Music has been used in Jewish religious services since Biblical times. The Mishna, a study of religious life and practice, says that the original Temple in Jerusalem had a choir of a dozen men and an equal number of instrumentalists who performed during services. Today most musical performance in the temple or synagogue comes from the cantor, whose job it is to sing the prayers that are used during services. Some temples or synagogues have choirs that also sing the prayers and sacred songs written specifically for religious performance. The shofar, a horn made from the horn of a ram, is sounded at the High Holidays, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, in a specific musical pattern.
Observant Jews also sing sacred music at home. Zemirot are sacred songs sung by family members to mark special occasions, such as the beginning of Shabbat or other special mealtimes. There are many subdivisions of zemirot: some are only sung by women, some only by men, some by children. Nigun are sacred songs sung by unaccompanied vocal groups. Nigun singing is primarily a Hassidic practice, and many of the nigun songs are texts by the founder of Hassidic Judaism, the Baal Shem Tov, set to music.
There are many types of Jewish secular music, ranging from klezmer, which is instrumental music, to Jewish hip-hop and rap. Secular music is used at weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, and anytime other non-sacred music would be used. Secular music is unlimited in its scope, ranging from vocal pop music to classical art music. According to Jessica Kirzner, a 2008 conference on Israeli music covered topics ranging from "Israeli art music, hip hop, electric guitar, a revival of vernacular 'Cochini' women's songs of the Jews of India in Israel, the relationship between popular Israeli and Italian music, the politics of Palestinian-Israeli music and postmodernism in Israeli music." Jewish composers of art music are---like composers everywhere---inspired by regional history or events and pre-existing sacred and secular music.
Klezmer music originated among Ashkenazi Jews in Eastern Europe and was commonly performer at weddings and other celebrations until the Shoah in the 1930s and 1940s. Drawing on local dance music, nigun tunes, Romany music, music from the theater and jazz, klezmer is marked by its joyful, wild wailing, the "bending" or "bluing" of notes a la American jazz, the use of rubato and the incorporation of glissandi between notes. Klezmer bands usually feature a clarinet, accordion, violin, piano or other keyboards and percussion. According to one source on Klezmer music, "In (mutual) contact with Slavonic, Greek, Ottoman (Turkish), Arabic, Gypsy and--later-American jazz musicians, the 'klezmorim' acquired, through numerous tempo changes, irregular rhythms, dissonance and a touch of improvisation, the ability to generate a very diversified music."
Israeli music, like klezmer, draws on a huge pool of influences and sources. Israeli folk music are traditionally patriotic, celebrating the establishment of the state of Israel and major events in its history. Song texts are frequently taken from popular writers and poets, and the accompanying music is fairly simple so that it can easily be played by schoolteachers on the piano or guitar. Folk songs also deal with traditions and the history of Jews outside of Israel as a way of spreading knowledge about Jewish life elsewhere. Popular Israeli music is much like popular music around the world: topics range from love to angst to break-ups to school days. Hip-hop, rap and heavy metal are all widely accepted genres in Israeli popular music. Some performers mix the sacred and the secular, like reggae artist Matisyahu, who says his influences include Phish and Bob Marley in addition to nigun.