Below are some links to the sites of specialist musical instrument makers who manufacture quality replicas of the Biblical Kinnor and Nevel.

For the beginner, I personally reccomend the incredibly affordable models by Mid East Ethnic Instruments. For the more accomplished player, nothing beats the outstanding quality of the hand-made Marini Made Davidic Harp

MID EAST ETHNIC INSTRUMENTS

Both the best value & the most affordable manufacturer, from which I purchased my own replica Kinnor. The retail price of their replica Biblical Kinnor, direct from the manufacturer is presently just $269!

These lyres are ideal for beginners, thanks to sheer affordability... 

For the absolute beginner, they make a mini version of their full size Kinnor, for a mere $72.90!!!

Buy This Kinnor From Mid East Ethnic Instruments!

Mid East Ethnic Instruments manufacture a replica Biblical Kinnor based on the illustrations of the Kinnor based upon contemporary illustrations of the lyre found on 2nd century Jewish coins from the time of the Simon Bar Kochba Revolt against the Roman occupation of Judea in 134CE:

Their replica Kinnor is now available in both Mahogany or Rosewood/ Light Ash, with DuPont nylon harp strings - these have almost the tone of authentic gut strings (although slightly brighter & more resonant than actual gut). The advantage of nylon strings is the extra stability of tuning, string durability, & a lot less expense when it comes to replacing the strings...the cost of gut harp strings is horrendous, they go out of tune whenever there is any humidity, and only last a few months before the fragile gut snaps. I have had my original set of strings on the lyre since I first b in 2006, and it they still sound as good as new!

The colour-coding of the strings (just as on a regular harp) enables the player to very quickly locate where the 4ths & 5ths are in whatever scale/mode the strings are tuned to.

There are problems with recreating the actual sound of the original Biblical Kinnor on this instrument, as best described in the recent review on iTunes (USA), made by John Wheeler:

"I have had the privilege - and I count it exactly that - of helping Michael Levy in his efforts to apply himself to the ten-stringed lyre (kinnor). Being more specialized on the academic side, I know just how hazardous it is to say that Michael's efforts tell us what King David's lyre really sounded like. The miracle is that Michael is able to get as close to ancient practice (as documented by archaeology, Hebrew Scripture and various treatises) as he does, given the limitations of the instrument he uses. It mics extremely well, but it is a very poor acoustic instrument (I know, I used to own one of them), it uses modern nylon strings, and it has a higher string tension than most ancient instruments. All this changes the tone (as do other things such as modern glues and woodworking techniques). Michael's lyre is an ancient instrument in a modern form and should be approached as such.

That said, beginning with this album Michael concentrates on applying everything he learns about ancient lyre playing and tuning, using his long experience as a klezmer musician to adapt traditional and original tunes to the limitations of the lyre. And happily; he only gets better and better as he goes.

The one real concession to modernity that Michael makes (besides the instrument itself) is the equal temperament of his scales. If he ever learns how to apply ancient tunings, particularly just tuning (and he tells me his ears aren't fine enough to do so thus far), he will add purity to intensity in his performances. " 

However, the compromises I had to make with this particular instrument for me, far outweigh the disadvantages. The nylon strings, although birghter in tone than original gut strings, have the advantage of stability of pitch - essential for studio work! For my studio recrdings, I decided to comprommise slightky, and use equal temperament tuning for purely practical purposes - a nice, modern 21st centruy digital chromatic tuner keeps the replica lyre in better sounding tuning than my not so perfect ears are able to do so! My intitial attempts to tune the Kinnor in just tuning just sounded out of tune, given my unfortunate lack of perfect pitch...

My only very slight criticism, is that the soundboard of their Kinnor is just a little too thick, which tends to stifle the tone & volume slightly.However, in the recording studio, or when used with any regular guitar amp with an acoustic guitar pickup attached, their Kinnor sounds perfect!

For my earlier Youtube videos, I used a regular Leem acoustic guitar pickup attached behind the bridge towards the treble end of the strings, a little preamp, leading to my VOX Valvetronix guitar amplifier...using with just a hint of reverb, for that essential "ethereal" sound!

Their interpretation of the Biblical Nevel, is that discussed earlier in the "Historical Details" section - that this was probably a lyre with a skin membrane:

Buy This Nevel From Mid East Ethnic Instruments!

The Biblical Nevel is an elusive instrument, but the following illustration seen on some of the 2nd century Simon Bar Kochba coins, seems to show a lyre which may be the Biblical Nevel, and seems to show the reverse of a lyre, which has a resonator over which a circular skin-soundboard of taut leather is stretched:

There are a just a few design faults with their interpretation of the Biblical Nevel. Firstly, according to the writing of the 1st Century Jewish Historian, Josephus Flavius in hs "Antiquities", he description of the Nevel, he states that it had 12 strings (presumably to represent the Twelve Tribe of Israel?) - the Mid East Ethnic Instrument interpretation of the Nevel has 15 strings.

Also, as described in the "History of the Lyre" section of this website, from the ancient Rabbinical writings of the Mishna, it is likely that the Biblical Nevel had a resonator made of Lotus ribbing...the Mid East Ethnic Instrument interpretation of this Biblical Lyre is open-back with no resonator behind the skin soundboard (which leads to a significant loss of volume).

The final little problem with their Nevel, is the lack of colour-coding on the strings - 15 strings with no visual indication of where the crucial 4ths & 5ths are located, makes it very difficult to quickly locate the desired note. However, by simply using a red & blue CD Marker pen to literally "colour in" the 4ths & 5ths, this problem can easily be overcome! I did this little trick, when I recorded my album, "The Ancient Biblical Lyre", which features the Mid East Ethnic Instrument interpretation of the Biblical Nevel.

In my opinion, both the appearance, affordability & use of near "gut sounding" buy stable nylon harp strings on these instruments makes Mid East Ethnic Instruments replica Biblical lyres the best buy, by far!

MARINI MADE HARPS

I have only recently discovered these amazing-sounding replica 10-string Kinnors - a beautiful harp-like tone. They seem to be of far superior quality to the Kinnor made by Mid East Ethnic Instruments (which despite their drawbacks, are still the most suitable lyre for the beginner) - due to a thinner soundboard on the Marini Kinnor, these lyres produce a more harp-like, less "stiffled" purely acoustic tone....I have just bought one! Here is a video of my first ever "heavenly pluck":

They currently retail for $325...

Buy This Kinnor From Marini Made Harps!

 My main attraction to the Marini Davidic Harp, is that due to the superior construction and lighter soundboard, these lyres are suitable for the use of authentic, low tension gut strings - and being hand-made, the Marini family have even experimented with the use of gut strings for optimum tone:

 "This past weekend we attended a harp event in North Carolina where I discovered where to buy gut strings for our Davidic harp. Some time ago, I tried some gut strings on our Davidic harp (samples that I had received from Bow Brand Company in England). We could tell a difference in the quality of the sound when we used gut strings on the lowest four notes (C, D, E, & F)... the high notes didn't sound much better. It was not very cost effective for us to buy a lot of gut strings in large quantities direct from England, but I thought that I'd make you aware that the Atlanta Harp Center does sell Bow Brand gut strings in individual packages. I had my personal Davidic Harp along at this event, so I brought it over to their booth and compared the strings to what they had there, and this is what I'm recommending for those who want to take this harp "a step up" in sound quality.... (gut strings are mellow sounding whereas nylon sound bright)

 Order these strings...

Burgundy No. 24 (4th Octave) C .... $13.00
Burgundy No. 23 (4th Octave) D .... $13.00
Burgundy No. 22 (4th Octave) E ..... $13.00
Burgundy No. 21 (3rd Octave) F ...... $ 8.50

These strings are made for pedal harps, but are the right thickness for the lower strings on this Davidic harp. It gives the low strings a much more mellow low tone than the nylon strings... but we feel the upper strings sounded better and brighter with the nylon strings. Yes, they are expensive... but mine have lasted a couple years now without breaking. If you want to check it out, go to their website at:
www.atlantaharpcenter.com
On their "home page" go to the left side and under "strings" click onto "Burgundy Gut"
  Then scroll to the bottom and click onto page 23 to go to the 3rd4th octave" 

Marini Made Harps are are small family-based company - to order a harp or lyre from them, it is necessary to send a bankers draught or cheque, as they do not deal with online transactions.

HARRARI HARPS

Harrari Harps are based in Israel, and manufacture luthier quality lyres with authentic gut strings - with the ultimate goal of their lyres being played in the Third Temple of Jerusalem! They manufacture two styles of Kinnor - based on the 2 types of lyre depicted on the Simon Bar Kochba coins:

TYPE A:

TYPE B:

Below is their interpretation of the "Type A" Biblical Lyre:

Below is their interpretation of the "Type B" Biblical Lyre:

The lyre depicted on the first coin ("Type A") may, in fact be the elusive Biblical "Nevel", rather than the Kinnor, as discussed earlier in the "History of the Lyre" section.

