The Vaziri Notebook

The “Payvar Foundation” music notation books are modeled and re-produced after the handmade notebooks of Iranian composers and musicians. Their paper is not white and doesn’t strain your eyes, and the binding allows them to open completely flat. The Vaziri notebook is designed based on Ali-Naqi Vaziri’s royal-sized books from the early last century. Quality in music work is achieved through writing, creating, and recording. So, write your music as much as you can.

Music Notation Book Suitable for Composers and Students

An ideal music notebook should be flawlessly bound so it easily opens without the spine coming apart or the pages separating. The best type of binding for a music notebook is thread stitching; this way, it opens easily on a music stand or work desk. The paper of the music notebook should be compatible with various types of pens, from pencils to fountain pens, and should absorb and record graphite or ink well. The paper should be sturdy enough to prevent tearing or fraying, though not so heavy that it becomes cumbersome for the student or composer. The color of the paper shouldn’t be pure white, which can strain the eyes or cause direct reflection; a cream or yellow tint prevents eye strain over long periods. Additionally, the spacing and proportion of the lines between the staves should be such that the musician can easily write their musical phrases and quickly jot down their ideas. The Vaziri notebook has all these features and is recommended for all students, teachers, composers, and musicians.

About Ali-Naqi Vaziri

The father of modern Iranian music, Ali-Naqi Vaziri, was born to an institution-building mother, Bibi Khanum Astarabadi, founder of the first girls’ school in Iran, and a military father, Musa Khan Vaziri. He had fundamental differences with his contemporaries in the arts of painting and poetry, Kamal-ol-Molk and Nima; he was a constitutionalist fighter with a pragmatic approach to politics, and after all, literature and painting had more history and material for evolution than “music, which is always trampled underfoot.” He learned his first music and French lessons from Hosseingholi Ghezeleyyagh. Later, he formed a trio with Mohammad Hejazi, a violinist, and Père Geoffroy, a French priest who played the piano. He learned the basics of harmony and counterpoint from this French priest and later pursued music studies in France and Germany.
Vaziri laid the foundations for music with what he had; he recorded the music before his time and wrote down the radifs of both his predecessors, Mirza Abdullah and Mirza Hosseingholi, and for this writing, he established a rich notation system that used the European notation method with innovative signs that reflected the characteristics of Iranian music; the two signs “koron” and “sori” are his innovations. He institutionalized modern music education; he established a music school where he taught the most talented youth of the time: Abolhassan Saba, Moussa Maroufi, and Rouhollah Khaleghi. Vaziri founded teaching methods, wrote “Tar Instructions,” “New Tar Instructions,” “Violin Instructions,” “Setar Instructions,” “School Anthems,” and “Music Theory,” and strived to implement them in education. He created unparalleled works for his specialty instrument, the tar, which are still benchmarks of ability and mastery for any player; “Disheveled Girl,” “Musical Gymnastics,” “Tightrope Walker,” “Stand By,” “Dashti Exercise,” and more. He created polyphonic works for orchestra with Iranian intervals that became the foundation for many trends in Iranian music; “Victory March,” “South Army March,” “Iran March,” “Isfahan March,” and “Ominous Symphony.” He composed many pieces for children; “Tati Tati,” “Imprisoned Sparrow,” and “Moon”… He created works based on poems of predecessors and contemporaries; “Recluse,” “Your Buyer,” “What If You Cast…”. He staged operettas and musical plays and launched the “Musical Club”; “Stealing a Kiss,” “Golrokh,” and more. He gave exceptional lectures on enlightenment and music criticism: “In the World of Music and Industry” which was published by Saeed Nafisi.
Despite all this, Vaziri was removed from the management of the music school for five years, and eventually, his discipline, perseverance, and steady steps were not tolerated, and he stepped aside; he contented himself with teaching aesthetics at the University of Tehran and added silence to his tumultuous inner self. It’s impossible to imagine recording any outcome for the history of music in the last hundred years without his shadow. Colonel Ali-Naqi Vaziri, the father of modern Iranian music, passed away in the tumultuous days of a fateful year, 1979. The announcement of the end of his material life occupied a few brief lines in the public section of the Kayhan newspaper, however, his unparalleled successor in order, precision, and innovation, Faramarz Payvar, held a concert in his honor at Roudaki Hall in October 1979.