Music

Jubal was the inventor of musical instruments (Gen. 4:21). The Hebrews were much given to the cultivation of music. Their whole history and literature afford abundant evidence of this. After the Deluge, the first mention of music is in the account of Laban’s interview with Jacob (Gen. 31:27). After their triumphal passage of the Red Sea, Moses and the children of Israel sang their song of deliverance (Ex. 15). But the period of Samuel, David, and Solomon was the golden age of Hebrew music, as it was of Hebrew poetry. Music was now for the first time systematically cultivated. It was an essential part of training in the schools of the prophets (1 Sam. 10:5; 19:19-24; 2 Kings 3:15; 1 Chr. 25:6). There now arose also a class of professional singers (2 Sam. 19:35; Eccl. 2:8). The temple, however, was the great school of music. In the conducting of its services large bands of trained singers and players on instruments were constantly employed (2 Sam. 6:5; 1 Chr. 15; 16; 23;5; 25:1-6). In private life also music seems to have held an important place among the Hebrews (Eccl. 2:8; Amos 6:4-6; Isa. 5:11, 12; 24:8, 9; Ps. 137; Jer. 48:33; Luke 15:25).

MUS'IC. 1 Sam 18:6. This was an important part of the festivities and religious services of the Jews. In their annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem their march was thus enlivened. Isa 30:29. This is still the custom in Oriental pilgrimages. The practice of music was not restricted to anv one class of persons. 1 Chr 13:8; 1 Chr 15:16. The sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun were set apart by David for the musical service, and "the number of them, with their brethren, that were instructed in the songs of the Lord" was two hundred and eighty-eight. They were divided, like the priests, into twenty-four courses, which are enumerated. 1 Chr 25. Of the 38,000 Levites, "four thousand praised the Lord with the instruments," 1 Chr 23:5, being more than one in ten of the whole available members of the tribe of Levi. Each of the courses or classes had one hundred and fifty-four Stringed Instruments, Cymbals, etc. musicians and three leaders, and all were under the general direction of Asaph and his brethren. Each course served for a week, but upon the festivals all were required to be present, or four thousand musicians. Heman, with one of his leaders, directed the central choir, Wind Instruments and Sistrum. Asaph the right, and Jeduthun the left wing. These several choirs answered one another, as is generally supposed, in that kind of alternate singing which is called "antiphonal," or responsive. The priests, in the mean time, performed upon the silver trumpets. 2 Chr 5:11-14; Num 10:2. It is necessary to suppose that, to ensure harmony from such a number of voices as this, some musical notes were used. This truly regal direction of sacred music continued after the death of David until the Captivity; for though under the impious reign of some kings the whole of these solemnities fell into disuse, they were revived by Hezekiah and Josiah. And although during the Exile the sweet singers of Israel hanged their harps upon the willows by the waters of Babylon, yet two hundred musicians returned with Ezra to the Holy Land. Ezr 2:65. Musical Instruments. Eccl 2:8. They were invented by Jubal, the son of Lamech, Gen 4:21, and had appropriate names. Gen 31:27. They may be divided into three classes - stringed instruments, wind instruments, and such as gave their sounds on being struck. Of stringed instruments were the harp, the instrument of ten strings, the sackbut, and the psaltery. They are described under their proper names. The instruments of music mentioned in 1 Sam 18:6 as used by women are supposed to have been metallic triangles, as the name indicates. The instrument of ten strings resembled a modern guitar, having its strings stretched over something not unlike a drum; and it was played with the fingers. See separate titles.

MUS'IC. 1 Sam 18:6. This was an important part of the festivities and religious services of the Jews. In their annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem their march was thus enlivened. Isa 30:29. This is still the custom in Oriental pilgrimages. The practice of music was not restricted to anv one class of persons. 1 Chr 13:8; 1 Chr 15:16. The sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun were set apart by David for the musical service, and "the number of them, with their brethren, that were instructed in the songs of the Lord" was two hundred and eighty-eight. They were divided, like

the priests, into twenty-four courses, which are enumerated. 1 Chr 25. Of the 38,000 Levites, "four thousand praised the Lord with the instruments," 1 Chr 23:5, being more than one in ten of the whole available members of the tribe of Levi. Each of the courses or classes had one hundred and fifty-four Stringed Instruments, Cymbals, etc. musicians and three leaders, and all were under the general direction of Asaph and his brethren. Each course served for a week, but upon the festivals all were required to be present, or four thousand musicians. Heman, with one of his leaders, directed the central choir, Wind Instruments and Sistrum. Asaph the right, and Jeduthun the left wing. These several choirs answered one another, as is generally supposed, in that kind of alternate singing which is called "antiphonal," or responsive. The priests, in the mean time, performed upon the silver trumpets. 2 Chr 5:11-14; Num 10:2. It is necessary to suppose that, to ensure harmony from such a number of voices as this, some musical notes were used. This truly regal direction of sacred music continued after the death of David until the Captivity; for though under the impious reign of some kings the whole of these solemnities fell into disuse, they were revived by Hezekiah and Josiah. And although during the Exile the sweet singers of Israel hanged their harps upon the willows by the waters of Babylon, yet two hundred musicians returned with Ezra to the Holy Land. Ezr 2:65. Musical Instruments. Eccl 2:8. They were invented by Jubal, the son of Lamech, Gen 4:21, and had appropriate names. Gen 31:27. They may be divided into three classes - stringed instruments, wind instruments, and such as gave their sounds on being struck. Of stringed instruments were the harp, the instrument of ten strings, the sackbut, and the psaltery. They are described under their proper names. The instruments of music mentioned in 1 Sam 18:6 as used by women are supposed to have been metallic triangles, as the name indicates.
The instrument of ten strings resembled a modern guitar, having its strings stretched over something not unlike a drum; and it was played with the fingers. See separate titles.

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. The science and the art of tones, or musical sounds, i.e., sounds of higher or lower pitch, begotten of uniform and synchronous vibrations, as of a string at various degrees of tension; the science of harmonical tones which treats of the principles of harmony, or the properties, dependences, and relations of tones to each other; the art of combining tones in a manner to please the ear.

2. Melody; a rhythmical and otherwise agreeable succession of tones.

3. Harmony; an accordant combination of simultaneous tones.

4. The written and printed notation of a musical composition; the score.

5. Love of music; capacity of enjoying music. The man that hath ni music in himself Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. Shak.

6. A more or less musical sound made by many of the lower animals. See Stridulation. Magic music, a game in which a person is guided in finding a hidden article, or in doing a specific art required, by music which is made more loud or rapid as he approaches success, and slower as he recedes. Tennyson. -- Music box. See Musical box, under Musical. -- Music hall, a place for public musical entertainments. -- Music loft, a gallery for musicians, as in a dancing room or a church. -- Music of the spheres, the harmony supposed to be produced by the accordant movement of the celestial spheres. -- Music paper, paper ruled with the musical staff, for the use of composers and copyists. -- Music pen, a pen for ruling at one time the five lines of the musical staff. -- Music shell (Zoöl.), a handsomely colored marine gastropod shell (Voluta musica) found in the East Indies; -- so called because the color markings often resemble printed music. Sometimes applied to other shells similarly marked. -- To face the music, to meet any disagreeable necessity without flinching. [Colloq. or Slang]