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Pipe, Musical

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Pipe, John S.

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(חָלַיל , chalil). The Hebrew word invariably so rendered (1 Samuel 10:5; 1 Kings 1:40; Isaiah 5:12; Isaiah 30:29; Jeremiah 48:36; so also αὐλός, 1 Corinthians 14:7) is derived from a root signifying "to bore, perforate," and is represented with sufficient correctness by the English "pipe" (or "flute," as in the margin of 1 Kings 1:40). It is one of the simplest, and therefore probably one of the oldest of musical instruments; and in consequence of its simplicity of form there is reason to suppose that the "pipe" of the Hebrews did not differ materially from that of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. It is associated with the tabret (toph) as an instrument of a peaceful and social character, just as in Shakespeare (Much Ado, 2, 3), "I have known when there was no music with him but the drum and fife, and now had he rather hear the tabor and the pipe" the constant accompaniment of merriment and festivity (Luke 7:32), and especially characteristic of "the piping time of peace." The pipe and tabret were used at the banquets of the Hebrews (Isaiah 5:12), and their bridal processions (Mishna, Baba metsia, 6, 1), and accompanied the simpler religious services, when the young prophets, returning from the high-place, caught their inspiration from the harmony (1 Samuel 10:5); or the pilgrims, on their way to the great festivals of their ritual, beguiled the weariness of the march with psalms sung to the simple music of the pipe (Isaiah 30:29). When Solomon was proclaimed king the whole people went up after him to Gihon, piping with pipes (1 Kings 1:40). The sound of the pipe was apparently a soft wailing note, which made it appropriate to be used in mourning and at funerals (Matthew 9:23), and in the lament of the prophet over the destruction of Moab (Jeremiah 48:36). The pipe was the type of perforated wind instruments, as the harp was of stringed instruments (1 Maccabees 3:45), and was even used in the Temple-choir, as appears from Psalms 87:7, where "the players on instruments" are properly "pipers." Twelve days in the year, according to the Mishna (Arach. 2, 3, the pipes sounded before the altar: at the slaying of the First Passover, the slaying of the Second Passover, the first feast-day of the Passover, the first feast-day of the Feast of Weeks. and the eight days of the Feast of Tabernacles. On the last-mentioned occasion the playing on pipes accompanied the drawing of water from the fountain of Siloah (Succah, 4, 1; 5, 1) for five and six days. The pipes which were played before the altar were of reed, and not of copper or bronze, because the former gave a softer sound. Of these there were not less than two nor more than twelve. In later times the office of mourning at funerals became a profession, and the funeral and death-bed were lever without the professional pipers or flute-players (αὐλητάς. Matthew 9:23), a custom which still exists (comp. Ovid, Fast. 6, 660, "cantabat moestis tibia funeribus"). It was incumbent on even the poorest Israelite, at the death of his wife, to provide at least two pipers and one woman to make lamentation. (See MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS).

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