Telisha is one of two cantillation

Cantillation

Cantillation is the ritual chanting of readings from the Hebrew Bible in synagogue services. The chants are written and notated in accordance with the special signs or marks printed in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible to complement the letters and vowel points...

 marks found in the Torah

Torah

Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...

, Haftarah

Haftarah

The haftarah or haftoroh is a series of selections from the books of Nevi'im of the Hebrew Bible that is publicly read in synagogue as part of Jewish religious practice...

, and other books of the Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...

. There are two versions of the Telisha: Telisha ketana (תְּלִישָא קְטַנָּה֩) and Telisha gedola (תְּ֠לִישָא גְדוֹלָה), the latter of which has a longer melody and higher peak. The Telisha trope can occur independently or can follow a Pazer

Pazer

Pazer is a cantillation mark found in the Torah, Haftarah, and other books of the Hebrew Bible. The pazer is generally followed by a Telisha ketana or gedola; on rare occasions when it is followed by another Pazer....

 or one of several other trope sounds. The Telisha ketana must be followed by a Kadma

Kadma (trope)

Kadma is a common cantillation mark found in the Torah, Haftarah, and other books of the Hebrew Bible...

.

The Hebrew word תְּ֠לִישָא translates into English as detached. This is because they are never linked to the following note as a single phrase. "קְטַנָּה" refers to little (the shorter note) and "גְדוֹלָה" to great (the longer note).

The Telisha gedola can be found in the Torah 266 times. The Telisha ketana occurs 451 times.

Total occurrences

Book	Telisha ketana	Telisha gedola
Torah Torah Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...	451	266
Genesis	92	51
Exodus	87	42
Leviticus	71	56
Numbers Book of Numbers The Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch....	88	50
Deuteronomy	113	67
Nevi'im Nevi'im Nevi'im is the second of the three major sections in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. It falls between the Torah and Ketuvim .Nevi'im is traditionally divided into two parts:...	413	238
Ketuvim Ketuvim Ketuvim or Kəṯûḇîm in actual Biblical Hebrew is the third and final section of the Tanak , after Torah and Nevi'im . In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, this section is usually entitled "Writings" or "Hagiographa"...	350	335

Melody

While the names "Telisha Ketana" and "Telisha Gedola" are 6 syllables each, they are usually applied to words with far fewer syllables, often just one. In one-syllable words, only the notes leading to and from the peak are included. In multiple-syllable words, the additional syllables are recited at the level of the first note leading up to the peak.