Psalm Superscriptions
Psalm 53:1 To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, A
Psalm of David. Psalm 54:1 To the chief Musician on Neginoth, Maschil, A Psalm
of David… Psalm 56:1 To the chief
Musician upon Jonathelemrechokim, Michtam of David…Psalm 58:1 To the chief
Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David…Psalm 65:1 To the chief Musician, A
Psalm and Song of David…Psalm 69:1 To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, A
Psalm of David…Psalm 70:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance…
The
Superscriptions listed above are only a few of those found in the Book of Psalms. Chapter six of Music of the Bible gives the meanings
of the Psalm Superscriptions. There is a
plethora of confusion that surrounds the many authors opinions about their
meaning. Frankly, although they are at
times shrouded in esoteric meaning, their meaning is not nearly as exotic as
many authors conjecture. Their meaning
is worth exploring because they often give much meaning to the psalm setting, its
history, and musical instruction for performance.
Some pitfalls to avoid are that they represent
tunes. This notion is totally without
authority because we know that the te’amim
found below and above give us the accurate precise well-preserved melodies
and embellishments for each psalm. The
exotic hypotheses about the Superscriptions being tune names for secular
ditties to which a particular song would be sung are totally without
scholarship or authority.
The thing
that really matters is that these Inscriptions give, instrumentation, author
and musical explanation of how to perform the particular psalm. The inscriptions give us knowledge that
ancients were concerned about how to properly sing and play the psalms. This knowledge helps to put to rest the
faulty notions about the ancient Israelites
singing , or worse yet screaming out, the psalm at the top of their lungs in an
unartistic manner.
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