Book 5 - Psalms 137 to 150

This is the last data dump for the moment. It's a lot of data to analyse and yet it is insufficient.

We have been pointed to a few clues in this long set of posts: 

• one is that the interval e to B and B to e are more frequent in the music of the poetry than in the music of the prose books. We could possibly ask about other intervals.
• Another is that the tenor hasn't told us much yet. The pair of words, tenor and ambitus, which apply nicely to a single reciting note for plainsong, do not apply so simply to a musical framework with 6 or 7 commonly used reciting pitches in each psalm.

Is it possible that with the destruction of the temples in Jerusalem, the complexity of their musical system was too much to carry on with only aural transmission and without a school.

The deciphering of the notation certainly allows for us to recreate a tradition -- would it be beautiful? Would it really be time-travel or just something new - with a set of restrictions that few musicians would want to experiment with?

f#
PSALM	Syllables	d	e	f#	g	A	B	C
137	181	5.52	19.34	28.73	9.39	17.68	5.52	13.81	By the rivers of Babel - there we sat, yea we wept, when we remembered Zion.
g
138	181	4.97	18.23	20.99	22.10	12.71	14.92	6.08	Of David. I will give you thanks with all my heart. Before gods I will sing you a psalm.
A
139	429	1.17	18.18	20.98	13.29	25.64	18.65	2.10	For the leader, of David, a psalm. Yahweh you have examined me and you know.
f#
140	274	.73	22.63	23.36	13.50	16.42	19.34	4.01	For the leader. A psalm of David.
e
141	228	2.19	23.68	21.93	6.58	15.79	21.05	8.77	A psalm of David, Yahweh, I call to you. Hurry to me. Give ear to my voice when I call to you.
e
142	173	7.51	21.97	17.92	11.56	13.87	17.34	9.83	An insight Of David, when he was in the cave. A prayer.
f#
143	302	2.98	20.20	21.52	10.60	16.23	14.24	14.24	A psalm of David. Yahweh hear my prayer. Give ear to my supplication. In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness.
f#
144	331	.91	22.05	25.68	19.34	12.69	14.20	5.14	Of David. Blessed is Yahweh my rock, the teacher of my hands to close combat, my fingers to war.
A - the last acrostic - why celebrate psalm 144? Compare psalm 8.
145	406	.00	20.44	18.72	16.01	24.38	18.47	1.97	A praise of David. I will exalt you my God the king, and I will bless your name forever and ever.
C - the Psalter definitely ends on a high!
146	195	.00	14.87	18.97	11.28	14.36	19.49	21.03	Hallelu Yah. Praise Yahweh, O my being.
B
147	341	.00	19.06	15.54	13.20	17.89	30.50	3.81	Hallelu Yah, for it is good to sing a psalm to our God, for it is pleasant. Praise is lovely.
A
148	254	.00	19.29	19.69	13.39	25.59	13.78	8.27	Hallelu Yah. Praise Yahweh from the heavens. Praise him on the high ground.
B
149	157	.00	22.29	15.92	12.10	20.38	24.20	5.10	Hallelu Yah. Sing to Yahweh a new song. His praise in the congregation of the-many who are under mercy.
A
150	95	.00	12.63	29.47	13.68	30.53	13.68	.00	Hallelu Yah. Praise God in his holiness. Praise him in the expanse of his strength.