Evidence · Hurrian songs of Ugarit

The Nippur music-instruction fragments show the same terms used in performance instructions for singers, so the terms…

The Nippur music-instruction fragments show the same terms used in performance instructions for singers, so the terms did carry a conventional performance meaning that a fuller text could recover.

Suggestive0

What it means

Key questionWhat do the interval names and numerals in the notation of h.6 instruct a performer to play?

5 answers, none ahead yet

Openunchanged

Answer this evidence bears onUndetermined beyond a string tablature (Bayer, Rahn, Gibson)

Counts against2 for, 1 against

Still possibleunchanged

Next steps 3

Key the notation lines of all ~35 fragments from Laroche, Ugaritica V pp. 462-496 (with Dietrich and Loretz 1975 corrections for h.6), into one CSV of fragment, line, position, Hurrian term, Akkadian equivalent, string pair and numeral, using the string-pair table DAT0DEDTRRNXZCV as the key; reproduce Rahn's 2011 counts as a check.

~12 h

On: What do the interval names and numerals in the notation of h.6 instruct a performer to play?

—not judged

Test the numeral readings against a null model: compare the observed distribution of numerals 1 to 10 across all fragments with the distributions expected under repetition counts (geometric-like, no parity preference) and under duple durations (excess of 2 and 4), using a permutation test; report whether Hagel's duration reading beats the repetition reading.

~4 h

On: What do the interval names and numerals in the notation of h.6 instruct a performer to play?

—not judged

Count the sung syllables of h.6 from Laroche's transliteration under both rules for the repeated line-end syllables, and compare with the note totals implied by Kilmer's, Duchesne-Guillemin's, West's and Hagel's readings; publish which readings can match under which rule.

~6 h

On: What do the interval names and numerals in the notation of h.6 instruct a performer to play?

—not judged

Ranked by how likely each is to move the key question, for the time it takes

Sources 2

A New Interpretation of the Nippur Music-Instruction Fragments

Colburn 2009

SRC

Old Babylonian Musical Instructions Relating to Hymnody

Kilmer 1986

SRC

Cite it

Mysteries Department. (2026). The Nippur music-instruction fragments show the same terms used in performance instructions for singers, so the terms… [Evidence EVD0DEDZ58TPN2J]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/EVD0DEDZ58TPN2J

@misc{mysteriesdept_evd0dedz58tpn2j,
  title     = {The Nippur music-instruction fragments show the same terms used in performance instructions for singers, so the terms…},
  author    = {{Mysteries Department}},
  year      = {2026},
  note      = {Evidence, catalog key EVD0DEDZ58TPN2J},
  url       = {https://mysteriesdept.com/r/EVD0DEDZ58TPN2J}
}