Here is a musicologist who is also a student of the Scriptures. Thus he is able to follow and produce musical notes embedded in psalms and prayers found in the Bible.
This, he says, is the prayer, Shema Israel (“Hear, O Israel: the Lord Our God Is One”), played on the harp according to the same notes David would have used.
This is what Saul heard, when David played to calm the king’s spirit.
Wow! I’ve always dreamed of handing David a Gretsch Country Gentleman guitar, but maybe that wouldn’t be as good as what he was accustomed to. That was beautiful, it was powerful, and has an energy that is undeniable.
BTW, that scale sounds like a double harmonic Major, to my ear. Miserlou is an example of that scale in a song that someone in our era might be familiar with. It is a truly beautiful scale, with fascinating harmonic possibilities.
Listening to the second verse, it sounds like the ancient Hebrews had invented Rock n’ Roll, long before Elvis or Chuck Berry. Seriously, he put a Rock n’ Roll beat into it, in verse two. I’m not sure that David would have done that, but in this context, the power of the beat served the song. I’m seriously thinking of learning this on guitar. I wonder what David would think of Duane Eddy. 🙂
Not surprising at all it would sound like rock and roll. Stringed instrument traditions born in the Middle East were imported to Europe when the Moors seized the Iberian peninsula, worked their way through Spain into Mexico/Central America, informed the music of the gauchos and cowboys, and the southern boys molded it into our more “familiar” rock and roll. It’s a long journey that’s kept its roots. 😁
There was a fellow who grew up in a Jewish household in New York who loved Surf music of the early ‘60s, and recorded an album called Meshugga Beach Party; 16 songs of the Chosen Surfers, which was comprised of traditional Jewish music, played as Surf Rock. They would dress as rabbis, and acted like a bunch of very sheltered Orthodox Jews, that were trying to play Rock n’ Roll. Their stage act was full of Yiddish shtick and they were truly hilarious.
What fascinated me was that the music was perfect. Some of these melodies were ancient, but they sounded great on electric guitars. That got me thinking about the roots of music, and how much of what we hear has roots in the Middle East. I heard Surf music on the radio when I was a child and loved that sound. Surf made a comeback, of sorts, in the ‘90s, and there is a vibrant community of Surf bands, to this day. What I have noticed is that there are a lot of bands emanating from the Balkans, Russia, and areas at least adjacent to the Mideast. Over 60 years ago, Dick Dale, who was of Lebanese descent, made his name by recording an old traditional song, Miserlou, as Surf music.
Having spent much of my life playing guitar, I have strong feelings about music, and how it has grown and developed. Some of it has been less than beautiful, and I don’t want to play music that sounds harsh or unpleasant, but the sound of a vibrating string is very pleasant to my ear, and I believe that some very wonderful sounds are possible with modern instruments.
I can’t help but imagine that a young David, and likely his peers, probably enjoyed the possibilities of the instruments in their times, and I’m sure that they had a lot of fun playing interesting minor-key melodies. The playing in that video was exceptional and haunting in its beauty.
I’m partial to the cello myself, having played for years, but love the sound of a deep acoustic guitar. John Williams (not the same guy who composed the Star Wars themes) has been one of my favorites. Acoustic Labs is another artist that can really give a guitar an amazing workout, and his acoustic interpretation of the Bond theme (among others) is pretty clever.
When I took a course in music theory and history I discovered, probably not by accident, that many of my favorite songs used harmonic minor keys. I’m taking a wild stab—I’m no psychiatrist or musicologist myself—that music resonates (pun intended) with we humans in such a way that as individuals we gravitate to certain clusters of notes and sounds we like to label as keys and chords.
I love harmonic minors, myself. My theory was, mostly, learned by experience and observation; from analyzing songs and learning how the chords pointed to various tone centers. My favorite example is The Shadow of Your Smile, which starts in G Major, and then goes to E melodic minor, and continues cycling between G Maj, E melodic, E harmonic, A harmonic, B harmonic … well, you get the picture. The melody is beautiful and pure but the harmonic structure is astounding and complex. It’s a lot of fun to improvise over, and a bit of a workout.
Another great one is The Girl From Ipanema which starts with an F Maj7 chord, and goes to G7, as the fourth degree dominant of a D melodic minor. You don’t see that sort of thing very often.
Great information! His harp seems smaller than the one a friend of mine plays on. Truly a heavenly instrument.
I’m amazed by the sounds it is capable of making. I’ve spent much of my life with a guitar in my hands, and love the variety of sounds a guitar can produce, but I have to say that harp has some real power.