My main criticism of these "replica" lyres, is that depsite all the effort and craftsmanship, they bear no resemblance to the lyres seen in the archeomusicological records - for a start, neither model has a bridge over which the strings pass (the definintion of wat a lyre is, compared to a harp, whereby the stirngs enter the body of the instrument)...these "lyres" therefore, are in fact, very attractive, but organologically incorrect, portable harps! 

Harrari Harps also manufacture high quality standard sized harps, (their own interpretation of the Biblical Nevel) which have 22 strings - corresponding to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet! Although the Nevel was far more likely to have been a lyre rather than a harp, (as discussed earlier in the "Historical Research" section), this does in no way distract from the frankly amazing craftsmanship of Harrari's beautiful replica Biblical instruments...

Harrari Harps

DAVID HARP COMPANY

Abbot David Michael is another luthier quality maker of the Biblical Kinnor based in the USA, who designs his Kinnors based on ancient illustrations of type B lyres, as depicted on the Simon Bar Kochba coins above:

David Harp Company

MARINO GUTIERREZ

Marino Gutierre is a luthier quality maker of musical instruments based in Spain, and amongs his fine had-crafed instruments, he makes a fine replica of the Kinnor based on Type B illustrations of the Kinnor, as seen on the Simon Bar Kochba coins:

His concept of the Biblical Nevel is the same as that produced by Mid East Ethnic Instruments - a skin-membrane lyre, similar to the ancient Greek "Lyra"  :

Both his lyres feature authentic gut strings... 

Vist Marino's website here

JUBILEE HARPS

A company in the USA which specializes in manufacturing replica Biblical lyres based on illutrations on the Bar Kochba coins of type A.

As mentioned above, the type A lyre on the Simon Bar Kochba coins may more likely be a representation of the Biblical Nevel, rather than the Kinnor. However, the lyres are very well crafted.

My only criticism, is that Jubilee Harps use steel strings - a material that was not even invented in the Bronze Age, when the Biblical lyres were first being made! However, the steel strings do give a very pleasant reverb, and a unique sound:

These lyres would also be ideal for playing traditional Egyptian music, as the Simsimyya lyre still played in Port Said in Egypt, traditionally uses metal strings.

For further details, please see the link to their website below:

Jubilee Harps

A REPLICA ANCIENT GREEK LYRE MAKER!

NIKOLAOS BRASS

Nikolaos Brass specializes in making amazing hand-crafted replicas of the Lyres of Ancient Greece, including the Kithara - almost identical to the Lyre of the Ancient Hebrews:

All his lyres feature authentic gut strings. Here is the link to his Myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/nikolaosbrass

AN ANGLO SAXON LYRE MAKER

Michael J. King manufactures luthier quality replicas of the Anglo saxon Lyre, which date to before the 10th century CE:

For full details, please visit Michael's fascinating website:

http://www.michaeljking.com/Lyres.htm

THE EGYPTIAN SIMSIMIYYA (Arabic: سمسمية‎)

The Simsimiyya (sometimes spelt "Semsemia") is a lyre still played today in  Egypt around Port Said, as featured in the amazing recordings of the band "El Tanboura". These beautiful wire-strung lyres can be purchased from:

http://www.nilecommerce.net/en/Oriental_Musical_Instruments/semsemia.htm

ARHCAIC AFRICAN ARCHED HARPS

My album "The Ancient Egyptian Harp" features an archaic African Harp, the "Adungu" of Uganda - an incredible instrument almost identical to the ancient Egyptian arched harp:

THE ADUNGU ARCHED HARP OF UGANDA...

EXAMPLE OF A PRESERVED ANCIENT EGYPTIAN 18th DYNASTY ARCHED HARP... 

Adungu harps can be ordered from:

Collective Awakening 

RETAILERS OF BIBLICAL LYRES

Finally, below are some links to music retail stores who stock replica Biblical Lyres...Happy shopping!

THE EARLY MUSIC SHOP, BRADFORD, UK

I purchased my own replica Kinnor from this store back in January 2006...

http://www.earlymusicshop.com/product.aspx/en-GB/1000662-ems-kinnor-harp

THE HARP AND DRAGON

http://www.harpanddragon.com/kinnornevel.htm

GKS WIGETS

http://www.gkswidgets.com/biin.html

INTRODUCTION

In attempting to demonstrate a variety of ancient tunings for my 10 string lyre to the layman with an interest in ancient music, I have decided to compromise and use modern equal temperament terminology ie. a 12 note chromatic scale, with alphabetic representation of specific pitch(eg. A,B,C,D,G,F,G) & modern musical terms such as sharps & flats to indicate the respective placement of whole-tone & half-tone steps) 

However, in antiquity, lyres were tuned either cyclically, in perfect 5ths, the 3rds & 6ths then being fine-tuned by ear(Pythagorean tuning) or divisively (using exact mathematical ratios to precisely divide a musical string into specific pitch ratios) to achieve what is called "Just Intonation".  

 The modern tuning system of equal temperament was devised to enable music to be performed in any of the 12 keys of the chromatic scale whilst keeping exactly the same equal ratio of pitch between each of the 12 notes of the chromatic scale...which sadly has sacrificed the essential purity of tone, which can only be heard in the just intonation once used in antiquity.

ANCIENT JUST INTONATION VERSUS MODERN EQUAL TEMPERAMENT? 

Joseph Ennis kindly sent me the following interesting article he wrote on all the technical aspects of "Just Intonation" in comparison to modern "Equal Temperament:

On Cent & Scales

Another detailed article by Joseph Ennis can also be viewed in the link below, which describes the history of tuning from ancient Sumeria to the present system of equal temperament:

The History of Tuning 

Below is a quote from Wikepedia, further explaining the basic difference between just intonation & equal temperament...

"In music, just intonation is any musical tuning in which the frequencies of notes are related by ratios of whole numbers. Any interval tuned in this way is called a just interval; in other words, the two notes are members of the same harmonic series.

Justly tuned intervals are usually written either as ratios, with a colon (for example, 3:2), or as fractions, with a solidus (3 ⁄ 2). Colons indicate that division is not done, so it is the preferred usage in music: In practice, two tones, one at 300 Hertz (cycles per second), and the other at 200 hertz is a perfect fifth (3:2).

Just intonation can be contrasted and compared with equal temperament, which dominates western orchestras and default MIDI tuning. Equal temperament starts by arranging all notes at multiples of the same basic interval, but the intervals themselves are altered slightly, relative to just intonation. Each interval possesses its own degree of alteration. The process results in a tuning system where all intervals will have exactly the same character in any key."

 
Just intonation was achieved in antiquity, by either  Cyclical or Divisive tuning methods...

CYCLICAL TUNING

 
This is the most natural way to tune either a solo archaic harp or lyre - although first famously advocated in the writings of Pythagoras, cyclical tuning methods are well documented in ancient Babylonian Cuneiform texts several thousand years before this.

This tuning system entails tuning the strings of the lyre in a cyclical series of perfect 5ths. The 3rds & 6ths were then finely tuned by ear to the required sweetness of tone, to achieve just temperament.  

Consequently, when a lyre is tuned correctly using a system of cyclic tuning, there should be no wavey "wooowooowooow"- sounding beat waves heard in the pure intervals tuned using cyclic tuning (ie the 5ths, 4ths & octaves) - unlike a string instrument tuned using equal temperament - these "wooowooowooow" sounding beat waves are generated by the slight lack of symmetry in the sound wave ratios, due to the compromise in exact tuning - which is the unfortunate consequence of the equal temperament tuning system.  

The 3rds & 6ths resulting from cyclical tuning, though, do sound similar to 3rds & 6ths tuned using equal temperament, as it is harder to precisely tune 3rds & 6ths by ear than it is to tune the purer-sounding 5ths, 4th & octaves - the 3rds & 6ths are fine tuned by ear, by a subjective process of "sweetening" their sound...a process which requires much experience, and relies solely on the ear of the musician. 

Therefore, cyclic tuning results in what can best be described as a close approximation to the mathematically precise pitch ratios of pure just intonation - however, it is the ancient tuning system which requires the most skill on behalf of of the lyre or harp player, as the entire tuning process relies entirely on the  experienced ear of the musician being able to tune their instrument "in tune with itself"...

Below is a recent experimental video I recorded, with my lyre in tuned by ear using the ancient Pythagorean cyclical tuning system - the video features my arrangement of "Hatikvah" (The Hope), the new Israeli National Anthem, played on my evocation of the ancient 10-string Biblical Kinnor (hand-made by Marini Made Harps)...the lyre which, before the destruction of the Temple of Jersualem in 70 CE, was Israel's National Instrument:

In most of my earlier albums, due to the constrictions of studio time (and the even tighter constrictions of my bank account to pay for it!), I reluctantly decided to eventually compromise, and use a digital tuner to tune my lyre into equal temperament. However, for my albums "The Ancient Egyptian Harp" & "King David's Harp" (which features my newly acquired, incredible quality, hand-crafted "Marini Made Davidic Harp") I decided to leave the the 21st century behind for good, and to take the time to tune my archaic arched harp & lyre cyclically, by ear...just as the ancients did!

