Torah Tutor: Introduction
The melodic symbols that appear in modern biblical texts are based on these hand signals, and are known as tropes or טְעָמִים
Take a look at this Hebrew text: עַד אֵלוֹן מוֹרֶה
The text has the letters and vowels that you are familiar with. In addition to the vowels, many biblical texts include the Trope symbols that tell the reader how to sing the words.Here is the same text with the Trope symbols added: עַ֖ד אֵל֣וֹן מוֹרֶ֑ה
We've colored the Trope symbols so you can easily tell which are the vowels and which are the Trope symbols. The Trope symbols have Hebrew or Aramaic names, and they have short melody motifs. In the lessons that follow, you will learn to recognize the Trope symbols and the melody motifs that they represent.For those unfamiliar with the term ”melody motif”, this is a short group of notes in a given Trope that usually cluster on the accented syllable of a given word. This is reflected in the literal translation of ”T'amim”, namely ”accents”.The full term is Ta'amei HaMikra or טַעֲמֵי הַמִּקְרָא, which means ”accents of reading/chanting”.