Trope Atlas

The signs הַטְּעָמִים

The 21 prose books share one set of signs. Each sign is either a disjunctive (a pause, ranked emperor, king, duke or count) or a conjunctive that leads into the pause after it. The sign is printed above or below the stressed syllable, except for the postpositive and prepositive signs noted below. Select a sign’s name to jump to its melodies.

Signs that travel with the te’amim

Melody table הַנְּגִינוֹת

One figure for each sign in each tradition, taken from the first phrase of its chart that carries the sign. The column headings stay in view as you scroll; scroll sideways to see more traditions, or use the filter to show only one kind of reading. Syllables under the notes spell the sign’s own name, as each source prints it. A dash means the sign does not occur in that reading or the source does not give it.

Phrase patterns צֵרוּפֵי טְעָמִים

The te’amim are usually learned in phrases rather than one at a time, because a conjunctive sign takes its tune from the pause it leads into, and many pauses are sung differently at the end of a verse or a reading. Choose a melody, then a group of phrases: each pattern shows the Hebrew sign names above the staff and the names sung syllable by syllable beneath it. A dashed line marks where one sign’s notes end and the next begin. Press ▶ beside any staff to hear it, sung an octave below the written notes; press ■ to stop.

The poetic signs טַעֲמֵי אֱמֶ״ת

Psalms, Proverbs and Job (אֱמֶ״ת, from the initials of their Hebrew names) use a second system of signs. Few communities still chant these books with their own cantillation melody, and none of the sources used here notate one, so this table gives the signs and their function only.

Reading the staffs

• Pitch. Staffs use a treble clef with an 8 below it, the usual clef for a man’s voice: the music sounds an octave lower than written. Each melody appears in the key its source prints, unless you choose a common key at the top of the page.
• Rhythm. Chant follows the words, not a beat. The note values are the sources’ own and show only the relative length of each note. There are no bar lines, so an accidental lasts to the end of its row.
• Symbols. A slur joins the notes sung on one syllable. A small note in parentheses is an optional pickup for unstressed syllables before the sign. A bracket with a number groups notes into a tuplet (a 3 is a triplet), and a fermata marks a held final note. The coloured bar over each sign’s notes shows its clause family, in the colours the Trope Tutor uses.
• Names. Ashkenazi names follow common American usage; Sephardi names follow the Jerusalem Sephardi tradition.
• Transcriptions. Every staff is a new transcription from the printed source cited with it. The melodies are traditional; the transcriptions are released under CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections are welcome through the contact page.

Sources

1. Hebrew Union College cantillation chart, in the tradition of A. W. Binder (Biblical Chant, New York: Philosophical Library, 1959). Transcribed by Harrison Bleiberg for IvritSuite.
2. Marshall Portnoy and Josée Wolff, The Art of Cantillation, Vol. 2: A Step-by-Step Guide to Chanting Haftarot and M’gilot (New York: UAHC Press, 2001), appendices D–G. Open Library record.
3. Torah and Haftarah trope charts, Temple Sholom, Greenwich, Connecticut. templesholom.com.
4. Pinchas Spiro, “High Holy Day Torah Trope,” chart posted by Congregation Beth Ami. bethami.org.
5. Francis L. Cohen, “Cantillation,” The Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 3 (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1902), pp. 537–549, tables on pp. 540–548 (public domain). Article text; page scans on Wikimedia Commons: p. 540, p. 541, p. 542, p. 543, p. 544, p. 545, p. 546, p. 548.

Traditions not included. Several living reading traditions are not represented because no notated source for them could be used: among them Chabad-Lubavitch and other Hasidic readings, Yemenite (Teimani), Italian (Italki), Romaniote, Persian, Kurdish, Bukharan, Georgian and Indian (Bene Israel and Cochin). The Psalms, Proverbs and Job melodies are not included for the same reason.