Mercha-tifha/dehi table -- rarely used reciting notes in the 3 books

 This exercise has taught me a great deal about these signs above and below the text. I should continue to pursue the more frequent examples, and particularly taking the tables constructed through the various possible modes. Perhaps I would learn some clue as to how to guess the mode.

Selections from [f#] Proverbs 30:9, Psalms 1:1, 4:3, 118:25,
[g] Job 11:13, Proverbs 8:13, Psalms 109:16

The table of frequencies shows that all 9 of the ornaments that are used in the three books occur on the mercha. This accounts for recitations on about 20% of the 4,447 verses in the poetry. The recitation on g in contrast is about 0.5%. The illuy seems to occur on phrases with a strongly negative statement and a word underscored. So far in Haïk-Vantoura's manuscripts, she never takes the voice up to the high G when the reciting note is C. In fact she rejects the high G as "aiming the voice at non-habitual heights". (p 342)

16 ♪~ in that he did not remember to do mercy, but he persecuted persons poor and needy, the downcast of heart to put to death.
טז י֗ען אש֤ר ל֥א זכר֮ עש֪ות ח֥סד וירד֡ף איש־ענ֣י ו֭אביון ונכא֨ה לב֬ב למותֽת	28		Tz iyn awr la zcr ywot ksd virdof aiw-yni vabion vncah lbb lmott

Mercha-tifha table of rarely used accent combinations

The more I work with my tables, the higher my confidence that I have found all my errors. So I will now look at the reciting notes, merkha and d'khi / tifha that rarely host ornaments.

My statistics (updated yet again) all assume the default mode. In the 21 books, f (mercha) is often immediately followed by g#. Mercha occurs in 88% of the verses of the 21 books, but in most of them (80%) it is immediately followed by g#. That confines the verses for recitation on f to 3,829 verses out of 18,720 in the 21 books. 

We already have encountered one such verse in the table of rarely used accent, tarsin. I have called on the verse from 2 Samuel 19 again for this mercha-tifha table. 

Another verse, Deuteronomy 5:7 briefly uses an accent while the recitation is on f in a very complex fashion. 

7 ♪B Not it is for you: other gods over my presence.
ז ל֣א יהי֥ה לך֛֩ אלה֥֨ים אחר֖֜ים על־פנֽ֗י	15		z la ihih lç alohim akrim yl-pnii

Deuteronomy 5:7 

Here you see three syllables each containing two accents. I know there are other explanations for this feature, but it occurs in other places than the decalogue and the deciphering key handles multiple accents on a word or syllable just fine. 

And I chose at random a verse from Jeremiah out of the thousands. He uses mercha, reciting note f, to great effect for his 'woe is me' verse.

19 ♪f Woe to me over my brokenness. My defeat is ill. And I, I said, Surely this is my illness, and I must bear it.
יט א֥וי לי֙ על־שבר֔י נחל֖ה מכת֑י ואנ֣י אמ֔רתי א֛ך ז֥ה חל֖י ואשאֽנו	11 15		iT aoi li yl-wbri nklh mcti vani amrti aç zh koli vawanu

Jeremiah 10:19a

There's still more to do -- find the verse with the zarqa -- then we could almost call this a zarqa table (but I didn't). The verse is 2 Samuel 3:8 and what do you know, but there is the zarqa and the tsinnor on the same word! Double accents are found not just in the Decalogue.

from 2 Samuel 3:8

Now all I need is a revia, an azla, (both provided by Joshua 20:12) and a telisha gedolah (2 Chronicles 20:12 is the only one) to complete the mercha series. And a qadma, a tsinnor and a pashta to complete the tifha series. These last few are coming from the Decalogue again. 

I think I can see why the training in this music would occupy several years as Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura writes.

Mercha Tifha table for the 21 books
selections from 2 Samuel 19:12, Deuteronomy 5:7, Jeremiah 10:19,
2 Chronicles 20:12 Joshua 17:2, Deuteronomy 5:12

 

Piling on of accents - even two on one syllable

 This exercise has been exhausting. I have a greater respect than before of just how hard it must be to copy a manuscript. Admittedly, I am juggling many technologies and sometimes they trip themselves up, but I am astonished at how many errors I can make myself without any help.

