EGYPTIAN MUSIC. Our knowledge of the music of ancient Egypt is very meagre. We have short accounts of it in Greek authors and we find specimens of their musical instru ments and there have survived numerous illus trations of others, together with scenes repre senting the singing of odes to the gods, or their heroes, funeral dirges, and we know that musi cians and dancers formed a part of all enter tainments. In general their instruments are of the same character as those of the Hebrews and Assyrians, from which we infer that their music was of the same general type as that of these neighboring civilized peoples. Their first music was merely' an accompaniment to the dance, as we find representations of singers clapping their hands in rhythm to the motions of the dance. Vocal music was made up of solos and choruses. Women often sang without musical accompaniment, but it appears that men rarely did so. Many songs have been preserved, one of the oldest being that of the oxen thresh ing out the corn: The Egyptians had no clear or fixed ideas of harmony and possessed no system of notation although they had many treatises on music. The harp, lyre, flute,
trumpet, drum, cymbals and tambourine were their principal instruments. We find notices of the harp prior to 3000 a.c. At first it had but 7 strings increasing gradually to 22. The strings were of catgut. It had no pedals and could be played in but one key. The lyre was also a popular instrument of from 6 to 20 strings. Flutes were in use at an early period. About 500 'B.C. the a kind of banjo, came into use. It generally had but one string, although some specimens have two or three. A shoulder harp was also in vogue about this time it was played when resting on the shoulder. It was a medium between the harp and guitar. All these instruments underwent considerable de velopment in the course of time and there were also a number of derived instruments. Both women and. men played on these, although cer tain instruments appear to have been peculiar to each sex. Consult Engel, 'Music' of the An cients> (London 1864) ; Mathews, 'Popular History of Music> (Chicago 1894); Smith, 'World's Earliest Musk> (London 1904).