Editing Psalms (section)

==The ancient music of the Psalms==
The Psalms were written not merely as poems, but as songs for singing. According to Bible exegete [[Saadia Gaon]] (882–942) who served in the [[geonate]] of Babylonian Jewry, the Psalms were originally sung in the [[Temple Mount|Temple precincts]] by the [[Levites]], based on what was prescribed for each psalm (lineage of the singers, designated time and place, instruments used, manner of execution, etc.), but are permitted to be randomly read by anyone at any time and in any place.{{sfn|Saadia|2010|p=33}} More than a third of the psalms are addressed to the Director of Music. Some psalms exhort the worshipper to sing (e.g. Pss. 33:1-3; 92:1-3; 96:1-3; 98:1; 101:1; 150). Some headings denote the musical instruments on which the psalm should be played (Pss. 4, 5, 6, 8, 67). Some refer to the Levites who sang one of eight melodies, one of which was known simply as "the eighth" ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: ''sheminit'') (Pss. 6, 12).{{sfn|Saadia|2010|pp=61, 70}} And others preserve the name for ancient eastern modes, like ''ayelet ha-shachar'' (hind of the dawn; Ps. 22); ''shoshanim'' / ''shushan'' (''lilies'' / ''lily''; Pss. 45; 60), said to be describing a certain melody;{{sfn|Saadia|2010|pp=127-28, 150}} or ʻalmuth / ''ʻalamoth'' (''mute'';<ref>According to Saadia, the word is derived from the Hebrew root {{Script/Hebrew|אלם}}, signifying a "mute," or person who cannot speak. Although the word {{Script/Hebrew|עלמות}} as spelt in the psalm is with the Hebrew character ''ʻayin'' ({{Script/Hebrew|ע}}), and the Hebrew word for "mute" is spelt with the Hebrew character ''aleph'' ({{Script/Hebrew|א}}), the two letters are interchangeable.</ref> Pss. 9, 46), which, according to Saadia Gaon, is "a silent melody, nearly inaudible."{{sfn|Saadia|2010|pp=65, 130}}

Despite the frequently heard view that their ancient music is lost, the means to reconstruct it are still extant. Fragments of temple psalmody are preserved in ancient synagogue and church chant, particularly in the ''[[tonus peregrinus]]'' melody to Psalm 114.<ref>Werner, The Sacred Bridge (New York: Columbia University Press, 1957) 419, 466.</ref> [[Cantillation]] signs, to record the melody sung, were in use since ancient times; evidence of them can be found in the manuscripts of the oldest extant copies of Psalms in the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] and are even more extensive in the [[Masoretic text]], which dates to the [[Early Middle Ages]] and whose Tiberian scribes claimed to be basing their work on temple-period signs. (See Moshe ben Asher's 'Song of the Vine' colophon to the Codex Cairensis).<ref>For discussion on the origins and antiquity of the Masoretic cantillation, see D.C. Mitchell, ''The Songs of Ascents'' (Campbell: Newton Mearns 2015): 122-137.</ref>

Several attempts have been made to decode the Masoretic cantillation, but the most "successful" is that of [[Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura]] (1928–2000) in the last quarter of the 20th century.<ref>S. Haïk-Vantoura, ''La musique de la Bible révélée'' (Robert Dumas: Paris, 1976); ''Les 150 Psaumes dans leurs melodies antiques'' (Paris: Fondation Roi David, 1985).</ref> Her reconstruction assumes the signs represent the degrees of various musical scales – that is, individual notes – which puts it at odds with all other existing traditions, where the signs invariably represent melodic motifs; it also takes no account of the existence of older systems of notation, such as the [[#Babylonian system|Babylonian]] and [[#Palestinian system|Palestinian]] systems. Musicologists have therefore rejected Haïk-Vantoura's theories, with her results dubious, and her methodology flawed.<ref>Dalia Cohen and Daniel Weill. "Progress in Deductive Research on the Original Performance of Tiberian Accents (Te'amim)." ''Proceedings of the Ninth World Conference of Jewish Studies'', Division D, Vol. II (Jerusalem, 1986): 265–80; cf. also, e.g., the review by P.T. Daniels, ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'', Vol. 112, No. 3 (Jul.–Sep., 1992), p. 499.</ref> In spite of this, Mitchell has repeatedly defended it, showing that, when applied to the Masoretic cantillation of Psalm 114, it produces a melody recognizable as the ''tonus peregrinus'' of church and synagogue.<ref>D.C. Mitchell, ''The Songs of Ascents: Psalms 120 to 134 in the Worship of Jerusalem's temples'' (Campbell: Newton Mearns 2015); 'Resinging the Temple Psalmody', ''JSOT'' 36 (2012) 355–78; 'How Can We Sing the Lord's Song?' in S. Gillingham (ed.), ''Jewish and Christian Approaches to the Psalms'' (Oxford University Press, 2013) 119–133.</ref> Mitchell includes musical transcriptions of the temple psalmody of Psalms 120–134 in his commentary on the Songs of Ascents.