It
seems, from what is currently known about the psalmodic and prosodic systems,
that both systems possibly utilized instrumental accompaniments at least part
of the time since these ancient musicians were often referred to in the Bible
as singer-players. Since the deciphering
of the te’amim revealed only melodies without written harmony, (although
harmony may be in some way be implicated), we cannot say with certainty how
much of the OT was accompanied. However,
it should be pointed out that instruments were mentioned in conjunction with
singing in the OT. It seems to be
reasonable to conclude that the mention of musical instruments with singing
indicates musical accompaniment and also connotes some form of harmonic usage.
The fact is that we
do not know with certainty how the psalms were accompanied or if the prosody of
the OT was not accompanied at times. It
is highly possible that the accompaniments of bible music were never written
down. It is possible that they were improvised
or perhaps realized from the melody line provided by the te’amim. Some musicians who specialize in the
performance of Western music of the classic, romantic, and contemporary periods
do not highly regard improvisation or realization, but there is no doubt that
various forms of improvisation are just as demanding and just as much an art
form as playing a written out sonata or playing symphonic literature for that matter.
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