At the Iran 1400 Project, we examine Iran’s past and present through the evolution of ideas, institutions, and lived cultural practices that shape social and cultural life. Music—particularly its modes of education, transmission, and preservation—offers a revealing lens through which to understand how Iranian society has navigated continuity, change, and creativity across periods of transformation. In this research essay, Mehdi Rezania explores the evolution of music education in Iran over the past century, tracing the interplay between oral tradition and modern institutional frameworks from the late Qajar and Pahlavi periods through the post-1979 era.

This article is published in full and without alteration to preserve the integrity of the author’s scholarly work. It builds on Rezania’s earlier contribution to the Iran 1400 Project, “One Hundred Years of Persian Classical Music,” which examined the broader historical development of the genre.

Considered together, these works examine music education as a dynamic field of transmission, shaped by artistic practice and pedagogical traditions across generations.

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Introduction

Over the past century, Iran’s music education has been transformed by the interplay between traditional oral practices and modern institutional frameworks. During the Pahlavi era, efforts to modernize introduced Western pedagogical models, culminating in the Markaz-e Hefz va Eshā‘eh-ye Musiqi-ye Irāni [Center for the Preservation and Propagation of Iranian Music], which sought to integrate the master–apprentice tradition with formal instruction. After the 1979 Revolution, shifting cultural policies renewed emphasis on “tradition” and “preservation,” prompting diverse strategies for teaching Persian classical music. These included expanded radif transcription and recording, the revival of private instruction, and the growth of both private and state-affiliated publishing. Figures such as Ali-Naqi Vaziri, Abol-Hasan Saba, Faramarz Payvar, Dariush Safvat, and Markaz graduates played pivotal roles, while institutions like the Mahoor Institute and Howzeh-ye Honari further shaped the field. Today, Iranian music education forms a complex system—rooted in oral tradition yet responsive to technological, institutional, and generational change. This paper argues that the tension and convergence between heritage and innovation have defined its contemporary trajectory.

Pahlavi Period: From Majles (Private) to Madreseh (Institution)

Western-style education entered Iran prior to the Pahlavi era, most notably with the establishment of Tehran’s Dār-ol-Fonun [House of Sciences] in 1851 by Amir Kabir, modeled partly on Russian polytechnic schools (Amanat 1997, 192–194). Initially focused on military sciences, engineering, and medicine, Dār-ol-Fonun later expanded to include music and painting. In 1868, the French musician Alfred Jean Baptiste Lemaire founded an eight-year music program based on Parisian military conservatory models, introducing instruction in solfège, harmony, counterpoint, piano, and various instruments. Lemaire played a foundational role in the institutionalization of Western music education in Iran: he established the first Western-style music school, introduced French musical terminology into Persian, transcribed Iranian music into staff notation, and published music theory textbooks in Persian. Following his death in 1906, his student Qolam-Reza Minbashian assumed leadership of the department and, in 1910, formed Iran’s first string orchestra. In contrast, Persian classical music continued to be transmitted exclusively through oral and aural pedagogical traditions.

Prior to the Pahlavi period, Persian art music was performed almost exclusively within the Qajar court and the private residences of aristocrats and wealthy patrons. Unlike Western art music, which largely developed within ecclesiastical institutions, Iranian art music historically remained separate from formal religious organizations, while maintaining close associations with mystical and esoteric traditions, particularly Sufism. The ambivalent—and at times unfavorable—attitudes of Muslim clerics toward music across many historical periods effectively excluded musical practice, performance, and education from public spaces. As a result, private settings emerged as the most secure and culturally legitimate environments for musical activity, gradually giving rise to the institution of the majles.

Derived from Arabic and meaning “a sitting place” or “gathering,” majles refers to an intimate, private assembly centered on poetry and music. With a long history across the Persianate world, the majles tradition continues in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, India, and Pakistan, albeit with regional variations. These gatherings typically featured performances of art music alongside poetry recitations drawn from both classical and contemporary sources, as well as extended discussions on aesthetics, philosophy, and cultural values. In this sense, the majles functioned not merely as a performance space, but as a private intellectual and artistic hub where connoisseurs engaged in dialogue through sound, text, and reflection. Particularly during periods of political instability or cultural restriction, the majles played a crucial role in preserving and transmitting elite artistic practices.

