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\ ), J hen we examine the music of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, we find that by the the end of the 4th millennium BC there was a defined musical structure of rhythmic and melodic tradition, developed under priestly ritual guidance. There is much evidence from the texts that the Sumerian and Akkadian dynasties in the 3rd millennium BC made music a sig- nificant aspect of kingly and priestly ritual. In fact, they empha- sised that the various musical instruments were "pleasing to the gods". As pointed out by Sir Laurence Gardner in his book, Genesis of the Grail Kings, the biblical Tubal-cain (who is revered in scientific Freemasonry) was the great Vulcan of Mesopotamia during the reign of Egypt's King Narmer (c. 3200 BC). He was a prominent alchemist and the greatest metallurgist of his age, while his step-brother Jubal was said to be "the ances- tor of all who handle the lyre and pipe"—whence derived the word "jubilee", meaning "a blast of trumpets" or "to lead with tri- umph or pomp". The ritual connection in pleasing the gods with brass horns and trumpets is very apparent in this era, and a later association between angels and the mediaeval buisine (long trum- pet) probably originates from this time. Musical instruments played in the death-pit ritual of Ur (the capital of Sumer, c. 2600 BC) were nine lyres, three harps, sistrums or bell trees, frame drums (flat drums) in three different sizes, double pipes and silver pipes. There is evidence from this era that modal forms were definitely in use, and information gained from the many cartouches that show people singing and dancing with bells, rattles and cymbals. By looking at the tuning of harps and lyres, we are directly able to ascertain the four main root modes used later in Greece and Rome. The mosaic Royal Standard of Ur shows a female singer, accompanied by a male playing a lyre with a soundbox in the shape of a bull. Animals were very much connected with various instruments, as in the jackal decorations on one of the Ur lyres, along with the "serpents" (long, curled trumpets) which were able to produce snake-like hissing sounds. Some Egyptian texts have been discovered which, in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC, gave instructions for the tuning of a lyre, which implied the octave (as in later Greek and Roman systems) and were the basis of a tonal scaling. Associations with military music are shown in many cartouches and funeral tombs in Egypt. Tutankhamen was buried with two trumpets, while a relief from Sennacherib portrays a pair of trumpeters blowing alternately. From the Sibylline Oracles, wherein prophecies concerning Jewish or Christian doctrines were allegedly confirmed by a sibyl (a legendary Greek prophetess), a song reads: "They do not pour blood on altars in libations of sacrifices; No drum sounds no cymbal; No flute of many holes which has a sound that damages the heart; No pipe which bears the imita- tion of the crooked serpent; No savage- sounding trumpet herald of wars; None who is drunk in lawless revels or dances; No sound of the lyre and no evil-work- ing devices." For a while in the Middle Ages, the bishops banned the use of brass instru- ments in churches because they were brash and produced what was perceived B A as "Devil tones" and "Satan's music". This proscription was intended to sever the link with all ancient, Old Testament forms of worship ritual and its associated Egyptian ritual. However, it is interesting that, from the Reformation, secular music was almost totally dedicated to the use of brass instruments with composers like Purcell, Handel and Bach at the forefront of great choral and brass-dominated works. The fact is that, today, both Church and State ceremonies inherit their musical traditions from the priestly ritual and military pomp of the early time-frame. Sacred ritual has always been linked to a transcendent realm, and many depictions of musical instruments are of double instru- ments, being perceivably one octave apart. This is very signifi- cant when considering the psycho-acoustic properties of sound. The interval shift of a perfect octave is exactly one-half or double the frequency. In ecclesiastical terminology, it is the seventh day (exactly a week) after a feast day, or eight days including the feast jay and its octave. Occasionally, however, strange acoustic phenomena occur when the octave is sounded imperfectly. In certain architectural and atmospheric circumstances, the imperfect octave (when the Tequencies start to resonate against each other) produces lower or sub-harmonics, and these can fall far beneath our audio range. Resonance is the vibration set up by contact with an object sympathetic to the frequency. For example, a tuning fork sounds far stronger if it is touching a table, with the energy transferred more powerfully through the air. However, the vibration of the ork will go on far longer, although less intensively, if it is free of any contact. It is also important to realise that, in the familiar sce- nario of the singer and the wine glass, it is not the power of the sound that is important; it is the vibrational "trill" of the singer, in a resonating frequency with the glass, which causes the glass to shatter. The law of conservation of energy states that "you cannot get more energy from a sound source than you put in", and yet, with the subtle use of architecture and natural chambers, sound can be harnessed to project these psycho-acoustic properties. The sound of a particular instrument is derived from a tendency to reinforce particular harmonics so as to create what we understand as "tone colour", and this pitch region is know as a "formant". Formants play a unique role in our speech, as each vowel sound can be characterised by way of containing two fixed formant regions. Extreme use of these may be found in the low chanting of Tibetan monks, as well as in the Hare Krishna chant and the Om chant. In fact, formants play a significant role in the strength or amplitude of a sound, and this explains how it is that a single flute is able to be heard amid a large string and brass section of an orchestra. ee o so Pye F << Ciel AO ail ey! =F oe “j iy - opel BAD HARE DAY OUT ee BAD NEXUS - 37 DECEMBER 1999 — JANUARY 2000