I decided on attempting cyclic tuning, rather than divisive tuning in my first major project dedicated to experimenting with truly authentic ancient tuning systems, because as mentioned above, cyclical tuning requires the most skill to properly execute!

 
Professor Richard Dumbrill gives a fascinating talk in the video below, about how the Silver Lyre of Ur (dating back to c.2600BCE) , according to the miraculously surviving Cuneiform musical texts,  was also tuned cyclically - some 4600 years ago:

DIVISIVE TUNING

Cyclical tuning, as described above, since it relies on nothing but the ear of the trained musican, only result in an approximation of just intonation - pure just intonation can only be achieved using the sytem of Divisive Tuning.  Divisive tuning entails precisely dividing the length of a monchord into specific mathematical ratios, resulting in the respective desired musical pitches being achieved.

Divisive tuning was the most natural way to tune the ancient lutes, or any fretted instrument. which uses frets to divide the vibrating portion of each string into the required precise ratio of pitches. Although described in the writings of  Pythagoras in his experiments at dividing a musical monochord, the divisive tuning system predates Pythagoras by thousands of years and may have evolved along with the origin of the long-necked lute in ancient Babylonia some 5000 years ago, according to John Wheeler:

"The long-necked lute (according to Curt Sachs) was invented in Babylonia, and indeed thanks to that fact divisive tuning was invented there also. Cyclical tuning was also known there (and that got documented long after his death by the famous theory and hymn tablets from Babylon and Ugarit), but there is this curious fact: the Babylonians used divisive tuning as the basis for their symbolic correlation of the pillar degrees of the octave (e.g., C-F-G-C') with the four seasons, while the Chinese used cyclical tuning as the basis for the symbolic correlation of the same. This (wrote Sachs) is consistent as Babylon was the "home" of the lute and China the "home" of the harp (even though Babylon knew of harps and lyres too and China, if memory serves, also knew the lute from very early times). Divisive tuning is the "natural" tuning of the lute, as cyclical tuning is the "natural" tuning of the harp and lyre, according to Sachs. By that he meant that it's easiest and most natural to tune, and then to play, folk instruments of those genres that way - as I can vouch as a working musician"

John Wheeler also recently explained to me (in answer to some questions I posed, also cited below in bold text) that divisive tuning was also used to tune the lyres & harps of antiquity, particularly when played in ensemble with other instruments (eg wind instruments & fretted string instruments) which were tuned divisively. John described the details of the program he used to derive MIDI files of divisively tuned chromatic scales:

"I use the 2011 edition of Finale (designed for writing musical scores that can then be played back or else converted to various file formats) to create the pitches in equal temperament, and then the free Scala program (which requires its own operating interface to be installed on Windows) to retune them. I import the resulting tuned MIDIs back into Finale, convert them into MP3s there, and the job is done. In your case I just sent you the Scala-tuned MIDIs, which are more than adequate for anyone's tuning needs. (Plus you can put them on servers that don't accept MP3s, as the one hosting my Web sites doesn't.) For my Earthlight Orchestra Web site I convert from MP3s to WMAs using Windows Movie Maker. I just corrected some long-standing flaws in the arrangement of my favorite original song, "Hey, Christopher Alan" (the strange-but-true story behind the character mentioned is here) - be sure to play the file at the bottom, if you have time, to hear a modern, original song based on pure divisive tuning and created by Finale and Scala! Like you, after hearing such music I don't want to hear equal temperament anymore...

I list the Scala program on several of my Web pages, including this one (scroll to the bottom of the page). If you're daring enough to take on Scala (be warned, it is a VERY sophisticated program, especially for someone who is only a beginner at music theory, and I've barely scratched the surface of its technical abilities), then I'll send you a file which doesn't seem to be present in their vast but overspecialized archives, the base file for creating the full divisive chromatic scale starting from any desired tonic.

> A point which is dawning on me, after finally becoming acquainted with the tuning methods of antiquity, is an inference of the consequence of cyclic tuning and the possible accompaniments that were possible on the lyre as a result - is due to the problems with fine tuning the 3rds & 6ths, simple pure intervals were presumably used for any form of basic harmony in authentic lyre playing techniques?

EXACTLY. There is no other way it could be done, using cyclical tuning. When we do see examples in archaeology (such as in the famous mural of Elamites receiving Asshur-bani-pal with harps, hammered harps, singing, chironomy, etc.) of harmony with pentatonicism, it's based on perfect fifths. I'd need to recheck my page on Egyptian chironomy and its pentatonic scale basis to see what the harmony used in the mastabas implies about the underlying tuning. It might have been tweaked to divisive tuning, not a surprise if diatonic flues and lutes were also used with the harps. But that depends on whether any intervals were used in the portrayals besides octaves and fifths.

Ah. I see that on this page I give examples of what appears to be harmony that could only be done properly were the pentatonic scale tweaked from cyclical to divisive tuning. (I also spotted an error I'll have to correct: B-F is a tritone, not a perfect fourth, and likely the interval was either B-G or B-G#, either way demanding divisive tuning as these intervals are functionally minor or major in harmony as opposed to melody, but that doesn't work out properly in cyclical tuning, only in divisive tuning.)

But Michael... who keeps telling you, yourself or someone else, that cyclical tuning is the only possible basis for "authentic lyre playing techniques"? Whoever's telling you that, he's wrong. Biblical chant demands divisive tuning, yet it was accompanied by lyres of two different kinds as well as by trumpets in the same tuning perforce. Cyclical tuning is the basis of authentic Greek style as Curt Sachs documented it (and as no doubt others have too) - it's not as easy to stop the strings in divisive tuning, because in cyclical tuning you can use the same proportionate distance string by string but you can't in divisive tuning. But there are ways of getting around that difficulty in divisive tuning and a lyre documented from 700 BC in Celtic France may demonstrate how the Israelites and others did it. You put a sort of fretbar on the yoke below the crossbar. Let's see if I can find that for you. Ah, here it is - please see below:

...And again, the best explanation of one of the Mesopotamian tablets is that it's a guide for adjusting cyclical tuning to divisive tuning by "sweetening the thirds and sixths" by ear.

Sachs (and others, often quoting Plato) points out that harmony was surely used by the Greeks (heterophony, actually: parallel melodies) but this would involve a fine ear (and maybe a tolerance of dissonance for effect, as some believe!) to use simultaneous notes using cyclical tuning if one went beyond fifths and fourths.

> Although I presume the ancients understood a lot more about polyphony & harmony than the "urban myth" of the monotony of monophony in the music of the ancient world, the cylclic tuning method for tuning lyres & harps would have imposed limitations on exactly what harmonies could actually best be used?

Yes, HARMONOGRAPH points out that cyclical tuning is best adapted for monophony (as in plainchant) and accompaniment by drones (we know the Greeks and many others, including Middle Easterners, used such techniques at one time or another), while divisive tuning is best adapted for polyphony and chordal harmony. Heterophony is possible with either but how one handles it differs according to the strengths and weaknesses of each tuning; frankly divisive tuning is by far the superior for heterophony.

> Are there any records of divisive tuning actually being used to tune lyres & harps in antiquity, or was this primarily used just for fretted lutes?


Yes, it appears that Egyptian chironomy, pentatonic though it was, implies divisive tuning. Again, one of the Mesopotamian tablets is best explained as a guide to retuning a lyre from cyclical to divisive tuning by ear. Anne Kilmer and Jane Smith did a paper on that, although Dr. Kilmer couldn't find a basis for inferring what temperament resulted. I pointed out to her in Jerusalem that the method makes sense (it passes a close shave with Occam's Razor) if one is seeking to sweeten the thirds and sixths as would be required in the only other documented tuning from Mesopotamia, divisive tuning. And once again, the biblical chant implies divisive tuning was used for the kinnor and nevel. Beyond that I'd have to see more than I've yet seen what's documented in artwork from the various countries and periods of history. My knowledge of such things is actually severely limited - more than you know. Don't rely overmuch on my knowledge of art history!

Unless ancient instruments had a higher string tension than often thought (and with a kinnor, nevel or kithara, that was very probably true - the kinnor and nevel played LOUD music, says your Bible), tremolo would be hard to do on them. All right: loud music implies high string tension coupled with light construction (as with top-line modern Celtic harps, the idea was to make the instrument perpetually just this side of self-destruction in order to give it maximum resonance). I think we can take that as axiomatic for master instrument builders and certainly what remains have been found in the Egyptian tombs (I mean actual instruments, now in the Louvre and elsewhere!) bears this out. The native Egyptian lyres were over-engineered and were soft-toned as a result. The imported Semitic kinnorot were of much lighter construction and (as Lise Manniche points out) befit the louder music that apparently became popular after their arrival." 

FREE DOWNLOADS OF DIVISIVELY TUNED CHROMATIC SCALES!

