magreiphah

[JRJ <JRJ...>]

There's a lot of strange speculation about the Magreiphah. 
Praetorius (in Syntagama Musicum) even thought it was 
some sort of pipe organ
(an interesting example of retrojection).
It seems to  have been some sort of signaling device.
Keep in mind that the shofar and chatsotsrot were also
used for signaling, not aesthetic purposes.

Here are some references:

Hofman, Shlomo. Hamusikah Betalmud. Tel Aviv: IMI (Israel 
Music Institute), 1989.

Idelsohn, Abraham Z. Jewish Music in Its Historical Development. 
New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1929. Reprint ed. Dover, 1992.

Sendrey, Alfred. Music in Ancient Israel. New York: 
Philosophical Library, 1969.

Sachs, Kurt. The History of Musical Instruments. NY: 1940.

_____. The Rise of Music in the Ancient World. NY: 1940.

Joshua R. Jacobson
Northeastern University 
Boston, MA 02115 
JRJ (at) neu(dot)edu