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What is the oldest melody in the world?

Music archaeology has deciphered two important finds that turned out to be the oldest musical pieces in history.

The Hymn to Nikkal, goddess of the Phoenicians, is considered to be the oldest musical work, although it isn’t complete. It was written around 1400 BCE. It is made of clay tablets. A prayer and some symbols, which represent sounds, are engraved on them. It has got instructions on how to play the melody on the harp or lyre.

The Seikilos Epitaph is the first complete musical work known. An epitaph is a short text written to remember the deceased. This epitaph was placed by order of Seikilos on his wife Euterpe’s tomb in around the 2nd century BCE. It appears on a marble column with a Greek text engraved. There are letters and signs that indicate the pitch and duration of the sounds.

The Hymn to Nikkal is very valuable. It is the first time that music was written.

The Seikilos epitaph is the first known sheet music with signs marking pitch and sound duration.

• The most recent composition is ? ....

• On what material was the Hymn to Nikkal made? ?

• An epitaph is ?

• Explain similarities between both pieces. ?

Voice musicogram

1 RQAS Look at the musicogram and interpret it with your voice.

USE YOUR IMAGINATION

2 Explore new symbols and create your own musicogram in your notebook. Perform it in front of the group.