As described above, John Wheeler kindly sent me these MIDI files of mathematically precise, divisively tuned chromatic scales, from which my reconstructed Biblical lyres can be tuned. 

1. The Marini Made "Davidic Harp" is naturally tuned to D as the tonic note (on the second to the bottom of the 10 strings) - a divisively tuned chromatic scale starting on D can be used to tune this exquisite little lyre precisely, into any musical mode used in antiquity - the download link is here

2. The Mid East Kinnor is naturally tuned with E as the tonic (on the second to the bottom of the 10 strings) - a divisively tuned chromatic scale starting with E as the tonic note can be download here

3. For all instruments with a natural tuning as C as the tonic, a divisively tuned chromatic scaale can be downloaded here

Below is a video featuring my performance of a piece of traditional Jewish Klezmer music on replica Biblical lyre, using the mathematically precise divisive tuning generated from the SCALA program which John Wheeler kindly provided me with:

 As can be heard in this video, the sound of the lyre tuned in pure just intonation achieved by the mathematically precise divisive scales generated by the SCALA program, is certainly superior to the approximation of just intonation achieved via the system of cyclically tuning by ear - I will certainly be using the ancient divisive tuning system for any of my future lyre albums!

What follows is a list of tunings which I have researched & used in all my albums of ancient lyre music. These tunings include ancient Middle Eastern scales derived from my experience as a Klezmer musician, and which according to the work of the late Suzanne Haik Vantoura, also appear in the original 3000 year old music of the Bible! The tunings also include the original ancient Greek modes, as described in the writings of Plato & Aristotle, some 2400 years ago...

I have used modes starting on E - this is the key which the Mid East Kinnor I used for most of my albums is naturally tuned to and also, which is the most logical key to use to describe the ancient modes, as there are only sharps entailed in raising the necessary pitches for each mode, instead of a confusing mixture of sharps & flats. Suzanne Haik Vantoura also used E as the tonic for the ancient Biblical modes she discovered, for the same reasons described.

For the Marini Made Davidic Harp, to avoid snapping strings, it is necessary to transpose these tunings from E to D - using the divisive chromatic scale starting on D

With the divisively tuned chromatic scale downloads kindly provided by John Wheeler (please see my other blog, "Ancient Tuning Systems") it is now possible to tune any evocation of the ancient Biblical lyre to the exact ratio of pitches once used in antiquity!


AN EXPLORATION OF THE ANCIENT MUSICAL MODES OF ANTIQUITY

Regarding the tuning of the Kinnor, I have personally done much experimentation in both playing the Kinnor Lyre, & in attempting to find an "authentic" tuning; I have found that the ancient Jewish Chazzanut Modes (i.e.the modes used in cantorial singing in the synagogue) fit the 10 strings of the Kinnor perfectly. All the instrumental Klezmer modes are in turn derived mainly from Chazzanut modes, which are used in the cantorial singing in the synagogue.

It seems reasonable, therefore, to assume, that the ultimate origins of the modes used in the synagogue, must in turn, have been influenced, to at least some extent, by the ancestral, aural memory of the singing of the Levitical Choir in the Temple of Jerusalem.

Since it was primarily the Kinnor Lyres which accompanied these Levitical singers, I find it logical to infer, that a tuning derived from either the Chazzanut modes or the Klezmer modes found in all traditional Jewish music to the present day, would be a fairly "authentic" inference as to what some of the original tunings of the Biblical Kinnor might have sounded like.

Here are some details of the tunings I used in the creation of my albums, "King David's Lyre; Echoes of Ancient Israel" , "Lyre of the Levites" & "King David's Harp"...  

 

THE "AHAVA RABA" MODE

The most common Jewish scale heard in the performance of traditional instrumental Klezmer music, is known as the "Ahava Raba" Mode:

E F G# A B C D E

This scale was also known in ancient Greece, as the "Chromatic Dorian Mode"(& can be heard in the 2nd half of the 2nd century song,"Hymn of the Muse" by Mesomedes of Crete):



To play the Kinnor in the "Ahava Raba" Mode of traditional instrumental Jewish Klezmer music, I tune the 10 strings of the lyre as follows, bottom string to top:

D E(tonic) F G# A B C D E(tonic) F

I have tuned the Kinnor to the Ahava Raba mode, for my arrangements on my album "King David's Lyre; Echoes of Ancient Israel", of the following traditional instrumental Jewish Klezmer melodies: "Berdichiever Khosid", "Kandel's Hora", "Abu's Courtyard", "Bukovina Freylekhs" and "Der Heyser Bulgar" & "Araber Tantz" : 




There are also many traditional Jewish folk songs in the "Ahava Raba" mode, as can be heard in my arrangements of "Zemer Atik" and "Hava Nagila":




The "Ahava Raba" mode can also be heard in the Synagogue, as can be heard in my arrangements of "Kol Nidre", "Avinu Malcheinu" (both traditionally sung at Yom Kippur), and the traditional melody usually sang to the Shabbat hymn "Shalom Aleichem" (this wonderful, timeless melody was, in fact, composed by the American Rabbi, Israel Goldfarb in 1918).

In my second album, "Lyre of the Levites", I also tune my Kinnor to the "Ahava Raba" mode for my arrangements of "Uzer Toyrele", "Noch Havdallah", "Sherele", Gut Morgan", "Yikhes", Firn Di Mekutonim Ahyem", "Der Yid in Yerushalayim" and "Baym Rebin's Sude".

THE NATURAL MINOR MODE

This scale has been preserved from the depths of antiquity, and can be heard in almost every traditional, ancient Hebrew song:

E F# G A B C D E

As can also be heard in my videos of traditional Egyptian music which I have arranged for solo lyre (which can be found in this section of the website), the Natural Minor Scale also prevails - to me, this may suggests a very ancient root to the use of the Natural Minor Scale, throughout the Middle East?

To play my replica Kinnor in the Natural Minor Mode, I tune the 10 strings as follow, bass string to treble:

D E (tonic) F#G A B C D E (tonic) F#

Using a tuning of the Kinnor based around the Natural Minor Mode outlined above, this seems to work perfectly for the most famous of all Jewish melodies, "Hatikvah" (The Hope), which in 1948, became the National Anthem to the newly reborn State of Israel.

I have also used the same tuning in "King David's Lyre; Echoes of Ancient Israel", in my arrangements of "Havenu Shalom Aleichem", "Siman Tov", "Shalom Chavarim", "Hine Ma Tov", "Oh Hanukah", "Shabbat Shalom", "Ose Shalom" and "Yigdal". 

I also tune my Kinnor to the Natural Minor mode in my arraangement of "Yerushalayim Shel Zahav" (as can be heard on my albums "Lyre of the Levites" & "King David's Harp"): 





 

THE "MISHEBERAKH" MODE

A variation of the ancient Natural Minor mode, still often heard in instrumental Jewish Klezmer music today, is the basic natural minor scale, but with the addition of an augmented 4th and a whole tone between the 5th and 6th intervals of the scale:

E F# G A# B C# D E

In ancient Greece, this scale can be heard in a fragment called "Tecmessa's Lament", where this same scale was kown as "The Chromatic Phrgyian Mode" :




This is known in traditional Jewish Klezmer music today, as the "Misheberakh" mode, as can be heard in my arrangement of "Odessa Bulgar" - track 10 from my first album, "King David's Lyre; Echoes of Ancient Israel".





 

THE ANCIENT GREEK MODES

The names of musical modes in use today, (e.g. Dorian, Mixolydian etc) although having the same names as the original Greek musical modes, were actually misnamed during the Middle Ages! Apparently, the Greeks counted intervals from top to bottom.  When medieval ecclesiastical scholars tried to interpret the ancient texts, they counted from bottom to top, jumbling the information. The  misnamed medieval modes are only distinguished by the ancient Greek modes of the same name, by being labelled “Church Modes”. It was due to a misinterpretation of the Latin texts of Boethius, that medieval modes were given the wrong Greek names!

