The Musical Realization of Biblical Cantillation Symbols (te‘amîm) in the Jewish Yemenite Tradition

This study concentrates on the Pentateuch, recited by the Yemenites in three different social and religious contexts: (a) the various synagogal services, of which the biblical recitation is a central liturgical part; (b) the traditional study-sessions of biblical sections; and (c) the heder, where the recitation of biblical texts is the basic educational instrument. The Yemenites declare that although they have a repertory of six different tunes according to which these public recitations are performed, the tunes are unified in that their structure depends on the te’amim, the cantillation symbols. The aim of this paper is to present the repertory of the musical renditions of the Pentateuch and to investigate the relationships between the te’amim and their musical realization within these three social contexts.