ת"ר בראשונה שם בן שתים עשרה אותיות היו מוסרין אותו לכל אדם משרבו הפריצים היו מוסרים אותו לצנועים שבכהונה והצנועים שבכהונה מבליעים אותו בנעימת אחיהם הכהנים תניא אמר רבי טרפון פעם אחת עליתי אחר אחי אמי לדוכן והטיתי אזני אצל כהן גדול ושמעתי שהבליע שם בנעימת אחיו הכהנים
and these 'swallowed it'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., pronounced it indistinctly.');"><sup>29</sup></span> during the chanting of their brother priests.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [I.e., while they were chanting the Tetragrammaton at the benediction.]');"><sup>30</sup></span> It was taught: R'Tarfon said: 'I once ascended the dais<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Where the priests stood when they blessed the people.');"><sup>31</sup></span> after my mother's brother, and inclined my ear to the High Priest, and heard him swallowing the Name during the chanting of his brother priests.
Rashi on Kiddushin
"Conceal it in the melody" - while those who were not aware of it and would say the blessing with the four-letter name would draw out the melody, the other Cohanim would quickly say the twelve-letter name, and it would not be heard by the public due to the voices of the others. The Hebrew word 'neima' is equivalent to the sweet voice known [in Provencal] as 'trobar'.
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Daf Shevui to Kiddushin
Interestingly, according to this view of history, at one point everyone knew God’s twelve letter name. But people began to use it for their own gain, and at that point it needed to be hidden. They continued to transmit it to priests who would guard it properly. These priests softly uttered it during the chanting of the priestly blessing. Rashi explains that most priests would use God’s four letter name, as we do today (although we do not pronounce it the way it is written). When they would extend their singing, the priests who knew the twelve-letter name would utter it so that most people couldn’t hear it. Rashi even translates chanting into French as “trope”—as in Torah trope!