Here's a table that incidentally shows how Haïik-Vantoura's system can handle the piling on of accents on a single syllable in 2 Kings 17:13. The word 'turn' has a geresh superimposed on a telisha gedolah. Perhaps this is the origin of more extensive melismatic passages. And the music handles it even if it is typographically difficult to read. It looks like a smudge over the shin of wubu.

the piling on of accents on a single syllable in 2 Kings 17:13

13 And Yahweh testified in Israel and Judah by means of every prophet, every visionary, saying, Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments, my statutes, according to all the instruction that I commanded your ancestors, and that I sent to you by means of my servants, the prophets.
יג וי֣עד יהו֡ה בישרא֣ל וביהוד֡ה ביד֩ כל־נביא֨י כל־חז֜ה לאמ֗ר ש֝֠בו מדרכיכ֤ם הֽרעים֙ ושמרו֙ מצות֣י חקות֔י ככ֨ל־התור֔ה אש֥ר צו֖יתי את־אבֽתיכ֑ם וֽאשר֙ של֣חתי אליכ֔ם בי֖ד עבד֥י הנביאֽים	57 17		ig viyd ihvh biwral ubihudh bid cl-nbiai cl-kozh lamor wubu mdrcicm hryim vwmru mxvotii kuqotii ccl-htorh awr xivviti at-aboticm vawr wlkti alicm bid ybdii hnbiaim

Here's a table of selected accents from Zephaniah 1:10a, an example of a common sequence of accents on the same reciting note occurring in 374 verses of the 21 books, and two words from the above verse, saying and turn.

A table of selected accents from Zephaniah 1:10 and 2 Kings 17:13

Here's the data for Zephaniah 1:10.

10 And it will be on that day, an oracle of Yahweh, the voice of an outcry from the fish-gate and of torment from the second, and a great shattering from the hillocks.
י והיה֩ בי֨ום הה֜וא נאם־יהו֗ה ק֤ול צעקה֙ מש֣ער הדג֔ים וֽילל֖ה מן־המשנ֑ה וש֥בר גד֖ול מהגבעֽות	28 9		i vhih biom hhua naum-ihvh qol xyqh mwyr hdgim villh mn-hmwnh vwbr gdol mhgbyot

Zephaniah 1:10

Learning, learning, learning -- the tarsin table

I have updated the previous post on the accents (for the nth time). Even if one concentrates on just one set of names and functions for the te'amim, the result is very complex. Identifying the statistics with reasonable accuracy (and I now think I am closer than I was two weeks ago) is a necessary precursor to imagining how to teach and promote the concept. This is not Bach, but it is music of significant expressive power. 

So my next step and perhaps the last in this set of posts is to create a series of 'zarqa' tables that introduce selected sequences. One problem, even with only 8 fundamental accents and 18 or 19 subordinate ornaments, there are still 16,298 distinct sequences among the verses -- that's too many for a single lesson.

The first could be the table for tarsin:

Tarsin, the only ornament that appears governed by low c

And here is its table:

brought to you by Ezra 6:9, 2 Chronicles 13:5, 2 Samuel 19:12, Ezra 10:14 and 2 Chronicles 24:27 (2 instances including the one on c).

Now we're learning --- the Tarsin table

Every ornament could have its own table. But there are also frequent doubling and tripling of ornaments, so more shrewdness is required. We must also separate the 21 from the 3 books. This is a bit like preparing for return to school -- something on lots of minds in the northern hemisphere.

Table of ornaments and recurrence for each reciting note (updated)

There's no substitute for various approaches to testing. I refreshed my shortcuts to the tests and redesigned the following table and found a few bugs as well-- so it is more complete and probably more accurate. (I had some Hebrew new testament in the data that I forgot to exclude, and I had not separate azla from geresh and geresh muqdam - and I separated tsinnor from zarqa as well.)

