Harps on the Sheminith - “Sheminith” properly means “the eighth,” and has been compared with the modern musical term “octave.” Further, “Sheminith” and “Alamoth” are regarded as contrasted, and the harps of Mattithiah and his companions are supposed to have been pitched an octave below the psalteries of Zechariah and his brethren.
The word translated “to excel,” is taken as meaning “to lead,” and Mattithiah, etc., as leaders of the singers.