid connected by four lateral coils. The box is usually made of walnut wood. The upper side of the resonance box The top of the resonance box is a wooden screen with 27 tone spanning and 81 earphones on the left, and on the right below the vault is a rectangle made of skin with about 15 cm wide and about 40 cm long. The screen has a leathery surface that is sometimes made of a piece of leather and sometimes of four separate pieces of leather in the form of squares or rhombuses. Networks are also created in the wooden part of the screen to make noise. Skin The screen has a leather part that is made of camel, calf and fish skin. The skin of the Qanun is chosen a little thicker than the skin of other structures because it must be able to withstand the pressure of the 81-strand string on a large scale. Bridge There are three bridges inside the resonance box, which prevent the screen from settling and deforming, as well as controling the pressure on the screen, and also play an important role in adjusting the sound balance between the chords. One is between the leather part and the wooden part of the plate and the other two are under the wooden part. Vault The vault is a thin wooden blade with an approximate length of 35 cm and a height of 2 cm. The location of the vault is on the surface of the skin and to the right side of the Qanun, which covers all the areas where the chords are located. On the vault there is a narrow bone that has 81 grooves for the chords to pass through and also prevents the chords from sinking into the wood of vault. With the help of four small wooden bases, the vault is placed on the skin surface of the plate. Earphone The earphones are cuneiform and made of wood, one end of which is pyramidal. Each chord is connected to a earphone, with one end of the earphone in the tuning key and the narrower head perpendicular to the horizontal surface of the wood on the left side of the instrument. tune key The tune key is a 10 cm metal tool which one end is pyramid form . The other side of the key is wider, and the musician rotates the key to the right and left to tune the chords with his left hand. Pallet The pallet is a thin, low piece of wood that sits to the left between the tone spinning and the earphones. chords pass through the pallet and connect to earphones. In some instruments of Qanun, there is one pallet. Others are small pieces that are passed over by chords that are tuned together.

Tailpiece The tailpiece or box of knots is located on the right side coil that connects the bottom and top plates, this box has a movable door and is empty. The chords are placed inside this section and come out of the holes that are embedded there and pass through the vault. Tone spinning On the left side of the instrument, after the pallet and before the earphones, there are small metal tools on the extra piece of wood that is glued to the screen. This tool is called a revolving tone or tone spinning, which is mounted on a wooden board by small pin. From each tone, a number of chords are tuned and connected to the earphones. Tuning of chords without this have a muted sound (bemol). they are usually moved with the left hand.

There are two types of revolving tone: 1. A number of Arabic-made rule-of-qanun instruments have a small handle for moving, and the number of them for each group of consonantal chords is between four or five, and with the movement of each of them the sound between "bmal" and " Dies Series can be obtained separately. 2. Another set of instruments has a rail revolving tone that is mounted by a wooden stand on the left side of the instrument after the pallet. On it is a small piece of wood or a metal handle that moves on a wooden base, and with it you can increase and decrease the length of the chord, and the sound between "Bamal" and "Diz Series" and even smaller distances can be created. chords The qanun is usually cosisnt of 82 cord, coated silk or nylon strings. The bass section of chords is metal and coated with silk. The chords are often tuned together in groups of three and in the bass, single or double, and usually the total number of sounds is 27. Sometimes the number of chords is more or less depending on the size of the resonance box. plectrum plectrum is a relatively wide, metal ring made of silver, Warsaw, or brass that is placed in both hands in the second strap of the index finger. Inside the ring, towards the palm of the hand, there is a blade about 4 cm long and about 1 cm wide, usually made of cow horns, deer, or mountain goats (and sometimes soft plastic). This blade acts like a fingernail and is used to pick the chords. Feature of the qanun: Due to the different revolve tone, it is possible to play all the intervals of national music. It is possible to play a maximum of six sounds simultaneously with different fingers A variety of quantitative and qualitative modes, such as Glissando, Pizzicato, Trail, Takyeh and Passage, are available in this instrument. It is possible to play group and solo performing of soprano percussion which used to hold the full volume of sounds is possible with one hand in Iranian qanun How to play the plectrum: One of the strings is struck by the right or left hand, which will make a clear and smooth sound if all three strings sound simultaneously and at the same time. To transfer force to the plectrum machine in the early stages of learning, and when playing the plectrum with the right and left hand, you must touch the thumb where the plectrum is located. This procedure is effective for strengthening the finger and the plectrum, which should be learned in the initial exercises. In higher-level exercises where the instrument is gradually accelerated and given different modes, there is no need to touch the index finger with the thumb. The thumb is placed under the index finger when sticking. The other fingers (the other three fingers) should be neither folded nor open (in the form of a pencil that is placed horizontally somewhere. Law musicians: Rahim Qanuni Legal glory Mehdi Moftah Simin Agharzi Maliheh Saeedi Parichehr Khajeh Law makers: Ahmad Sotoudeh