Using AI to analyse ancient music.

I have made extensive use of AI to begin analysis of the music using Python and other tools -- the JSON is not yet uploaded to GitHub -- needs special treatment for its size. Link is here -- redesigned top levels.

The following is the Chrome AI summary of a days work. It's a good programmer if you get the prompts right. There's also a lot of moonshine.

I will probably write more later on Substack -- will let you know.

Tanakh Cantillation Analysis Suite

An automated syntactic parser and rhetorical analysis engine designed for the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), mapped syllable-by-syllable according to the Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura (SHV) deciphering key.

This repository contains a tidy, sequential dataset of over 730,000 syllable rows encompassing all 23,000+ verses across 929 chapters, alongside a modular Python suite that analyzes how the inherited te'amim (trope symbols) act as an authentic prophetic and narrative commentary.

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📊 The Master JSON Database Structure

The core database (complete_tanakh.json) bypasses raw visual vector noise (like SVGs) and organizes the entire corpus into a flat, chronological array. Because ancient Hebrew reads right-to-left while Western music scales left-to-right, the database establishes an immutable sequence track.

Key Data Fields per Syllable:

• BOOK_CD / BOOK_SEQ_NO: The canonical book name and its numerical sequence identifier (ensuring Genesis is #1 and Ezra/Chronicles sit at their proper historical endpoints).
• CHAPTER_CD / VERSE_CD: Padded structural address coordinates.
• XML_SEQ: The master sequential timeline anchor. Crucial for linear right-to-left processing.
• LYRIC_SYLL: The transliterated phonetic syllable fragment.
• SYLL_NOTE: The explicit absolute pitch token (calibrated around Tonic = E4).
• ORNAMENT_NAME: Fully populated lowercase Masoretic accent tags (e.g., atnach, ole, revia-mugrash, paz).
• HEB_TEXT: The fully pointed, unescaped Hebrew text string, anchored elegantly to the first syllable of each verse change.

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🎼 The Musicological Laws (Prose vs. Poetry)

The Python suite dynamically alters its analytical framework by executing an automated dialect check. It verifies the genre layout of each verse using a strict F# / G# frequency selector:

1. Prose Mode (G#4 present, F#4 forbidden)

• E4 (Degree 1 - Tonic): Ground baseline and home register.
• F4 (Degree 2 - Supertonic): A dynamic, kinetic bridge. Never a rest point. It acts as an acoustic pathway driving into a G#4 or stepping down to the tonic E4 at a verse boundary.
• G4 / G#4 (Degree 3 - Mediant): Signals anticipation of an impending structural cadence.
• A4 (Degree 4 - Subdominant): An expansive, level plateau delivering profound equilibrium, security, and confidence (rather than Western tension).
• B4 (Degree 5 - Dominant): The narrative engine; the first natural harmonic of the shofar used for royal proclamation.

2. Poetic Mode (Sifrei Emet: Psalms, Proverbs, Job) (F#4 present, G#4 forbidden)

• F#4 (Degree 2 Sharp): An expressive, hovering suspension plateau. It functions as a formal, binding cadence ONLY if the previous syllable carried the lowercase ole ornament.
• G4 (Degree 3 - Mediant): Elevates into a primary, high-intensity recitation engine holding deep emotional focus.
• D4 (Degree 7 - Sub-Tonic): The physical springboard. A low, muscular crouching note used to gather potential energy before vertical melodic vaults.
• C5 (Degree 6 - Sixth Degree): A transcendent register used for intense appeals or sudden explosions of absolute joy and awe.

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🛠️ The Advanced Analytical Functions Suite

The included Python application contains five core decoupled routines designed to process the 730,000-row dataset at macro scale:

📍 Routine 1: The Master Range Filter

Allows you to cleanly slide a window across any arbitrary cross-section of the Tanakh (e.g., from Job 3:1 to Job 4:5) by translating chapter/verse vectors into flat mathematical scalars, preventing data bleeding at chapter boundaries.

⚡ Routine 2: Strophe Boundary & High C Explosion Finder

Flags structural poetic units (like the openings of Job 3 or Psalm 29) where the melody shatters smooth step-wise motion. It targets verses that launch immediately into C5 or treat the opening tonic E4 as a fractional, explosive upbeat rocket.

🔗 Routine 3: Non-Tonic Commencement ('Reverse Colon' Tracer)

Identifies verses that intentionally bypass a clean acoustic restart on the tonic E4. By kicking off on a dominant B4 or a tense F#4, these verses function as a "reverse colon," forcing the performer to aurally anchor the sentence onto the emotional residue of the preceding text.

