Talk:Shofar

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The following was removed on a previous edit:

The horn is flattened and given a turned up bell by applying heat to soften it. A hole is made from the tip of the horn to the natural hollow inside. Because this hollow is of irregular bore, the harmonics obtained when playing the instrument can vary: rather than a pure perfect fifth, intervals as narrow as a fourth, or as wide as a sixth may be produced.

I assume it was removed by mistake, and put it back (slightly rearraged) in the "construction" section. If it's faulty in any way, I'd appreciate fixes, of course. --Camembert

Re the portion of the article saying it's never used today outside of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah services: I may be clueless about Jewish liturgy, but wasn't it used during the celebrations immediately after the capture of the Western Wall by the Israelis in 1967? Similarly, I've heard (apocryphally) of it being used as a signaling device by the Israelis in battle situations. -152.163.252.4 11:24, 7 Dec 2003 (UTC)

I don't know about that, but what the article says is that it's almost never used outside of those times, which I think is accurate. --Camembert

In the section on the performer, the article says "Every Jew is eligigble for any sacred office, providing s/he is acceptable...", and then goes on to say "If a potential choice will cause dissention, he should withdraw his candidacy...". Where would I find guidance on the use of "s/he" vs. "he" as a gender-neutral pronoun, particularly within a given paragraph? I'd expect them to at least be internally consistent. Shall I change the "he" to "s/he", or is the initial "s/he" understood to set the referent for the following pronouns? --AnthonySorace

Contents 1 didgeridoo style 2 Unique sound waves 3 What type of horn may be used 4 Silver trumpet vs. Shofar

[edit] didgeridoo style

Are there any players that play it didgeridoo style, i.e. with circular breathing and multiphonics?Myrtone (the strict Australian wikipedian)(talk)

I don't think so, a shofar requires a lot of air quantity, and a lot of pressure to sound, too much for circular (cheek) breathing. 71.199.123.24 21:40, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

And regarding multiphonics: a shofar does not make any sound if you just blow into it (like a flute or recorder) you need to purse your lips and make a sort of bzzzzz sound. You can change the tone by changing the tone of the bzzzz, so I don't see any way of making multiple sounds. 71.199.123.24 21:44, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Unique sound waves

Click on a computer representation of a "tekiah" . Note the second tkiya note is similar but not identical to the first. The second starts out the same, then the long note of the first note is more sustained (and perhaps more melodic). The second note below has a vibrating long note at nearly the same amplitude. The third part of the note trails off and is similar but not identical in the two examples.

I removed the section (above) from the article. While it is accurate to state that the Shofar has "unique sound waves," this statement would hold for any instrument. "Unique sound waves" are what make a shofar sound like a shofar, a violin sound like a violin, or my voice sound like me, when I speak. The second assertion, that a "computer representation" is not the identical to the real thing, would likewise hold up for a recording or "computer representation" of anything. --Dbolton 01:50, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What type of horn may be used

This article goes around and around, and contradicts itself, on the subject of exactly which horns may be used, and in particular, whether the horns of non-kosher animals may be used. It's clear that there are differences of opinion on this point, but that could be presented a lot better - at present, several different views are presented, each as if it's the only authoritative one, and they're scattered through different sections of the article. I'd suggest creation of a new section for this issue, moving all the explanations into that one section, and summarizing the range of views that exist (with emphasis on the point that it depends which authority you follow) instead of giving them all in detail.129.97.79.144 16:22, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Silver trumpet vs. Shofar

From the article: "The shofar is prescribed for the announcement of the New Moon and solemn feasts (Num. x. 10; Ps. lxxxi. 4)"

The ref to Num 10 v 10 needs to be checked, I think it refers to the Silver trumpets and not the more humble rams horn. -- Paul Carley, 05:45, 16 November 2007.