Metrics for the Psalms

We have already defined and used several metrics for the psalms. First to be suggested were tenor and ambitus and final. I refined the ambitus slightly to be restricted to the reciting notes and included range to allow for the ornaments that go beyond the recitation pitches. The final is always the tonic e. I have reported these as we look at each psalm. The initial investigation can be found here. A further discussion is here along with the initial investigation and definition of verse types by cadence sequence.

One of the characteristics of poetry is the shortness of the cola. But the psalms are far from uniform. In all the posts I list the syllable length of each phrase ending in a cadence. It is easy to observe the considerable variation even within one psalm. The averages are not terribly revealing. But a mean value is of some use next to the detail where you can scan and see the extremes.

The syllables per phrase range from an average of 13.2 syllables per phrase in Psalm 43 to as low as 7.3 in Psalm 150. Psalm 79 at 10.9 syllables per phrase is in the middle. Each psalm also has a longest recitation length and an ornament density, expressed as a percentage of syllables with an ornament. The range is from 0.5% (psalm 136) to 17.6% (psalm 117).

Prose has longer phrase lengths. Ruth for instance has a low of 16.3 in chapter 3 to a high of 20.2 in chapter 4.

All of these measurements are part of the search for hints to what the mode should be for the music. Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura says it is a musical decision. True enough -- and her musical decisions seem largely good to me, though I usually avoid her strange mode with its consecutive semitones in the second half octave.

Are there more hints as to what the ancient creators of this music thought? I certainly would not be asking this question if I was still talking about sequences of punctuation marks and continuous division of the text into a hierarchy. Yes there is some governance of the accents by others, but only in service to the musical phrase. Here's that governance table again.

Table of ornaments and count of verses where they occur for each reciting note 

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