EGYPTIAN MUSIC

Music was as important to the ancient Egyptians as it is in our modern society. The ancient Egyptians were very organized and this included how they organized and arranged music and musicians. They brought music to their religious ceremonies, but it was also played and performed in workshops, palaces, on farms and even in their tombs. Egyptologists are the professionals that study Egypt. When examining the hieroglyphs (pictures) they have found that Egyptians created a wonderful selection of musical instruments. They had stringed, wind and percussion instruments. They also accompanied their musical performances with hand clapping as well as singing by both men and women. Wind instruments looked very close to the ones we use today and included trumpets as well as both single and double reed flutes and some flutes without any reeds. The stringed instruments were all plucked, rather than ‘bowed’ (like a violin) and there are many images of Egyptians playing lyres, harps and lutes. Ancient Egyptians had a number of professional musicians that performed for many events. The royal family of the pharaoh had personal musicians of the highest quality. Lower class musicians performed as entertainers for many of the festivals and parties and it was common to see dancers and informal singers perform with them. The people of ancient Egypt shared the same love of music as so many civilizations around the world. And, just as other cultures, they used music to express their emotions and feelings.