I also added the governing reciting note and the governed ornament in their Hebrew shapes to aid memorization. Now I may be able to produce some sample zarqa tables that will cover some high frequency usage of the ornaments. 

Table of ornaments and recurrence for each reciting note 

– arranged by usage in descending order and by book group.

	Governs the pitch→		darga-c (21)	yerah / tevir -d	silluq-e	merkha-f(21)	merkha-f#(3)	d'khi-g(3)	tifha-g#(21)	atnah-A	munah-B	yetiv/ mahpakh-C
	Governed↓		֧	֛ ֪	ֽ	֥	֥	֭	֖	֑	֣	֤ ֚
24	revia	֗	0	6	2,859	4	330	15	0	922	6,085	347
	qadma	֨	0	6	3,594	11	29	4	3	1,480	2,000	382
	zarqa	֘	0	6	53	1	16	1	0	9	8	50
	tsinnor	֮	0	5	390	44	53	0	2	0	699	42
	pazer	֡	0	37	335	0	15	0	0	103	415	8
	shalshelet	֓	0	0	12	0	2	0	0	26	0	7
21	zaqef-qatan	֔	0	0	3,500	256			0	561	19,840	5,519
	pashta	֙	0	6	5,494	563			8	1,932	2,242	12,507
	azla	֜	0	3	2,411	2			3	744	994	31
	tarsin (gereshaim)	֞	1	2	992	1			0	329	383	34
	telisha qetana	֩	0	6	895	4			0	298	688	18
	zaqef-gadol	֕	0	0	538	7			0	495	628	144
	telisha gedolah	֠	0	1	243	1			0	193	577	23
	segol	֒	0	0	152	18			0	2	822	0
	qarne farah	֟	0	14	2	0			0	0	0	0
3	revia-mugrash	֝֗		0	171		1,111	0		1,725	0	2
	ole	֫		170	132		93	0		0	1	22
	illuy	֬		3	88		5	4		4	0	87

I raised the question a week ago of which ornaments are used on which reciting notes. This table allows is to examine that question and ask a few more about the logic of the music derived from Haïk-Vantoura's deciphering key. Why are some reciting notes preferred? Why are some ornaments used more than others?

Working from the left: Darga is only once followed by any sign above the text. So ornaments almost never occur when c is the reciting note. So what follows darga? Most of the time (2,484) tevir follows darga. 314 times silluq, 249 times, munach, 14 times mercha or double mercha. Low c seems to be an uncomfortable reciting note.

It's not surprising that f and g# (in the default mode for the prose books) are lower usage reciting notes since they are pivotal to the approach to the atnah. The f# (in the default mode for the poetry books) is a slightly higher usage. Psalm 1 sets the tone for this use of mercha as a reciting note.

The high usage reciting notes are e, A, B, and C. c occurs in about 13% of verses; d 31%, e occurs in all verses; f/f# in 83%; g/g# 94%; A occurs in 93%; B 82%; C 45%. It's clear that the qadma and zaqef-qatan are heavily used to phrase the prose verses.

Here's an example illustrating a typical if not often used (117 times in the 21 books) approach to the atnah, the rest point in the verse. The same approach is used in the following verse, one that is filled with comfort, illustrating the consolation from God. The approach to the rest note uses only accents below the text. But the recitation on the rest note is filled with comfort. The proclamation on the dominant, even if silent, is joyful.

Zephaniah 3:17

Here is the zarqa table for this verse.

Zarqa table for a verse with primary recitation on atnah and munach

17 Yahweh, your God is within you. One who prevails will save. He will joy over you with gladness. He will be silent in his love. He will rejoice over you with a loud shout.
יז יהו֧ה אלה֛יך בקרב֖ך גב֣ור יוש֑יע יש֨יש על֜יך בשמח֗ה יחריש֙ בא֣הבת֔ו יג֥יל על֖יך ברנֽה	14 24		iz ihvh alohiiç bqrbç gibor iowiy iwiw yliiç bwmkh ikriw bahbto igil yliiç brinh

It seems to me that the music fits the text well.