According to an article on Greece in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the original ancient Greek names for species of the octave included the following (on white keys):

B-B: Mixolydian
E-E: Dorian
A-A: Hypodorian
D-D: Phrygian
G-G: Hypophrygian
C-C: Lydian
F-F: Hypolydian

Full details can be found here:

http://www.midicode.com/tunings/greek.shtml

For what Plato & Aristotle themselves had this to say about these ancient musical modes, please see this fascinating link:

http://www.pathguy.com/modes.htm

Below  is a "live" video, featuring a spontaneous improvisation in the ancient Greek Dorian Mode, which according to the writings of Plato & Aristotle, either had the ability to improve concentration in slower pieces in this mode, or in faster pieces, it could even inspire bravery in battle. In the video, I have played the improvisation both slow at the start and fast at the end, to hopefully convey something of these effects on the emotions which Plato & Aristotle quite rightly said about this beautiful ancient musical mode:

 Here is another improvisation in the ancient Greek Dorian Mode, this time performed on my archaic skin-membrane arched harp - almost tonally identical to the skin-membrane ancient Greek "Lyra" (the lyre with a resonator made out of a tortoise shell over which the skin membrane soundboard was stretched:

  To tune my 10 string lyre to some of the main ancient Greek modes, I tune the lyre as follows, bottom bass string to top treble:

The Ancient Greek Dorian Mode:

D E(tonic) FGABCDEF

The Ancient Greek Hypodorian Mode:

DE(tonic)F#GABCDEF#

The Ancient Greek Phrygian Mode:

DE(tonic)F#GABC#DEF#

The Ancient Greek Hypophrygian Mode:

DEF#GA(tonic)BC#DEF#

The Ancient Greek Lydian Mode:

D(tonic)EF#GABC#DEF#

The Ancient Greek Hypolydian Mode:

DEF#G(tonic)ABC#DEF#

The Ancient Greek Mixolydian Mode:

D#(tonic)EF#G#ABC#D#EF#

 MY ALBUMS WHICH FEATURE THE ANCIENT GREEK MODES

Amongst my myriad of ancient lyre music albums, 3 in particular feature some of my original compositions arranganged for my replica lyres, in a selection of the original ancient Greek Modes...

These albums are as follows:

1) "THE ANCIENT GREEK MODES "

This album features 7 original compositions for replica lyre, in each of the 7 original ancient Greek Modes:

2) "THE ANCIENT GREEK LYRE" 

This 12 track album features my arrangements for replica lyre of both 6 examples of some of the actual surviving fragments of music from ancient Greece, as well as 6 original compositions for lyre in a selection of the original ancient Greek Modes:

3) "APOLLO'S LYRE" 

This 9 track album features original compositions for replica lyres in a selection of musical modes from throughout the ancient world, including several tracks which feature the original ancient Greek Modes:

4) "ECHOES OF ANCIENT ROME" 

This album features original compositions for replica lyre mainly ispired by the Temples of ancient Rome, but since the culture of ancient Rome was greatly influenced by that of ancient Greece, most of the pieces are composed in some of the ancient Greek Modes:

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SCALES

Although the ancient Egyptians did not have a written form of musical notation, they did have a system of musical notation wherby specific hand gestures represented the changes of pitch in a melody. This ancient form of musical notation was used since the 4th Dynasty, and is known as "chironomy"...amazingly, chironomy still survives in Egypt today, preserved in the music of the the Coptic Church! The ancient art of chironomy is discussed at length in this fascinating article:

http://www.rakkav.com/biblemusic/pages/chironomy.htm

Below is a link to MIDI files of some of the actual ancient Egyptian  scales, as deciphered frm ancient Egyptian chironomy, by the late Professor Hickmann of the Mueum in Cairo:

http://www.rakkav.com/biblemusic/midis/egyptian_scale_just.mid
 

Below is my improvisation on one of these ancient Egyptian minor pentatonic scale, as deciphered by the late Professor Hans Hickmann  of the Museum in Cairo:

I later recorded this improvisation for track 1 of my album, "King David's Lyre; Echoes of Ancient Israel" - I called this improvisation on an ancient Egyptian scale  "The Music of Moses", in my attmept to convey the ancient connections between the ancient Hebrews and ancient Egypt...

 

"The Edongo [sometimes spelt Ndongo], is a Royal Court instrument of the Baganda people of Uganda.  It is constructed rather like the Asherroo of Somalia, with the posts inserted through the covering skin from the top.

 

The Banganda people are not sure where it came from, but it employs leather straps to hold the strings like a traditional Ethiopian Begena, rather than tuning pegs like the typical Udungu or most Egyptian instruments"

 

THE BAGANDA & BASOGA LYRE OF UGANDA

 

 This lyre appears very similar to the Baganda & Basoga Lyres of Uganda. Here is some fascinating information about these lyres, which I found at:

 

http://www.musicuganda.com/musical instruments.htm

 

"The Baganda and the Basoga lyre is made of lizard skin and laced with to a non-sonorous skin in the same manner as the harp and drums.

The strings are tied into a piece of wood and inserted into a hole where the two arms meet of the lyre meet. The 'Ganda lyre' (endongo) has one hole, the 'Soga instrument (entongoli) has two pieces of cloth, barkcloth or banana fibers wrapped around the yoke. The strings are wound round and round this material until it acts as a tuning peg.

The strings on the bowl lyre are not arranged in progressive order, as they are on the arched harp and the zither.
The highest note in the scale is third from the left and the lowest, fifth. Strings 7, 2, 4, 1 and 5 are octaves"

More information can also be found at:

http://www.dambe.org/education.html

 

 

VIDEOS OF THE LYRES STILL BEING MADE & PLAYED IN AFRICA TODAY 

 

The final selection of videos below testifies to this unique phenomenon, and for me, the survival of the ancient lyre-playing techniques in East Africa provides a tantilizing taste of how the music of the ancient world, was actually played...

 

 

THE OBUKANO LYRE FROM KENYA 

  

 

 

THE LITUNGU LYRE FROM KENYA 

 

 

 

THE NYATITI LYRE FROM KENYA

  

 

THE SHERRARA LYRE FROM SOMALIA

  

 

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The diverse range of lyre-playing techniques I have used in the creation of my albums, are all authentically based upon ancient lyre playing techniques which have amazingly survived to the present day, and which can still be heard in parts Egypt and East Africa. These techniques includes alternating between guitar-like, plectrum-plucked tones in the right hand and harp-like, finger-plucked tones in the left hand; which also sometimes includes providing basic harmony below the melodic line.

 I have also experimented with the ancient lyre-playing technique of “finger blocking” in “Odessa Bulgar” and also in the final section of “The Music of Moses”; this is where rhythm can be strummed on the lyre with a plectrum in the right hand, just as on a guitar - notes not required in the chords are blocked by fingers of the left hand.

This particular ancient lyre-playing technique can actually still be heard today, in the traditional "Krar" lyre players of Eritrea, in East Africa:

I also ornament the melodic lines with plentiful tremolo accompaniments; a style which has also survived to the present day, as can be heard in the lyre-playing techniques of the traditional "simsimyya" lyre players of Port Said, in Egypt.

The Egyptian simsimiyya (Arabic: سمسمية‎) is an amazing wire-strung lyre, still played in Egypt today..which may have had its origins, 4000 years ago, in the Middle Kingdom of ancient Egypt...

Here is a video featuring one of these amazing traditional Egyptian folk songs from Port Said, as arranged on my replica 3000 year old Lyre of the Ancient Hebrews:

Below are my new series of videos on Youtube, dedicated to expaining more of how I derived the ancient lyre playing techniques heard in my 10 albums of ancient lyre music:

I am increasingly fascinated in continuing to discover, just how many types of lyres are still played in the world today! The lyre is such an amazingly and magnificantly versatile instrument, and it is such a tragic loss in the Western world, that it can now only be heard in just a few countries dotted around East Africa - it truly was, the "guitar" of the ancient world...

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I have recently experimented in exploring the healing aspects of the haunting sounds of my  replica Biblical lyre - the famous "Healing Harp of King David"...

"Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him." (I Samual 16:23)

ANCIENT LYRE MUSIC FOR  REIKI, HEALING, RELAXATION, MEDITATION & SPIRITUAL CONTEMPLATION

Below are a series of video slideshows, suitable for relaxation, healing, Reiki, meditation & spiritual contemplation, each featuring a spontaneous improvisation on an ancient Middle Eastern scale...

COSMIC CHAKRA

The first video explores the spiritual heart of the mind, known in meditation as the Third Eye, or "Cosmic Chakra"

OTHER WORLDS

In this video, I explore the tranportation of the Mind through nothing more than  Ancient Lyre Music, to other worlds...

ASTRAL PROJECTION

The next video explores the rare experience of the very deepest meditation - the ability for astral travel, where the Mind is finally free of the body... 

JOURNEY OF THE SOUL

This video explores the experience of the final Journey of the Soul once it has finally been freed of the body forever... 

INNER LIGHT 

In the final video, I explore the Inner Light of healing enery, inherent within the human soul... 

May the mystical sound of King David's Harp bring you peace...

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This section concerns the incredible work of the late Jewish organist and composer, Suzanne Haik-Vantoura, in claiming to have discovered the original 3000 year old music of the Hebrew Bible, as once sang by the Levites in the Temple of Jerusalem... 

Following the tragic destruction of the Second Temple, the entire musical legacy of the Temple, both vocal and instrumental, seemed to be forever lost. However, the Masoretic scribes preserved (along with the biblical consonantal text itself) an ancient "reading tradition" dating back (according to themselves) to the Second Temple Era; and beginning about 1200 years ago, they painstakingly copied that tradition out in exacting detail. The Masoretic Text is still the oldest complete copy of the Hebrew Bible that we have.

Part of the "reading tradition" the Masoretes preserved was a series of "accents" ("te amim" - in Hebrew: טעמים), which occur throughout the entire Tanakh (Torah, Nevi'im and Ketuvim) in two systems. The Masoretes did not understand the meaning or the monumental significance of these accents, and for centuries, there have been countless theories as to what their original meaning was.

