Music and Dance

Popularity

• Egypt was the first great culture to enjoy music and dance. The Ancient
Egyptians enjoyed life to its fullest and no celebration in Ancient Egypt would
have been complete without music and dancing. During festivals, crowds
chanted and clapped, carried along by the vibrant rhythm of Egyptian
orchestras, while dancers performed amazing feats, leaping twirling and
bending their bodies in time with the music.(music & dance )
• At parties, singers and dancers performed to the music of harps, lutes,
drums, flutes, cymbals, clappers and tambourines.(music & dance)
• The most common type of musical instrument used in ancient Egypt was
percussion instruments. (music & dance)
Musicians
• Ancient Egyptians developed two different kinds of harps and three different
types of lyres! The most popular type of harp was the arched harp and it came
in a variety of sizes. They also used an instrument known as an oud, a guitar-
like instrument. The Ney, meanwhile, is a flute-like instrument that is actually
still in use by bands today (music & dance).
• Ancient Egyptians invented many different types of wind instruments. Most of
these instruments were made with reeds until bronze became more common.
Among these wind instruments are mizmars (flute-like instruments with seven
finger holes) and zummaras (double-barreled pipe instruments which are
made in two sections and then tied together). Yet another is the memet which
may well be the ancestor of the clarinet. They also had a trumpet-like
instrument known as a shofar (Music and dance).
• A percussion instrument is basically anything that produces a sound by being
hit, rubbed, shaken or scraped, so even hands are considered percussion
instruments in the right circumstances. Countless Egyptian tombs depict
crowds of people clapping during ceremonies. Drums were also very common
in the later part of Egyptian history, particularly during the Late Period, as
were clappers. Cymbals were common as well as castanets and metal
instruments called sistrums, which produced sounds when shaken because of
the rings mounted in them(music & dance)
Other performers
• Musicians were much respected, especially the ones highest up in the
"pecking order". For instance, temples musicians represented the God of the
temple, which makes them extremely important. Dances were classified in
one of six ways: banquet dances, combat dances, harem dances, street
dances, religious dances, and non-religious dances. The dances themselves
were extremely acrobatic as illustrations on tombs show the dancers leaping,
cart wheeling, and even performing handstands. However, the nobles never
danced in public and there are no depictions of men and women dancing
together, mostly pairs or groups of females together(music & dance).
• Dancing was popular in ancient Egypt, regardless of the money (music &
dance ).
• Laborers worked in tempo while rhythmic music played on percussion
instruments and street dancers worked hard to entertain shoppers passing
by. Dance troupes were hired to perform at important dinner parties and at
religious temples, and even harem women were trained in dance(music &
dance)
Training
• Any musician or dancer was considered a professional (music & dance).
 • To be better than others you should have be dance-scholar(music & dance)
• There are religious dances, non-religious festival dances, banquet dances,
harem dances, combat dances, and street dances (music & dance).

WorksCited“Music and Dance.” Ancient Egyptian Virtual Temple. Ma’at Publishing.

Web. 4September 2009. Pictures from: Music and Dance.” Ancient Egyptian Virtual
Temple. Ma’at Publishing. Web. 4September 2009.