The basic notes, rests and harmonies of Western music arose as humans heard how sounds traveled through the first large temples, built more than 2,000 years ago
Where did Western music come from? Most historical accounts credit composers with the first formations of simple tunes, which eventually led to “early music” and later classical music and the many popular forms that have since sprung up. But acoustic ecologists and musicologists have been talking lately about a different foundation: the earliest temples and cathedrals, which literally shaped musical notes and rests that led to song and symphony.
When humans moved into buildings with impenetrable walls, song changed. In my research, I’ve proposed that Solomon’s Temple in ancient Israel was the prototype for a sonic interior in which people could control and elaborate on music and that the ancient Hebrews designed an indoor space, the temple’s interior holy place, with proportions that made possible both clarity of sound and the repetition needed for focused contemplation.
A room of right angles supports artistic and social hierarchy, too; there is no circle of equality. The people standing higher and often in front of a group readily control the sound space. This seems very similar to the provenance of the concert stage today. Each building we occupy is a sonic niche that affects what we hear and perform. It is likely that temple builders were assisted by priests to fine-tune a desirable sound space. The intoned, low-pitched vowels and syllables of the exclusively male priests’ speech would have been heard clearly, one pitch at a time, to optimize comprehension. Perhaps the designers allowed just enough resonance for some echoing to create a sense of a far distant sound that they considered sacred—the word of God.
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