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Cantillation, also known as a “trope,” is a method of chanting sacred Jewish texts with proper emphasis and tone. It helps with the pronunciation of ancient Torah scriptures and is required during a bar or bat mitzvah. The chanting involves various intonations and nearly 30 types of punctuation-style cantillation marks. It is considered a form of mantra in many religions.
The cantillation method developed over centuries of Jewish devotion. Also known as a “trope,” “ta’amim,” “neginot,” or simply “accent,” cantillation marks allow readers of sacred texts to place proper emphasis and tone on the correct syllables, giving reading a similar foundation to a song. The practice can help modern English speakers adjust to the complicated pronunciations of ancient Torah scriptures or make the whole process even more complicated.
This mantra-like chanting occurs only for Hebrew readings of the Old Testament and associated texts. During a bar or bat mitzvah, at the age of 13, young Jewish devotees are required to recite their first cantillation verses to those present. It comes from a section of the Torah called Haftarah, or “taking leave.”
Upon hearing the chanting, the listener notices the various intonations offered by the words. Syllables rise, fall, pause or extend according to the signs on the various consonants in the text. These marks provide information about accentuation or emphasis, but data about overall tone is provided in how short sequences of sentences are organized and indented, particularly in relation to surrounding sentences.
Group cantillation will not proceed in the same musical key, as is the case with musical notation. But an Ancient Hebrew group’s chanting will be able to follow the same pronunciation and poetic construction that gives particular emphasis to important themes or events. A variation of this system can be found in Christian numbering and in the arrangement of psalms. In many religions in the Western and Eastern hemispheres, cantillation is considered to be simply another form of mantra, a spoken prayer meant to evoke religious feelings.
One must listen to cantillation to truly understand the variety of signs that must be employed correctly. When the speaker encounters a pashta, or upright-looking comma, it will decrease in pitch from the first syllable to the next. With a geresh, a comma turned in the opposite vertical direction, the speaker will increase in pitch.
There are nearly 30 types of punctuation-style cantillation marks that can be encountered in the Torah or other Jewish texts. Some can be complicated, such as the colon, or zaqef qaton, which requires two syllables of the same pitch and pitch, followed by a cascade of notes on the next two syllables. To master them all, it would be helpful to consult an audio tutorial like the one offered online by Temple Emanu-El in San Jose, California.
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