The intimate proximity between performers and listeners within the majles shaped the expressive, improvisational, and pedagogical dimensions of Persian music. Education unfolded alongside performance, emphasizing attentive listening, embodied learning, and aesthetic refinement. In addition to majles gatherings, master musicians conducted instruction in private settings through a system distinct from modern private schools. Each master selected a small group of students and trained them intensively over many years, from basic instruction to advanced level. This pedagogical lineage became known as the maktab (from Arabic, “school”) of a particular master, reflecting a distinctive approach to technique, repertoire, interpretation, and musical ethics. Lessons were typically held multiple times per week and often lasted several hours. Musicians have frequently recalled that each session functioned as a masterclass, sometimes focusing on a single short passage in great detail, addressing nuances of intonation, phrasing, dynamics, and technique. In the absence of notation and recording technologies, learning relied on repetition, memorization, and sustained practice, reinforcing an oral-aural mode of transmission that remained central to Persian music until the early twentieth century.

The early educational reforms laid the groundwork for the more comprehensive modernization efforts initiated under the Pahlavi dynasty. Reza Khan’s coup in 1921 brought an end to the Qajar Dynasty (1789–1925) and, upon his coronation as Reza Shah in 1925, ushered in an ambitious state-led project of modernization. Reza Shah and, later, his son Mohammad Reza Shah pursued policies centered on nationalism, secularization, industrialization, and centralization, aiming to transform Iran from a predominantly agrarian society into a modern nation-state with a centralized bureaucracy and professional military. Education became a central pillar of this project. While Western-style schooling had earlier precedents, it was under the Pahlavis that secular education was fully institutionalized and Western scientific and cultural models were systematically integrated into Iran’s educational infrastructure. These reforms marked a decisive shift toward modernist ideologies in both the content and structure of education, profoundly reshaping Iran’s cultural and musical institutions.

The traditional way Persian classical music is taught has much in common with other music traditions passed down by ear, like the Turko-Arab maqām system. In both cases, learning music is not just about memorizing melodies, rhythms, or pieces. It also involves picking up subtle performance techniques that cannot easily be written down—such as slight shifts in pitch, ornamentation, phrasing, and the artful way musicians move between different musical modes. These details are passed directly from teacher to student, often through years of close listening and imitation.

The establishment of Madreseh-ye Musiqi [School of Music] in 1918 in Tehran, founded and directed by Ali-Naqi Vaziri (1887–1979), marked a turning point in the nature and direction of music education in Iran. Vaziri, a master tār player and composer, studied Persian classical music before studying Western classical music in Europe. Though often seen as a modernist, Vaziri’s approach positioned him between Qolam-Reza Minbashian (1861–1935), who dismissed Iranian music education during his tenure at the conservatory, and Aref Qazvini (1882–1934), who strongly opposed its modernization. Vaziri meticulously transcribed the radif and published Iran’s first music score in 1922. In 1930, he submitted a formal proposal to the Minister of Education to introduce music theory and group singing into the national primary school curriculum—an ambitious move in a country where public musical performance had long been constrained by religious restrictions. His students, Ruhollah Khaleqi (1906–1965) and especially Abol-Hasan Saba (1902–1957), continued this legacy by publishing pedagogical books for various instruments. Saba’s students, with diverse perspectives, shaped Iran’s musical landscape in the 1960s and 1970s, and his radif and method books remain central to music education in Iran today. A consensus exists between Iranian musicians that Saba reconciled the tensions between tradition and modernity the best way. He also was aware of the richness of the folk music and included several pieces based on folk music of Iran or his original compositions inspired by them, which continued to be a trend in music education.

