C4: Music

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Billions of albums and concert tickets are sold
every year, all over the world. Music touches
nearly every part of our lives. What has
Judaism to say about the meaning
and potency of this great art?

Introduction

Music is a curiosity. It’s so hard to describe yet so easy to enjoy. As soon as the sounds hit you, your mood is altered. Everyone has their very own favourite tunes, artists, recordings and styles, and everyone has an opinion about what is "good music". What are the connections between the many popular rhythms we enjoy today and the history of traditional Jewish music? With a song and a smile, The Jampacked Bible endeavours to find out...

Origin of the word music

Etymologically, music comes from ‘muses,’ Greek goddesses who inspired poets, painters, musicians, etc. The word traces its history back via old French musique and Latin můsica to Greek mousiké, a noun use of mousikós ‘of the muses,’ an adjective derived from mousa ‘muse.’ The specialisation of the word’s meaning began in Greek - first to ‘poetry sung to music,’ and subsequently to ‘music’ alone.

Origins

Genesis gives us an intriguing beginning to the ancient art of music in the form of Yuval, a seventh generation descendent of Adam:

Yuval, he was the ancestor of all who play the harp and pipes (Genesis 4:21)

Why does the Torah bother to tell us this? Everyone else in Yuval’s generation were much better occupied. The text tells us that his brother successfully reared cattle and his cousin made metal tools and weapons. Civilisation, though in its infancy, was fast developing while Yuval just made and played his instruments. What was he up to? (We'll come back to Yuval at the very end)

What is Jewish music?

In Paris, 1957, at the opening lecture of the First International Congress of Jewish Music, Curt Sachs gave a great definition: "Jewish music is that music which is made by Jews, for Jews, as Jews." The clincher is the phrase "as Jews." Curt was telling us that Jewish Music is part of Jewish tradition, it's part of what makes us Jewish.

The problem is, as soon as you try and single out a particular Jewish style, you have a hard time. Due to exile and persecution, Jews have travelled all over the world, picking up many musical influences along the way. Though Jewish music has been shaped by many different cultures, at its heart, you can still hear something specifically "Jewish" about it. This something is the living oral tradition of the Jewish music which is regularly heard in the synagogues, schools, halls and homes, of every Jewish community.

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