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Selah (/ ˈ s iː l ə (h)/; Biblical Hebrew: סֶלָה, romanized: selā) is a word used 74 times in the Hebrew Bible. Its etymology and precise meaning are unknown, though various interpretations are given. [1] It is probably either a liturgical-musical mark or an instruction on the reading of the text, with the meaning of "stop and listen".
Probably the oldest surviving tradition in Jewish music is the melodies used in chanting readings from the Scriptures. These melodies are denoted by special signs printed above or below each word in the Hebrew Bible, and differ greatly between Jewish communities, though some features found in many traditions suggest a common origin.
Kinnor (Hebrew: כִּנּוֹר kīnnōr) is an ancient Israelite musical instrument in the yoke lutes family, the first one to be mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.. Its exact identification is unclear, but in the modern day it is generally translated as "harp" or "lyre", [2]: 440 and associated with a type of lyre depicted in Israelite imagery, particularly the Bar Kokhba coins.
David Playing the Harp by Jan de Bray, 1670.. Knowledge of the biblical period is mostly from literary references in the Bible and post-biblical sources. Religion and music historian Herbert Lockyer, Jr. writes that "music, both vocal and instrumental, was well cultivated among the Hebrews, the New Testament Christians, and the Christian church through the centuries."
In the words of Peter Gradenwitz, from this period onwards, the issue is "no longer the story of Jewish music, but the story of music by Jewish masters." [ 24 ] Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880), a leading composer of operetta in the 19th century, was the son of a cantor, and grew up steeped in traditional Jewish music.
Ancient Hebrew music, like much Arabic music today, was probably monophonic; that is, there is no harmony. Niebuhr refers to the fact that when Arabs play on different instruments and sing at the same time, almost the same melody is heard from all, unless one of them sings or plays as bass one and the same note throughout.
Abraham Zevi Idelsohn (1882–1938), a professor at Hebrew University, began cataloging all known Jewish music and teaching classes in musical composition; one of his students was a promising cantorial student, Moshe Nathanson, who with the rest of his class was presented by the professor with a slow, melodious, 19th-century chant (niggun or ...
Dayenu page from Birds' Head Haggada. Dayenu (Hebrew: דַּיֵּנוּ , Dayyēnū) is a song that is part of the Jewish holiday of Passover.The word "dayenu" means approximately "it would have been enough," "it would have been sufficient," or "it would have sufficed" (day-in Hebrew is "enough," and -ēnu the first person plural suffix, "to us").