Torah, music, and the seven-note scale

The Torah has a lot to say about music.  It is deep and very powerful.  But unfortunately, many people are mistaken about the nature of music.  And many people make definitive statements about music in Kabbalah that I think are based on a mistaken assumption.

You will see a lot of discussions about the number seven.  Seven days in the week.  Seven colors in the rainbow.  And seven notes in the musical scale.

The problem is that the seven-note musical scale is highly subjective.  It is not a universal.  To my knowledge, it does not exist in most cultures.

The seven-note scale is a Western invention.  It is found primarily in European classical music.  Although the concept of a diatonic scale has been around since the time of the Greeks, the modern concept of key is only a few hundred years old.  And even within Western music, Western folk music – particularly the blues, jazz, and rock – contain notes not found in the classical seven-note scale.  (The famous blue note – you probably sing it all the time – isn’t on your piano.)

The octave is universal and found in most music around the world.  How you divide the octave into a scale varies from culture to culture.  There may be a scientific basis for the seven-note scale (based on the harmonic series), but it isn’t used in most cultures.  I doubt that music based on the seven-note major and minor scales was sung in the Temple.

I am not aware of any statements by Chazal in regards to a seven-note scale.  I don’t believe it is in the Zohar either.  The statements I have seen and heard about the seven-note scale have been exclusively from Ashkenazi rabbanim.  I have not seen similar statements from Sephardi rabbanim.  And that makes sense.  Sephardim come from a world that does not use a seven-note scale.

That said, discussions about a seven-note scale in Kabbalah are nice, but they probably aren’t emes.

If someone has heard or seen evidence contradicting what I said – I would love to see it.  I would be thrilled to learn that Chazal had a seven-note scale.  If the Jewish idea of music includes a seven-note scale, then although it is subjective, it is consistent and part of a system.  And that works.  But I need a source.

February 17th, 2011 General, Music