Re: Cantillation Group: How do you handle multiple munach runs?

[Cantor Neil Schwartz <schwartz...>]

steve39 (at) ix(dot)netcom(dot)com(Steven Friedrich) wrote:
>Chaverim:
>There are two types of munach groupings. The more common is a Revia
>preceded by 2 munachs separated by a legarme. This munach legarme which
>starts the musical and grammatical phrase is stronger than a plain
>munach and in Binder is represented by a 5 tone motif which in Haftarah
>could be a-d-e-f-d-f followed by the munach revia (d-a'-d/d-d-c-a-c-a).
>
>The second type would be a pazer or a t'lisha gedola preceded with
>anywhere from 1 to 5 munachs. All the words in this group represent a
>single gramatical and musical phrase as well. All the munachs have no
>interval and so are all sung on the same note (the same as the first
>pitch of the pazer or gedola). Rhythmically, each munach again is
>equal, and each word is chanted evenly within the entire phrase with
>all emphasis going to the pazer or gedola.
>
>Cantor Steven Friedrich
>

Shalom.  Using Solomon Rosowsky's "Cantillation of the Bible" as a guide, 
here are some thoughts about the use of Munach.  (He taught for decades 
at JTS, and Abraham Binder taught similar material at HUC).

Munach is one of the conjunctives or M'shartim, also called "servants' by 
Rosowsky.  Munach L'garmei is one of the many disjunctives or Mafsikim, and 
is made up of a Munach with a P'sik.  The P'sik also appears with other 
trope, but only as part of a Munach L'garmei does it affect the melody and 
punctuation to such an extent.  The melody for Munach L'garmei as used for
Torah chanting in F Major is "F-F-G-A-F-G" according to Roswosky (pg.414).

Munach is commonly used as a conjunctive leading to these disjunctives:
Zakef-Katon, Etnachta, R'via, Zarka, Segol, and Pazer.  The melody which is 
used for Munach before Pazer is also used for Munach before T'lisha G'dola 
and T'lisha K'tana (see below for Rosowsky references).  Munach also appears 
in these less well-known groups:  Munach - Mercha - Pashta in a Zakef-Katon
clause (Rosowsky pg.247), and  Munach - Mercha - T'vir (Rosowsky pg.342).

Multiple strings of Munach appear primarily before Pazer and T'lisha G'dola; 
since T'lisha K'tana is a conjunctive (in Rosowsky's opinion) it may only 
have one Munach.  There may be a maximum of 3 Munach trope before a T'lisha
G'dola and up to 4 before a Pazer (Rosowsky pg.396).  For Torah chanting in 
F Major, the musical value for EACH Munach in either string is "F-A-G", as 
found in the musical examples on pp. 448 and 455 of Rosowsky.

For Haftara chanting in D minor I use the melody "D-G-F" for each Munach in 
this situation.  Hope this has been helpful - details like these are what 
make cantillation such a fascinating subject to teach and present.