The "Proclamation Style" in Hebrew

The fourth and fifth melodic interval appear to be characteristic of the group of ancient Ashkenazic melodies examined. These intervals create tetratonic, pentatonic and tritonic patterns which are almost always 'Proclamationary ' in style. The group of melodies represents an ancient musical style. Because of the similarity to the benediction style, this groups of melodies can be termed 'benediction group'. This melody type appears in the Torah cantillation benedictions, the Haftra benedictions etc'. The musical style of the melody group appears to be related to motives from the Shofar blowing. The musical examples appended are from the Ashkenazic tradition of South- Eastern Europe, and it is not known whether they are prevalent in other Jewish musical traditions. Although previously narrow melodic ranges were considered characteristic of the ancient musical style, this group of melodies which have a large melodic range can also be considered ancient and can be attributed to ancient agricultural cultures. These melodies can be seen as a sample of an early historic period in Judaism. The article is dedicated to Eric Werner. 

The article can  be accessed here.