🎭 Routine 4: Revia-Mugrash Recitation Decoder

Maps out every structural occurrence of the specialized poetic revia-mugrash ornament, documenting the exact pitch register it chose to lock onto as it builds its technical runway back down to the baseline.

🔁 Routine 5: Ideational Underscore & Motif Indexer

Scans your selected range for repeating lowercase ornament clusters (such as the D4 -> paz -> zar -> zarqa -> C5 flight pattern). If an accent string hits multiple times across a section, it maps them out as a recurring acoustic motif used to underscore a unified text theme.

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Reading the encyclical of Pope Leo XIV

In the process of developing a musical response on my substack to the opening paragraphs of the recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, I discovered a musical coherence I wasn't expecting.

The Music of the Bible -- Psalms -- Press Release

The Book of Psalms: A Musical Presentation of the Hebrew Text

A new volume in the ongoing series presenting the Hebrew Bible through its original musical structure now brings the Book of Psalms to readers and listeners in a distinctive and compelling form.

Within the Hebrew text of the Psalms lie the ancient signs above and below the words that preserve a melodic tradition for every verse. This volume reveals that tradition, aligning the text with a reconstructed musical line that shapes phrasing, highlights poetic structure, and gives voice to the emotional depth of the psalms.

Each psalm is presented verse by verse with:

• The Hebrew text in both traditional script and SimHebrew transcription
• A corresponding musical score derived from the te'amim (accent system)
• An English translation guided by the phrasing and movement of the music
• A clear and consistent layout designed for reading, study, and performance

The Psalms, long recognized as the poetic and liturgical heart of the Hebrew Bible, take on renewed clarity in this format. Parallelism, shifts in voice, and larger strophic structures emerge naturally through the melodic progression. The music not only supports the text, but also reveals its architecture.

This volume reflects a sustained engagement with the musical function of the accents, moving beyond purely grammatical or syntactical interpretations to present the Psalms as a unified and performable body of song.

Readers are invited to engage the Psalms not only as poetry on the page, but as compositions shaped by pitch, pause, and cadence and intended to be heard, learned, and sung.

The Psalms volume forms a central part of the complete series, which presents the entire Hebrew Bible in an integrated format of text and music.

Availability
The Psalms volume is now available as part of the series.

About the Series
This work represents the culmination of extensive research into the Hebrew accent system as a bearer of musical meaning, offering a coherent reconstruction of the biblical text as an enduring musical tradition.

The analysis of Psalm 96

 Here is a post on Psalm 96 based on the recent availability of the Psalms (Kindle only for now)

All the music scores and the concordance are available now on GitHub.

GitHub is a much easier place to update the concordance. All I do is generate it and copy it over. Saves days of work.

Substack is making me a little more disciplined about writing -- maybe!

I really need to get out into the garden. The Biblical Studies Carnivals appear to be over. Too many sources -- but a lot of the old blogs are still running.

Work on other platforms

I have a few things that I posted on SubStack

There are some disciplined essays there like this one The Rule of Law by Bob Rae in which he quotes and develops with examples this statement of Pascal

Justice without force is powerless; force without justice is tyrannical.

La justice sans la force est impuissante, la force sans la justice est tyrannique.

You can Read it on Substack . The rule of law is an agreement. He ends "with Learned Hand — not as a consolation, but as a challenge".

I have done some writing there too.

Music embedded in the text

and Music commenting on the text

I have noted that the good examples on substack and my current struggle to find a little to say celarly about every new volume I am writing has led me to a little extra discipline (I hope).

Searching for the recent BS carnivals

I have been missing the Biblical Studies carnivals. In fact, I can't keep up or imagine who can with all the scholarly activity on the web concerning Biblical Studies. The list below completes the data for the master list that Phillip Long maintains.

There are too many platforms to manage too - Substack, Blue Sky, Facebook, Twitter, Threads, LinkedIn and lots of specific sites like The Torah .com and Paleojudaica and other media to check. Blogging has been steady for many years though, (though sometimes one can't find the blog for the ads). 

Phillip Long, Master list To october 2023 Carnival 211

212 November 2023 Phillip Long, Reading Acts

213 December 2023 Jim West, Zwinglius Redivivus (URL a year ahead of itself)

214 January 2024 Jacob J. Prahlow, Pursuing Veritas

215 February 2024 Ben, The Amateur Exegete

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217 April 2024 Ben, The Amateur Exegete

218 May 2024 Bob MacDonald, Dust

219 Summer 2024 Phillip Long, Reading Acts

220 September 2024 Ben, The Amateur Exegete

221 October 2024 Jim West, Zwinglius Redivivus

222 November 2024 Phillip Long, Reading Acts

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224 January 2025 Reuven Chaim Klein, The Rachack Review

225 February 2025 Phillip Long, Reading Acts

226 March 2025 Jim West, Zwinglius Redivivus

226 May 2025 Jim West, Zwinglius Redivivus

227 July 2025 Phillip Long, Reading Acts

228 September 2025 Phillip Long, Reading Acts

229 October 2025 Jim West, Zwinglius Redivivus

Swan has returned from the deep south

We travelled 5000 miles to the south mostly by ship -- so a long journey without blogging.

