Is a melody written within a scroll?
Question
Is a musical melody written within a scroll, so if 5 different rabbis sung the same scroll, they would all have the same melody? Or do rabbis just set melody to the words written in the scroll as they want so 5 different rabbis singing the same scrolls would all sound very differently? Some hymms have the melody written above the words so musicians can.play the melody and singers can sing and they should all sound similar, but is the music somehow written within the Hebrew characters on a scroll? Thanks!
Answer
Shalom!
Thank you for your question.
I am not sure I fully understand your question, but perhaps the following will be of help and interest to you.
The books of the Bible do have a traditional tune when they are sung. There is one tune for the Torah, one tune for the prophets, and another tune for the Megillot.
The notes that are sung/chanted are found under the words of Scripture in many printed Bibles. They are not written on the holy scrolls used when reading in the synagogue, and hence, the tune must be memorized.
There is never more than one singer/speaker when reading Scripture for the congregation.