Lyre Improvisation#1 on an Ancient Egyptian Scale...

This video features my improvisation for solo lyre "The Music of Moses" - the 1st track from my debut CD album, "KING DAVID'S LYRE; ECHOES OF ANCIENT ISRAEL".

This improvisation on the lyre, uses a genuine pentatonic ancient Egyptian scale...last heard, some 3500 years ago! The scale I am using in this little improvisation, was deciphered from ancient Egyptian tomb illustrations representing a system of musical notation quite commonly used in antiquity, called called "Chironomy"; this is a system of hand gestures which were used, to denote both the pitch and ornamentation of a melody. The ancient lost art of Chironomy, and details of this haunting, ancient Egyptian scale are discussed at length in this fascinating article:

http://www.rakkav.com/biblemusic/pages/chironomy.htm

During this little improvisation, I could hear how the sound of this scale MAY have also influenced some of the music of ancient Greece (can any "music boffins" out there, spot my reference to the famous "Delphic Hymn to Apollo"???).

All of my 9 albums of mystical, ancient lyre music are now available from iTunes...

1)"An Ancient Lyre": http://bit.ly/dhCozi

2)"King David's Lyre; Echoes of Ancient Israel":
http://bit.ly/9PCIua




3)"The Ancient Biblical Lyre": http://bit.ly/9hTDje

4)"Lyre of the Levites": http://bit.ly/9baWuM

5)"Apollo's Lyre": http://bit.ly/dhCozi

6)"Ancient Times -- Music of The Ancient World": http://bit.ly/aRF5PD

7)"The Ancient Greek Modes": http://bit.ly/cZks0o

8)"The Ancient Greek Lyre": http://bit.ly/bxO7Ra

9)"Ancient Visions -- New Compositions for an Ancient Lyre": http://bit.ly/dCPmRN

Physical CDs are also available anywhere in the world from CD Baby, for 3 of my best selling albums:

"An Ancient Lyre": http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mlevy4

"King David's Lyre; Echoes of Ancient Israel":
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mlevy

"Lyre of the Levites": http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mlevy2

For full details about my albums of lyre music, and the fascinating ancient historical background, please visit my official website:

http://www.ancientlyre.com

Many thanks for watching!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Meditation
• Kabbalah
• Pyramids
• Thebes
• Giza
• Egypt
• Sphinx
• harp
• Rameses
• Pharaohs
• Akhenaten
• Tutankhamun
• Cleopatra
• Coptic

[VonHendrixTV]

WTF kind of instrument is that? and is it possible to play that scale or whatever it was on a guitar?

[Klezfiddle1]

@VonHendrixTV The instrument is a lyre - similar to the lyres played in he New Kingdom of ancient Egypt...some 3500 years ago! All details on my "ancientlyre" website (URL for this on my Youtube Channel Page). This minor pentatonic scale certainly could be played on guitar...happy experimenting!

[JayArpeggios]

so what is it tuned to? what is this egyptian scale? intervals or notes... but i want to know what the scale is thanks!

[Klezfiddle1]

Please see the "Historical Details" section of my ancientlyre website for full detailsof this tuning & how it was derived - the URL is given in the video description...

[Theonedue]

Kelz, what is the fundimental difference between Jewish, Egyptian, and Greece lyre playing? They all sound similar and contain a minor sound or mysterious meoldy. But Ive been hearing that the Egyptains used lyre music to put people into trances and/or sexually seduce people, thus making it evil, but Im sure they used it for religious or cerimonal purpoeses that we good as well.

[Klezfiddle1]

This is the thing which really fascinates me - the lyre played in the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, the Lyre of the Ancient Hebrews (from about the same time), and the slightly later Ancient Greek Kithara are virtually identical! My new MP3 album, "An Ancient Lyre" will feature improvisations on ancient Egyptian scales and the actual music of ancient Greece, as well as the 3400 year old Hurrian Hymn from Mesopotamia - keep an eye out for my bulletins!

[cmspitler]

A beautiful piece. Thank you for sharing.

[blasfemuz]

Hi Klez excellent your work,,, very great! now.. could you send me by private message the order of the Middle Eastern scales ? the most commonly used to compose the music Middle Eastern folk regions (Egypt, Israel, Marocco, Ariab Saudi) please i'm very interested for learn .

[Kingleazard]

Sounds like the music from the "dove" advertisement ;)

[Cathain78]

Actually sounds Japanese to me.

A lot of ancient / folk music sounds "exotic" because they use different scales from the scale normally used on modern western music. If you listen to some Irish folk music, it sounds Arabian or Indian too. Not because it is, but because it often utilises similar scales that aren't commonly used today in mainstream music (Pentatonic, Myxolodian, etc)

[raisetheflag88]

I wish to learn this

[alikimarkan]

hi from Aliki M. ancient greek lyra performer. i like your tunes. There are a few musicians here in Athens Gr playing this instrument. Please visit myspace/ghithalassa