Most theories have started from the assumption that they were to emphasize precise points of grammar in the text. Leaving aside all these debates, Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura concentrated soley on finding a musical meaning of these "accents".

Through countless experiments and a laborious process of irrefutable verification (using the Hebrew verbal phrase structure itself as her "Rosetta Stone"), she finally realized that all these symbols represent musical tones: the 7 degrees of a heptatonic scale, or else ornaments of one to three notes!

The genius of Suzanne Haik Vantoura, was how she painstakingly derived exactly which musical mode/scale corresponded to the specific Hebrew text of the Bible. Out of all the possible combinations of 7 note heptatonic scales, the correct scale for the specific Biblical text examined, will be the scale which brings the correct empasis and meaning to the original Hebrew text - a truly monumental process of musical logic & an unbelievably labourious process of elimination!

In other words, SHV used the actual syntax of the original Hebrew scriptures of the Old Testament as the deciphering key of the Biblical scales. John Wheeler, one of the leading experts on the work of Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura, recently expained this process to me in more detail:

"Occam's Razor is at the very heart of SHV's work. SHV's deciphering key is not a scientific theory that can be refuted by a single contrary observation (as even Albert Einstein described his own powerful theories of relativity). It is rather a model, a framework of interpretation that is able to adjust to new facts as they come in. About the only thing that could really refute it is an undisputed "Rosetta Stone" from antiquity giving a simpler and more complete explanation of how the accents work. Hand me such a record and I'll be the first to welcome it.

But there is indeed an element of religious faith involved here: faith that an infallible personal God can work through fallible human beings to preserve His "oracles" despite themselves, if necessary. We should expect the authoritative received text to be as good as an original document, or very nearly, when dealing with the meaning of the accents. When one examines just how carefully the Masoretic Text was preserved, and how even the disagreements among the Masoretes give us such a valuable "paper trail" as to what the accentuation is all about, that faith becomes self-authenticating without ever becoming "blind". There are always new challenges to face in dealing with the evidence, and in so doing, knowledge grows and faith in one's model is confirmed.

Meanwhile, like a good theory, SHV's model passes a very close shave with Occam's Razor. Not every combination of accents found in the manuscripts and printed editions (which arose out of the Masoretes' and grammarians' own model or framework for the accents' meaning) leads to equally felicitous musical results. Not every possible mode within SHV's own model will work within a particular verse or clause. SHV herself had to adjust the modality on some texts, notably the entire Book of Ruth as the maximum test case, as a deeper understanding of the structure of the book became apparent.

On another subject, there is a needless prejudice in our society for "objective" over "subjective" thinking. Carl Jung was wiser. He understood that both are equally valid perspectives of human thought. The only difference is that objective cognitive processes are turned outward, subjective cognitive processes are turned inward - it is not a question of one kind being more reliable or more accurate than the other. The processes have to do with how we take in information and how we then decide based on that information. And we are also biased in our society toward three of the eight or nine intelligences that Howard Gardner has discussed in his model of multiple human intelligences. Again, it is not a question of any of these being superior. Each has its proper role.

To discern the modes in an ancient notation that by its very design demands that one infers the modality (and the te`amim are far from alone in this), one has to make subjective value judgments. That doesn't make such judgments less valuable or less valid than objective value judgments, let alone objective or subjective logical judgments. Value judgments take into account the effect on the person and/or other people. But there's a catch. In the case of subjective value judgments - what the Jungians call Fi or Introverted Feeling - there is a strange connection in the human mind between one's personal values and what are universal values. These two are often mistaken (one reason there is so much religious, political and philosophical confusion in the world). We can come to prefer some musical effects on ourselves, which constitutes our personal taste. But to come to terms with a decipherment like SHV's, one must be willing and able to put such personal preferences aside. One must discern what is really "hard-wired" in the human brain with regard to musical responses (an astonishing amount, as it turns out, far more than in linguistic responses). This is not easy, but it is possible.

SHV listed in her book a number of examples illustrating how modal inferences are made. One is able increasingly to make distinctions between what one prefers by nurture and what one responds to be nature as one works with the material. One might argue over the mode used in Genesis 1:1, for example, but once one comes to verse 2 one may be sure of what mode is used. As one proceeds through the chapter the mode is verified, verse after verse, one melodic-verbal linkage after another. The wrong mode will emphasize important words too little and unimportant words not enough, and thereby give an overall ill-fitting "mood" to the words, not bringing out their meaning. The right mode will emphasize the words properly and the meaning of the whole "leaps out at you". And it helps that in general, a self-contained melodic-verbal text from antiquity had the same mode throughout, with at most the use of accidentals for nuancing. The First Pythian Ode is like that"

Here is a fascinating video by John Wheeler, describing how her alleged reconstruction of the original 3000 year old music of the Hebrew Bible was made possible:

The "accents" were, in fact, representations of hand gestures, which were known to be used in antiquity (e.g. in ancient Egyptian music) to denote both the pitch and the ornamentation of a melody. Such a system of hand gestures is known as "chironomy" - John Wheeler also gives a fascinating series of lectures on this subject:

John Wheeler recently clarified for me, some more details about the mysterious "Te Amim" Biblical notation, and the reasons why these particular accents can be interpreted as the original accents, which preserve the lost reading tradition of the Levites - the musical notation once sung by the Levites in the Temple of Jerusalem.

Before the first appeance of the meticulouly preserved Tiberian "Te Amim" accents in the Hebrew Bible, other accents also appeared, known as the Babylonian & Palastinian accents:

"SHV alludes to the belief by some, when the Tiberian notation first appeared, that it and the Palestinian and Babylonian notations were three different ways of representing the same thing. But how can that be? The other two are more or less unsystematic by comparison, first of all. The Palestinian notation consists of dots, while the Babylonian notation - while more complex and sharing a few of the same signs - doesn't even put the same signs in the same places as the Tiberian notation does.

In the ENCYCLOPEDIA JUDAICA we have typical accent clauses for the Babylonian notation. It seems syntactically consistent enough so that its function in that area is understood. I list the two subsystems on my Web page here. Most are letters and are thought to represent the names of the accents involved. As far as I've ever read, no one understands what these are supposed to represent melodically, especially given the nature of Babylonian Jewish chant. But if I can trust the charts, then their syntactic role is self-evident enough.

The evidence is most consistent with each of these three notations representing three different traditions which may have some common ground. The argument that the Tiberian notation represented the truly ancient and prophetic tradition (and not just a local and synagogal one deriving from an older and purer tradition) couldn't rest on an understanding of its meaning; there was no such thing then. The argument apparently rested ultimately on the notation's source: via the Karaites, heirs of the priestly Elders of Bathyra or Boethusians, who themselves were called "the heirs of the prophets" by the Karaites. Its syntactic clarity - even though it still took several centuries to work out its rules systematically even in that area - must've been persuasive in that direction also. Moshe ben Asher, next-to-last of the Masoretes, mentions both the source and the clarity of the notation in his various discussions of it. Maimonides ultimately accepted the Tiberian accents as authoritative, and the rest of medieval Judaism followed suit. Beyond that, one had to demonstrate what the notation actually meant, and how that it correlates with the words in a way that only something created simultaneously with the words could do. That, of course, was SHV's contribution.

To answer another part of your question: SHV didn't know when she did her work about the other synagogal notations. It wouldn't have mattered if she did. They're considered by all to represent local traditions. Judaism long since accepted the Tiberian notation as the most complete and correct, even if it also accepted it as a notation of local synagogue traditions. One might as well start with the best data base one has.

What SHV did know was the assessment (in a French encyclopedia of music, no less) that the (Tiberian) te'amim were ancient, musical and of unknown meaning. That was the opinion of musicologists specifically. I like to say that in this and several other matters, SHV was led down the right path by sheer serendipity. She didn't have to unlearn almost two millennia of false assumptions about the notation's meaning and origins, and she didn't have to go to what would've been ultimate dead ends first.

It would be interesting for its own sake to discover if the Babylonian notation, at least, presents enough information for an independent decipherment. I've thought about that for some time. But like as not it would be consistent with the structure of Babylonian synagogue chant, which isn't consistent with the structure of the Tiberian notation on a meaningful level beyond very basic syntactic coincidences. And for me or anyone else to attempt an independent decipherment, one would have to have access to all the texts containing the Babylonian notation. No doubt they are published somewhere, or many of them, but the trouble is the Babylonian notation got mixed in with the Tiberian notation after the latter's appearance before being supplanted and the Babylonian notation may not be consistently applied. Just dealing with the complications of variant readings in the Tiberian notation is challenging enough. There again SHV had to have serendipity on her side; Gerard E. Weil directed her not to the BHS text he was editing, but to the Letteris text. And that has got to be the strangest circumstance in the whole history of this thesis"

In summary, from what I understand, the earlier occurence of the Babylonian & Palestinian notations possibly represent respective local traditions of singing (whose original meaning and interpretation is now lost, compounded by the fact that it got mixed up with the later Tiberian notation). This Tiberian "Te Amim" notation (from the Hebrew "ta`am"- "to taste") later added by the Masoretes, has its credentials to Levite antiquity, thanks to it being preserved & handed down by the Karaites: heirs of the priestly Elders of Bathyra or Boethusians.Thus, according to the claims of Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura, the entire Bible was revealed as one immense musical score - the musical legacy once thought forever lost, after the destruction of the Temple, had been rediscovered... 