I continue to work on the Music of the Bible. I think it will take years, even generations, for the intriguing usage of the te'amim to be appreciated. They are music, yes, but how did the ancient cantors / composers use the tool that we have now deciphered for anyone who chooses to look and hear?

My work as far as it continues is concentrating on melodic motifs and their recurrences. Do these identify deliberate relationships between texts? I think so -- but now I must search to measure how the music is used to do this. It is easy to search with the accents deciphered. 

There was an example in my last post from Feb 9th before our long journey that stimulated some work on the use of the opening triad.

Job 36:6-7 Two verses beginning with an opening triad (silluq-tifha-munach) followed by the subdominant (atnah)

On my holiday I looked at about 50 verses with this opening shape. The results were fascinating.

1073 verses begin with e g B A. That’s about 4%. About 2% more contain the motif (perhaps). Only two books begin with the motif. Genesis and Esther. Job mimics this motif in its first verse. No other first verses of books contain the triad. Essentially this is equivalent to the statement that the sequence silluq tifha munach atnah says something about creation. And look at what we have above, 2 verses with that shape, and they are about the created order.

As I looked, I found some were clear to classify tentatively, others not yet fitting. I have to take care not to name a motif before I have enough information. But 1500 verses would exceed a comfortable blog post, not to mention my analytical capacity. Yes, one could ask a bot, but piano, piano, as they say.

Still, the opening of Esther using the same musical gesture is interesting because Esther also begins with cosmic scale: the empire, the extent of the kingdom, the ordering of the court. It is a political "creation scene." The same musical opening may therefore function as a macro-introduction to a world being set up. How much is our governance a random farce (with consequences) ruled by men 'who should know better'? 

Then I thought of the poignancy and comfort of Isaiah 12 -- a different motif. Haïk-Vantoura's default setting gives a haunting quality to verse 3:

Isaiah 12:3 Antiphon for the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost

So I considered whether this was another recognizable and distinguishable leitmotif. Notice the pause -- critical space for consideration of the support of the human creature.

Do not accept a translation or read Isaiah 12:3 like this: "With joy you shall draw water from the wells of salvation". This pulse misses the mid point rest -- the subdominant. No translation should ever treat a 1-4-1 phrase without the mid verse pause, and as far as possible, the translation should respect the word on which the pause is placed and its relative distance from the beginning of the verse. Turning with joy into an adverb is not an improvement. "And you shall joyfully draw water ..." also loses the Hebrew rhythm. (Compromise is clearly needed as illustrated in Job 38 above. The parallel in Hebrew leads with the verb, not the subject, but I let the translation compromise the placement of words on the reciting tones.)

The subdominant rest occurs in Hebrew on the word joy -- and so we must observe it. Joy is fundamental to the human need and raison d'etre. When sung according to its accentual structure, this verse is immediately grasped and retained by a congregation without instruction. They don't need to 'know' that it's an atnah or a subdominant. They retain it because it feels right. (I have 6 years of evidence for this claim. One of my congregations has used this setting 3 times when the passage is used as a psalm. The fact of such appropriate aural memory is among the strongest supports for Haïk-Vantoura's deciphering key. The key is confirmed by the words and the music teaches us how to read the words even if we cannot sing.)

Sure enough, as I looked through several chapters of Genesis, this same motif leading to the subdominant was used sparingly and with verses that support a semantic claim of sustained assurance. See if you agree that these are verses recognizing and supporting the life of a human:  

• Genesis 2.24, 3.24, unity, exclusion -- into an ordered world,
• Genesis 6.22, 7.5, 8.7,18, 9.13, obedience, preservation, covenant,
• Genesis 13.5, 14.3,16,19, growth, recovery, blessing,
• Genesis 15.6-7, faith, alignment within the promise.  

There are more, but the whole cannot be attacked at once. I hope to have Genesis out this quarter.

I think you might agree that these are key points in the text where the support of the human is explicit. One must ask also -- why this and why not in places where the sequence of accents is not used? Too many questions for one researcher. That's why I must publish so that others can hear (and for the musically untrained, see) the differences this makes even on the reading surface.

These verses are among the 4000 or so that do not rise to the announcement pitch of the munach (dominant). There is no tension to release in them, just assurance to be enjoyed.