People of the past made music an essential fabric in nearly every way of life. The earliest textual reference in the Hebrew text explains that Jubal was the ancestor of inventing instruments, but the text mentions only two instruments: kinnor (lyre) and ugav (pipe) (Gen. 4:21). Nevertheless, data have shown that the Israel/Palestine culture incorporated several instrument types as well as men and women as performers. It appears that both groups played instruments in various cultural contexts (e.g., transportation of the Ark), and they also performed to gather in specific instances (celebrations involving ôall of Israel,ö I Kings 1:40). The Hebrew text describes instances of groups of women with frame drums and singing to commemorate acts of God and triumph in battle (Exod. 15:20; Judg. 11:1-40; I Sam. 18:6-7).


Mesopotamian artifacts show several iconographic scenes. One in particular is an alabaster relief from the south wall of Sennacheribes temple (704?681 BCE). The scene depicts three captured Judahites performing on lyres (Rashid 1984: 122, Ill. 142).