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE "TE AMIM" ACCENTS - EVIDENCE OF A BIBLICAL LINK BETWEEN THE ANCIENT HEBREWS AND THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS?

If the "Te Amim" accents attached to the entire text of the earliest surviving examples of the Hebrew Bible really do represent Egyptian-style chironomy musical notation, then there is another amazing implication - this could be tantalizing evidence of the link between ancient Egyptian culture, and the ancient Hebrews, as so vividly described throughout the Hebrew Bible!

There are, however, essential differences between ancient Egyptian chironomy, and the chironomy used by the ancient Hebrews, as John Wheeler recently explained to me:

"Egyptian chironomy and the chironomy behind biblical Hebrew chant are based on different scale systems, different hand-gestures, and the presence or absence of the use of fingers and of one or two hands. Egyptian chironomy could use both hands, but rarely is shown to do so. Hebrew chironomy required both hands regularly, according to my model of it. So while Egyptian chironomy could be the technology that inspired Moses' adaptation of the technology to the Hebrew language and liturgical spirit, just as the Tabernacle has clear Egyptian forebears in architectural technology, in neither case is one technology or product thereof the slavish imitation of the other. On the other hand, chironomy was widely known and used in the ancient world and well into the Middle Ages; some places still maintain it in liturgy"

Despite the fact that Egyptian chironomy and Hebrew chironomy differ in subtle details, to me, it is a reasonable assumption that the latter was borrowed and adapted from the former. Indeed, if Moses had the privilege of being educated in Pharaoh's Court during his youth, he certainly would have been trained in learning the ancient Egyptian Art of Chironomy...the Te Amim accents depicting the Hebrew version of chironomy musical notation could have even been put there by Moses himself!


THE PRE-EXISTING INFLUENCE OF EGYPTIAN MUSIC ON CANAANITE MUSICAL CULTURE?

An alternative explanation to account for the ancient Egyptian-based chironomy musical notation (assuming that this is what it actually is!), found in the earliest surviving Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible, may alternatively be explained by the often overlooked Egyptian cultural influence on Canaan, prior to the conquest of Canaan by the ancient Hebrews (or more likely, the gradual infiltration of the Hebrews into Canaan followed by eventual conquest - similar to the infiltration into Egypt by the Canaanite Hyksos at the end of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, c.1650BCE, until their eventual conquest and rule of Lower Egypt for the next century or so) ...

The troubling fact is, that during the proposed traditional historical period when the Biblical Exodus took place (in 19th Dynasty during the reign of Ramses II), the land of Canaan, was, in fact, a Provence of ancient Egypt, firmly under Egyptian control - and indeed, the very reason why Ramses built is city of Pi Ramses where he did, was to maintain this control of Canaan!

This controversial matter of the actual historical era of the Exodus could be discussed in a whole website of its own, but the musical significance is what matters to me here in this discussion...

In the 18th and 19th Dynasties of ancient Egypt, Canaanite slave girls, particularly musicians and dancers, "were a highly valued commodity...The singers of the local Canaanite aristocracy, however, were even more popular" ( p.86, "Music in Ancient Israel/Palestine", Joachim Braun).  This ongoing exchange of musicians, and hence an exchange of musical ideas and musical concepts, between ancient Egypt and the land of Canaan, therefore, may be an alternative eSuzanne Haik-Vantoura the Masoretes preserved was a series of color: #000000; /xplanation of the existence of ancient Egyptian musical notation appearing in the olest surviving Hebrew text of the Bible? 

THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE ORIGINAL 3000 YEAR OLD MUSIC OF THE BIBLE?

This incredible video features Esther Lamandier's beautiful arrangement of Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura 's reconstruction of the original 3000 year old melody once sang to "Song of Songs": 

Chapter 1 - Translation:

1. Shir hashirim asher li-Shlomo:
The Song of Songs which is Solomon's

2 Yishakeni minshikot pihu
Kiss me with kisses from his lips
ki-tovim dodeikha miyayin:
For your eros is better than wine

3. Lereiakh shemaneikha tovim
Because of your attars, very fine,
shemen turak shemekha
Your name is oil pouring
al-ken alamot ahevukha:
So you all ladies are adoring

4. Mashkheni akhareikha narutza
Draw me! After you we will be running!
heviani hamelekhkha darav
My king leading me into his chambers
nagila venismekha bakh
In you we'll have joy and bliss;
nazkirah dodeikha miyayin
Your Eros more than wine compliment.
meisharim ahevukha:
The erect ones are loving you!

5 Shekhorah ani venavah
Dusky am I and glamorous,
benot Yerushalayim
Daughters of Jerusalem
keaholei kedar
like the tents of Kedar;
kiriot Shelomo:
like veils of Solomon.

6 Al-tiruni sheani shekharkhoret
Do not stare at me because I am so Dusky,
sheshezafatni hashamesh
For the Sun has only glanced.
benei imi nikharuvi
Matriarch's sons burned hot on me;
samuni noterah
Made me the vinedresser
et-hakeramim

 THE ORIGINAL 3000 YEAR OLD BIBLICAL SCALES?

My various deductions outlined in my other Blog , "Finding Authentic Tunings For  An Ancient Lyre" (based on surviving Jewish musical modes, still heard today in the both the Synagogue  instrumental Jewish Klezmer, whose origins I deduced may date back to the original musical modes once sang in the Temple of Jerusalem), are also further verifed, by the actual 3000 year old Biblical scales Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura claimed to have discovered during the course of her life's work...

In some of these 3000 year old Biblical melodies, one of the original Biblical scales Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura claimed to have discovered (from which the traditional Jewish Ahava Raba mode is no doubt ultimately derived from), sometimes has either a F natural or an F sharp after the tonic E - the "true" Ahava Raba mode in use today, only has an F natural after the E tonic.

When just the F is used, the resulting musical mode sounds "major" at the bottom end of the scale, yet sounds "minor" at the top end of the scale – 

I now have uploaded two series of totally unique, instructional "online lyre lessons" on my "Klezfiddle1" Youtube Channel!

The replica Kinnor I am playing in all of my Youtube videos is cheaply manufactured by Mid East Ethnic Instruments

Once you have ordered your Kinnor, here are some details about my 2 series of "Online Lyre Lessons":

SERIES 2: 2009-Present

These latest series of unique, instructional lyre lessons, were thankfully recorded with my nice sparkly new, Hi-Definition laptop webcam...a significant improvement on the "Lo Fi" nastiness of my original series of lessons! Here is the first in the series, describing how to set up the Lyre and a few other essential basics:

Here are the links to the other lessons in this series:

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

Lesson 3

Lesson 4

Lesson 5

Lesson 6

Lesson 7 

HOW TO PLAY THE MUSIC OF ANCIENT EGYPT!

Here is my "online lyre lesson", describing how to recreate the actual sounds of  the music of Ancient Egypt! How to improvise on a 3500 year old, Ancient Egyptian, myserious minor pentatonic scale..,

HOW TO PLAY THE MUSIC OF ANCIENT GREECE!

I have also uploaded four online lyre lessons on how to play the music of Ancient Greece!

Here is a step-by-step lesson on how to play the famous "Song of Seikilos" (c.200BCE - 100CE)...the oldest complete song so far found, in HISTORY:

Below is another video, describing how to play another precious remnant of the music of ancient Greece. This haunting, almost dream-like fragment of melody was preserved in ancient Byzantine manuscripts (Conspectus codicum):

V. Venetus Marcianus appl. cl. VI, saec. XIII-XIV
N. Neapolitanus graecus III. C4, saec. XV
F. Florentius Ricc. 41, saec. XVI. 

It was written in the unambiguous alphabetical musical notation used in ancient Greece, & the melodic fragment is catalogued as "Anonymous, Bellermann 97":

A studio quality recording of this piece can be heard on track 11 of my CD album, "An Ancient Lyre"

Below is my lesson on how to play "The First Delphic Hymn To Apollo (c.138BCE):

I recorded "The First Delphic Hymn To Apollo" as track 9 on my album, "An Ancient Lyre"

Finally, here is a lesson on how to play "Hymn to The Muse" (2nd Century CE) by Mesmedes of Crete:

"Hymn To The Muse" can be downloaded as track 10 of my album, "An Ancient Lyre"

HOW TO PLAY MUSIC FROM THE TIME OF THE CRUSADES!

I have also recently discovered, that some examples of Medieval Music, work extremely well, when played on this incredible lyre!

