Did Ancient Music Utilize Harmony? Part 4

Did Ancient Music Utilize Harmony? Part 4

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. 

Thought for the Day

The ancient music system referred to in the previous posts was a precise system that did not encumber the ancient biblical scrolls because of its economy of musical signs.  If the ancient biblical scrolls had have utilized our system of modern notation, the Scriptures would have been greatly encumbered with a tremendous bulk of musical notation.