Markaz & Golha

In the latter half of the Pahlavi period, efforts to preserve traditional arts gained momentum—not as a nostalgic return to the past, but as a thoughtful integration of institutional support with traditional pedagogy. One of the most significant developments was the founding of the Markaz-e Hefz va Esha’eh-ye Musiqi-ye Irāni in 1968 by Dariush Safvat (1928–2013), a student of Abol-Hasan Saba. Fully funded by the National Iranian Radio and Television (NIRT) under the leadership of Reza Ghotbi (1936–2022), the Centre brought together master musicians who otherwise lacked the means to document and share their knowledge with a wide range of students.

Unlike conventional schools, the Markaz did not accept general applications but handpicked highly talented students from institutions like the Tehran Conservatory and the University of Tehran. It offered them a stipend equivalent to a government salary, along with access to well-equipped practice rooms, archives, and recording studios—all free of charge. Instruction was primarily oral, as many of the masters did not use Western notation. In addition to teaching, the Centre played a vital role in recording and preserving the music of these older musicians. Many of its graduates such as Mohammad Reza Lotfi, Hossein Alizadeh, and Parviz Meshkatian would go on to shape the future of Persian music in the post-revolutionary era.

Another major development in Persian classical music during the Pahlavi era was the Golha [Flowers] radio program, founded by Davud Pirnia (1898–1971) and broadcast between 1956 and 1979. Comprising nearly 850 hours of curated poetry, music, and literary commentary, Golha played a decisive role in reshaping public musical taste and expanding access to refined art music. In many respects, the program translated the pedagogical and aesthetic ethos of the private majles into a national auditory classroom, bringing elite musical culture into Iranian homes through the medium of radio. Pirnia—whose aristocratic upbringing included exposure to Sufi-style majles—designed Golha as a carefully balanced space in which music was framed by poetry, ethical commentary, and historical reflection. This structure cultivated what might be described as an education in listening: listeners were not merely exposed to repertoire, but trained to attend to nuance, refinement, and aesthetic judgment.

Rather than rejecting tradition in the name of modernity, Golha exemplified a form of balanced modernity that elaborated inherited musical values within new technological and social conditions. Pirnia’s ethics of care, restraint, and balance enabled him to resist vulgarization while embracing the democratizing potential of mass media. Through collaboration among leading musicians, vocalists, poets, and critics of the period, Golha became an influential pedagogical force: amateur musicians across Iran began learning and performing pieces they encountered through the broadcasts, effectively expanding the informal education of Persian music beyond elite circles.

By the late 1970s, three major discourses shaped Persian music performance and education:
(1) the modernist perspective associated primarily with Ali-Naqi Vaziri;
(2) the Golha approach, which presented a refined yet accessible rearticulation of classical music for a broader public; and
(3) the revivalist aesthetic of Qajar-era music promoted by the Markaz.

These approaches often overlapped in practice, with musicians such as Faramarz Payvar, Hasan Kasaie, and Ahmad Ebadi participating in multiple currents simultaneously. In the decades following the 1979 Revolution, however, formal education in Persian music increasingly favored the Markaz model, while the pedagogical legacy of Golha—despite its profound influence on listening practices and musical literacy—remained comparatively underrepresented in institutional settings. Seen from an educational perspective, Golha demonstrates that Iranian musical modernity was not a rupture but a pedagogical reconfiguration—one that aligned continuity, ethical stewardship, and technological innovation. In this sense, Golha stands as a model of cultural transmission in which respect for tradition and openness to modern forms of dissemination worked together to shape a more inclusive and cultivated musical public.

Post-1979: Negotiating Space—Music’s Journey Through Walls, Waves, and Warnings

The post-revolutionary situation of music and musicians in Iran has been a contested issue, encompassing many contradictions, hermeneutic paradoxes, ironies, and questions left unanswered after four decades. The Islamic Republic’s focus on harmonizing public and private practices with its interpretation of Shia Islam has revived the contextual discussion of “music and Islam” with its diverse interpretations, effectiveness, and categorization.

