Tuesday, 22 March 2022

Spec for translating Unicode to MusicXML part 2

 Now it's time to deal with each of the te'amim and see their xml output. We have seen 4 examples in the first post here

The silluq translates to this (All the Unicode is here.) The silluq is the pattern for all the changes in reciting note.

<note>
<pitch>
<step>E</step>
<octave>4</octave>
</pitch>
<duration>6</duration>
<voice>1</voice>
<type>quarter</type>
<lyric number="1">
<syllabic>[begin|middle|end]</syllabic>
<text>[syllable of text here]</text>
</lyric>
</note>

The only problem with the silluq is that Unicode does not distinguish silluq from gaya or metheg. These last two, if you can identify them, should be ignored. Because they were invented by the copying process over the last 1000 years as a pronunciation guide for some initial closed syllables. They are not music. This is the only sign that is subject to fuzzy logic. Even Delitzsch says that no one knows the rules for metheg. Lambdin more or less agrees. Gesenius is fantastically complex. But none of these Hebrew teachers was a musician who knew what the signs below the text represented - so they didn't know what they were looking at. The Unicode designers followed the confusion.

The Accents of the Hebrew Bible relating to the Music
Below the text
Recitation Accent name XML output where different from above
c

 ֧

darga
<step>C</step><octave>4</octave>
d

 ֢ ֛

galgal (prose), tevir (poetry)
<step>D</step><octave>4</octave>
e

 ֽ

silluq see above for the pattern for all signs below the text
f

֥ 

merkha
<step>F</step><octave>4</octave>
g

 ֭

tifha, (d’khi)
<step>G</step><octave>4</octave>
A

 ֑

atnah
<step>A</step><octave>5</octave>
B

֣ 

munah
<step>E</step><octave>5</octave>
C

 ֚

mahpakh, (yetiv)
<step>C</step><octave>5</octave>
dm

 ֦

double merkha, kefulah == merkha above
The ornaments above the text require that the program 'follow' the music and shape the ornament. A good example is the qadma - I will say more about the parameters in the next post.

 ֙


<note><pitch><step>[reciting note]</step>
<octave>[reciting note]</octave></pitch>
<duration>3</duration>
<voice>1</voice>
<type>eighth</type>
<notations><slur type="start" number="1"/></notations>
<lyric number="1"><syllabic>[begin|middle|end]</syllabic>
<text>him</text></lyric>
</note>
<note><pitch><step>[reciting note + 1]</step>
<octave>[of reciting note + 1]</octave></pitch>
<duration>3</duration>
<voice>1</voice>
<type>eighth</type>
<notations><slur type="stop" number="1"/></notations>
</note>
The resulting music is like this:
The third syllable with qadma


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