Checking in

You haven't heard from me for a while because I am weeding in the garden or working on a book or taking care of things for others. Or walking the dog.

But I'm still here and very interested in presenting the work of Mme. Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura in what seems a time when more people are interested in her work.

The problem in presenting her work is three-fold - one needs people who can read Hebrew, English, and music. So I have been looking for ways of presenting that improve on my shortcuts. One thing I have determined is to cut out the grammatical explanations. Then I also have to cut out the technical stuff -- Oracle, MusicXML, errors in the Scriptural text and translation issues -- always on my mind.

How can I do it! I was reading Psalm 19 and not expecting yet another set of errors in the Westminster codex -- but I found some.

Here's the text: English on top spanning columns, then Hebrew with the music only, [look how easy it is to learn to sight read the music] and then the SimHebrew -- SimHebrew is a very useful tool for learning Hebrew and reading it left to right -- that way in a book you can point things out to others who go blind when reading square text. I know the feeling -- reading multiple languages in a book when you don't know them well. (Syllable counts are still there, but no automated grammar.)

5 In all the earth their line has gone out, and to the extremity of the world their speech. For the sun he pitched a tent in them.
ה בכל־הא֨רץ י֘צ֤א קו֗ם ובקצ֣ה ת֭בל מליה֑ם ל֝ש֗מש שֽם־א֥הל בהֽם	17 8		h bcl-harx ixa qvvm ubqxh tbl milihm lwmw wm-aohl bhm
6 And he as bridegroom going forth from his canopy, joys as one who prevails racing on a path.
ו וה֗וא כ֭חתן יצ֣א מחפת֑ו יש֥יש כ֝גב֗ור לר֥וץ אֽרח	11 9		v vhua cktn ioxa mkupto iwiw cgibor lrux aork
7 From an extreme of the heavens its going forth, and its circuit to their extremities, and there is no hiding from its heat.
ז מקצ֤ה השמ֨ים מֽוצא֗ו ותקופת֥ו על־קצות֑ם וא֥ין נ֝סת֗ר מֽחמתו	16 8		z mqxh hwmiim moxao utqupto yl-qxotm vain nstr mkmto

Here's the generated music for the first part of verse 7

Psalm 19 verse 7 to the atnah -- why is there a little line under the first syllable of the third word?

The silluq on מֽוצא֗ו is simply wrong. There is no need for two accents on this word. And the lowering of the tone of voice is slightly off for the joy of the words. So I checked Aleppo and sure enough, that silluq-look-alike is not there. 

image capture of Aleppo on mgketer.org -- copy and paste not supported

Here's what the music should be.

Psalm 19 verse 7a corrected

Anyone using the deciphering key of Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura as a source for arrangements -- take care that you check your initial data against the Aleppo codex. The site I know is only in Hebrew. I wish they would make a routine available to generate the music directly from their text.