Cultural policies shifted dramatically in this period to align with the state’s ideology, leading to a decade of strict restrictions. Many music institutions and classes were shut down, prompting numerous musicians—especially in the popular genre—to leave Iran or retreat into isolation. Yet, the andaruni tradition found new life. Private spaces, which had long served as the heart of musical practice and teaching, once again became vital hubs for preserving and continuing Persian music. Art and science often find ways to thrive under limitations—even, at times, more so than in free societies. Periods of upheaval can spark creative breakthroughs and generate new paradigms for transformation. In this way, the relationship between music and politics is uniquely complex. Remarkably, during the first post-revolutionary decade—when restrictions on music were at their peak—some of the most iconic works of Persian music were produced, including Eshq Dānad, Bidād, Āstān-e Jānān, Dāstān, and Neynavā.

Shortly after the Iran-Iraq War ended in 1988, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwā permitting certain music styles under state supervision. The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance [Ershād] became the first public institution to offer nationwide music classes, hiring musicians as instructors. Affordable fees led to high demand, often exceeding available teachers and instruments. Private lessons and instrument making grew into profitable careers, with many operating informally to avoid taxes and regulations—a form of resistance but also enabling unqualified artists to profit. Officials argued permit limits aimed to uphold both Islamic ideology and music education quality. Just decades earlier, public music was generally viewed with suspicion, especially in smaller cities, and it was often dominated by Jewish and Armenian communities.

Private publications like Mahoor Quarterly and Honar-e Musiqi played a key role in spreading music news, critique, and scholarship. The Mahoor Institute of Culture and Arts, founded by Seyyed Mohammad Mousavi in 1987, stands out for publishing over 600 CDs and 200 books on Iranian and global music. With its 100th issue released in Autumn 2023, Mahoor Quarterly is now the longest-running art journal in modern Iranian history.

Over the past two decades, music education in Iran has grown exponentially. Much of this growth has come from the private sector, which has played a key role in teaching, recording, and publishing audio and sheet music. The rise of social media has further empowered musicians to share their work and ideas, often bypassing state-imposed ideological restrictions. At the same time, several universities across the country have established music departments, offering degrees in performance and musicology up to the master’s level. Institutions like Howzeh-ye Honari-ye Enqelāb-e Eslāmi [The Artistic Sect of Islamic Republic] have also contributed by promoting Persian music through various publications.

Conclusion

Over the past century, music education in Iran has undergone a profound transformation—shifting from the private spaces of elite circles to more public, democratized institutions. This transition, while expanding access, also brought changes to traditional practices. A turning point was the establishment of the Markaz, which struck a temporary balance between institutional support and traditional methods. With the post-revolutionary shift in cultural policy, the music community once again adapted—often retreating to private spaces that historically nurtured Persian music. A defining feature of this evolution has been the genre’s semi-independence from both religious and state power. Elite musicians have consistently shown a keen awareness of how to maintain artistic integrity when authority threatens the organic growth of their art. One example is the ongoing support for female musicians in education and performance. Today, women make up a significant portion of Iran’s music community and, in some national competitions—such as the youth division of the Fajr International Music Festival—have even outperformed their male counterparts.

Another notable feature across these transformations is the consistent rejection of extreme perspectives. Whether pushing for radical modernization, like Qolam-Reza Minbashian, or strict traditionalism, like Majid Kiani, such approaches have rarely found lasting support. This reflects the remarkable adaptability of Iranian culture—its ability to embrace new ideas without compromising the core aesthetic and values of Persian music. Today, Persian music thrives in diverse forms across Iran, with earlier rigidities giving way to a more inclusive outlook. However, a key challenge remains: the growing influence of the music industry and monopolies tied to state-affiliated agents, who often prioritize profit over artistic depth. Yet, the enduring spirit of andaruni—private, independent creativity—now bolstered by the reach of social media, offers powerful tools to navigate and resist these new pressures.

References

During, Jean. 1987. “Acoustic Systems and Metaphysical Systems in Oriental Traditions.” The World of Music 29 (2): 19–31.

Mosayyebzadeh, Eynollah. 2014. Ehyā-Ye Sonnat-Hā Bā Ruykard-e Now (“Revival of Tradition with a New Perspective”). Sureh Mehr.

Rezania, Mehdi. 2025. “Persian Classical Music of Post-Revolutionary Iran.” University of Alberta.

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