Here is my lesson describing how to play the haunting, 800 year old melody to the famous troubadour song "Ja Nus Hons Pris"...composed by King Richard the Lion Heart, whilst awaiting imprisoned during the Crusades:

SERIES 1: 2007-2008

My first series of lessons, uploaded a few years ago, was a little "Lo Fi"...courtesy of the miserable little "bargain basement" Argos webcam/PC mic I had a few years ago...OY VEY! I had noooo money! ;o) 

NB! A few important points before attempting to follow this series of instructional videos...

1) I got a little bit "muddled" with the actual keys I was describing in the first few lessons - being originally just a humble self-taught Klezmer fiddler, I can only think in terms of Klezmer fiddle key signatures, mostly based around a tonic note of D... and hence I gave the tonic note of the Klezmer modes described, as D instead of E! 

2) I also have recently realised, that I described the Natural Minor Mode as the Harmonic Minor...

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

Lesson 3

Lesson 4

Lesson 5

Lesson 6

Lesson 7

Lesson 8

Lesson 9

Lesson 10

Lesson 11

Lesson 12

Lesson 13 

This little blog explores the  striking similarities, between the Lyre of the Ancient Hebrews, (the Biblical "Kinnor") and the "Kithara" - the Lyre of the Ancient Greeks! 

The Kithara, was the large wooden lyre, favoured by the professional musicians of ancient Greece:

Note the amazing similarity, between this ancient Greek Lyre, and the ancient Hebrew "Kinnor" - the Lyre of of the Ancient Hebrews, as seen here on illustrations found on ancient Jewish coins, from the time of the Simon Bar Kochba Revolt against the Romans in 134CE:

The only physical difference, was that usually, the Kithara had 7 strings, wheras the Kinnor had 10 strings - presumably as a reminder to the ancient Levite musicians in the Temple of Jerusalem who played them, of the 10 Commandments?

I have even experimented in playing ancient Greek music on my replica Lyre of the Ancient Hebrews, and the results are amazing...

 Here is a video describing the ancient lyre-playing techniques I used in my arrangment of "Song of Seikilos"(c.200BCE - 100CE):

Below is another video, featuring my arrangement for lyre, of "The First Delphic Hymn To Apollo"(c.138BCE):

Here is an incredible video I found of ancient Greek music from the 2nd century CE ("Hymn to the Muse", by Mesomedes of Crete), performed by Michael Atherton & Melismos, which features an actual replica of the ancient Greek Kithara, and the similarity between both the sound and the appearance of the Kithara & the Kinnor becomes even more obvious:

Here is my own arrangement of "Hymn to the Muse", performed firstly on an archaic arched harp & in the second video, on my Kithara-style replica Kinnor. In my arrangement, I have also added the accidentals indicated in the ancient Greek alphabetical musical notation of this ancient melody. Accidentals were achieved on the diatonically strung harps & lyres of antiquity, by pressing either the knuckle or nail of the finger of the left hand onto the string, which shortens its length just like a fret on a guitar fingerboard, thus raising the pitch of the string by the required semitone:

THE POSITION OF THE LYRE PLAYER'S LEFT HAND & EVIDENCE FOR THE USE OF HARMONY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD?

I have often read in various musicological articles, that all ancient music was monophonic, with no harmony as we know it today. They claim that the left hand of the lyre player, was simpy used to dampen the strings (just as harp players do today to remove any unwanted sustain), and played no part in adding harmony to the melody being played with the plectrum in the right hand.

However, in my opinion, these statements are not verified by people who have actualy played a lyre! In my extensive experience of gradually mastering the lyre, I have found that, unlike the harp, due to the smaller size of the lyre, there is virtually no unwanted sustain - the left hand, in my opinion, was therefore more likely used to provide basic harmonic accompaniment (as heard in the Michael Atherton video), or else it was used in the "Block and Strum" lyre-playing technique - whereby basic chords/intervals can be strummed on the lyre (just like on an acoustic guitar), by blocking with the left hand, notes not required, and leaving open the strings which are to be stummed.

This ancient string-blocking technique of lyre playing, can still be heard today, in the "Krar" lyre-playing musicians of Eritrea, in East Africa:

 THE "URBAN MYTH" OF THE MONOTONY OF MONOPHONY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD?

The views of certain musicologists in the section mentioned above, that the ancients had no understanding or use of harmony, to me, seems nothing but an "urban myth" spun by the Western World in their relentless efforts to discredit the more "primitive" music of other cultures - a claim which is totally unfounded, and is clearly false, as the incredible video below demonstrates, of complex polyphonic singing by the Aka Pygmies of Central Africa...a culture untainted or otherwise influeced in any way, by the afore mentioned "superior" music of the Western World:

Indeed, some 3400 years ago, Plato himself wrote in detail about Polyphony, as it certainly existed in Ancient Greece, and by inference, presumably most of the ancient world! Here a link to this fascinating subject, in the book by Curt Sachs book, "The Rise of Music in the Ancient World: East and West":

Plato on Polyphony

AN ANCIENT JEWISH SCALE - HEARD IN A FRAGMENT OF AN ANCIENT GREEK MELODY!

I was recently astonished to find evidence of an ancient Jewish scale, still heard today, appearing in a geniuine fragment of ancient Greek Music called "Tecmessa's Lament"! 

This Jewish scale is called the "Misheberakh Mode". This is a variation of the ancient Natural Minor mode, still often heard in instrumental Jewish Klezmer music today, is the basic natural minor scale, but with the addition of an augmented 4th and a whole tone between the 5th and 6th intervals of the scale:

 E F# G A# B C# D E

Here is an example of this scale, as hear in my arangement for lyre, of the Klemzer classic, "Odessa Bulgar":

Here is a video I found, of an orchestral arrangement of the ancient Greek melody, "Techmessa's Lament" - exactly the same intervals of the Jewish "Misheberakh Mode" can be clearly heard! In ancient Greece, this scale was known as the "Chromatic Phrygian Mode":

Coinicidence, or yet more evidence of an ancient cross-cultural exchange of musical ideas?

Finally, another intriguing similarity between the ancient Hebrew Kinnor and the ancient Greek Kinnor (and maybe even the Krar, still played to this day!), is the actual sound of the name of these instruments - it is virtually the same! Again, coincidence, or maybe the similar root of the words of the portable wooden lyres of ancient Greece, the ancient Hebrews, and the the Krar lyre of East Africa, may suggest evidence of yet another example of some ancient cross-cultural connection between these various cultures?

Above is an example of an actual ancient Egyptian harp preserved at the British Museum. This is the finest surviving example of an ancient Egyptian arched wooden harp.

This harp found in the tomb of Thauenany, called Any, in a private cemetery at Qurna (Western Thebes), at the Valley of the Nobles in the necropolis of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, from XVIII Dynasty, c.1534-1296 B.C.

Below is another fine example preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which dates from 1390–1295 B.C.:

Astonishingly, this archaic arched harp from ancient Egypt can still be heard in Africa today! Descendants of the original ancient Egyptian arched harp are to be found throughout the African continent...

THE ADUNGU HARP FROM UGANDA - VIRTUALLY IDENTICAL TO THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ARCHED HARP!

As can be seen in the photographs below, the 9-string Adungu (also known as the Ennanga) is virtually identical to the ancient Egyptian arched harp preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, seen above:

Below are my series of videos featuring this incredibly archaic African harp...

I have recently released a little EP album called  

"The Ancient Egyptian Harp"

 This unique album features original composition in ancient musical modes, performed on my incredibly archaic skin-membrane Ugandan arched harp, complete with natural fibre strings - almost identical to the ornate arched harps of the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt.

Below is a video featuring my first rough recording of track 1, "Ancient Harps of Kemet" (an improvisation on an ancient Egyptian minor pentatonic scale, deciphered from ancient Egyptian musical chironomy gestures by the late Professor Hans Hickmann of the Museum in Cairo):

Below is another video of this incredible harp being played in Uganda. Note that in he Ugandan musical tradition of the Alur people, instead of the bass string being farthest away from the player & the sound-hole of the harp facing the audience (as in all ancient illustrations of ancient Egyptian harpists), the Ugandan Adungu harp is held the other way around, with the sound-hole facing the player. How this change in playing position originated is a fascinating mystery...

Further details can be found at:

http://www.musicuganda.com/musical instruments.htm

THE BOLON BATO HARP FROM WEST AFRICA

The Bolan Bato also seems be be derived from the archaic ancient Egyptian arched harp:

THE SEPREWA HARP FROM GHANA

Another incredible arched harp, this time from Ghana, which also seems to be based upon the ancient Egyptian arched harp:

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN HARP PLAYING TECHNIQUES 

A fascinating article I recently found about the various types of ancient Egyptian harp-playing techniques can be found here 

In my little EP album, "The Ancient Egyptian Harp", I experiement with the ancient Egyptian harp-playing technqique described in this article - of using the left hand to shorten the vibrating length of the string, to create microtones or semitones, in the tracks "Ancient Harps of Kemet" & Hymn to Osiris"