The Hijaz scale is very common in Middle Eastern, Arabic, Flamenco and classical music. It is also quite common in many movie scores. Our good friend, Peter Levitov, has often referred to this variety of scales admiringly as “Spicy”.
These variations can be very suspenseful but also compelling, mysterious, exotic, and even quite sensual like a romantic breeze from the desert sands of antiquity.
It was first popularized by Panart on the first generation Hang® in the earliest days of these instruments and has been offered and explored by virtually every builder since then. Between the novel characteristics of the Handpan and the exotic nature of these scales, one can find a truly eccentric playing experience.
The Hijaz scale is a Harmonic Minor. The only difference from the minor scale is a sharpened 7th note of the scale, which provides a compelling and triumphant major chord to dance around when playing progressions. Depending on which note is the foundation of a melody, it can also be considered a Phrygian Dominant scale. These variations are F# Harmonic Minor with a C#3 center note.
A number of bottom note options are also available for each variation, listed below in parenthesis.
Please Contact us if you have any questions or if you have another variation in mind and we will explore if it can also be built.
In Stock and Custom Order Handpans for sale
8 Notes
C#/ G#, B, C#, D, E#, F#, G#
9-13 Notes
C#/ (E#, F#) G#, A, B, C#, D, E#, F#, G# (A, B, C#, D)
C#/ (E#, F#) G#, B, C#, D, E#, F#, G#, B (C#, D)
