Eruchin 2:3 - 2:4

אין פוחתין מעשרים ואחת תקיעות במקדש (see parallel Mishnah with this information in Tractate Sukkah, Chapter 5, Mishnah 5) - in the Tractate Sukkah, Chapter “HeKhalil”/The Flute [53b] they are explained. But it is taught in the Mishnah: “But they do not sound more than forty-eight,” not exactly, for sometimes, they add up until seventy-five blasts of the Shofar when the eve of Passover falls/occurs on Shabbat, and because it is not all that frequent, it is not considered.

אין פוחתין משני נבלים – for two Levites [when they sing over the sacrifice].

ולא מוסיפין על ששה – but the reason is not given.

חלילין – a kind of musical instrument whose sound can be heard from afar, TZALAMILISH in the foreign tongue and MIZMORI in Arabic.

ולא מוסיפין על שנים עשר – corresponding to the twelve days in the year when the flute strikes them (figuratively – it means, “plays”) before the Altar. But the language of "מכה"/strikes – is a play on the word חליל/flute which is made with holes and one strikes the holes with one’s finger to make a pleasing sound.

בשחיטת הפסח – on the fourteenth day of Nisan when they would recite the Hallel (i.e., Psalms 113-118) at the time of the slaughter of the Passover [offering], as is stated in the chapter, “The Daily Offering is slaughtered” (Chapter 5 of Tractate Pesahim) [84b].

אבוב (brass flute) – the thin reed that is at the head/top of the flute, and in the Gemara (Tractate Arakhin 10b) it proves that the flute itself is called an אבוב /thin reed.

שקולו ערב (its sound is sweet) – when it is of a reed, more so than that of copper/bronze. And specifically a flute that one strikes before the Altar on a sacrifice that supersedes the Sabbath, and all the more so, the Festival. But the flute of the ceremony of the drawing of water did not supersede neither the Sabbath nor the Festival, as is proven in [Tractate] Sukkah in the chapter "החליל"/The Flute (see Tractate Sukkah, Chapter 5, Mishnah 1/50a).

לא היה מחליק אלא באבוב יחידי (none but flute solo was used for closing a tune, because it makes a pleasant finale – see Talmud Arakhin 10a) – when he would reach the conclusion of the tune, one of the flutes would lengthen his playing after the others had completed, and this is a pleasant closing more than if both of them would conclude as one (see Talmud Arakhin 10b). And חילוק/closing a tune softly is the conclusion of producing the sound of a melody/tune, and at the time of the offering [of the sacrifice] there was this song, and the Levites would sing with their mouth the Hallel (Psalms 113-118) in those twelve days, and the flutes would be playing. But on the rest of the days, they would praise [God] with cymbals and harps. But the song that the Levites would recite in the Temple on the first day [of the week] (Psalm 24): The earth is the LORD’s and its fullness,” and all of the Psalm, on the second day [of the week] (Psalm 48): “Great is the LORD and highly to be praised,” and similarly all of them (see also Tractate Tamid, Chapter 7, Mishnah 4).

ועבדי כהנים היו – those who would play the flute, for Rabbi Meir felt that they do not promote one from the Dukhan (i.e., the platform upon which the Levites stood during the singing of Psalms) to noble families (i.e., free from any taint of illegitimacy) and not to the enjoyment of tithes (i.e., if they are Levites they are not only privileged to marry into Israel’s noble families, but also, a more practical benefit, to obtain the tithe which a member of that tribe is entitled to receive from the average Jew). Therefore, it is does not matter to us if they were slaves.

בית הפגרים בית צפריא – names of noble families.

ומאמאום – name of a place.

ומשיאין לכהונה – Kohanim would marry their daughters, that were from noble families of Israel. But Rabbi Yossi held that they promote one from the platform to noble families, therefore, if they were not noble families, he would not let them continue to play on the Dukhan.

רבי חנניא בן אנטינוס אומר לוים היו – Rabbi Hananiah ben Antigonos holds that they promote one from the platform to the enjoyment of tithes, therefore, they were Levites. But they don’t dispute other than regarding those who play the musical instruments, but regarding singing by mouth, everyone agrees that only the Levites sing songs by mouth over the offering of sacrifices, as it is written (Deuteronomy 18:7): “He may serve in the name of the LORD his God [like all his fellow Levites who are there in attendance before the LORD],” what is service which is in the name of the LORD? He would say, this is the song. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yossi.