Music, Religion and Philosophy
Music is used in religion in numerous ways, such as to spread the religion and enhance the religion itself. Music speaks to people, on every level of life. In my personal experience religion has been used to intensify the words of God, before the preacher begins the sermon, I remember him always saying "Now, open your green hem book to page "____" and sing along with us". Singing along with everyone connects us together and prepares us to open our hearts and minds to the word. This, to a lot of people, is a very important part of the service. For me personally, I enjoy and find the preaching itself more useful and meaningful, than singing along with the masses.
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And what is the purpose of that use? What sort of performing styles expected, and are there any rules that should be followed?
The purpose of music in my personal experience with religion is to connect all of us together in God's word. When we all sing together, we are all worshiping together and that's the most important thing. Singing is also a very common way to spread the word. A lot of people see it as another form of communication to and from God. There aren't really any strict preforming styles or rules that are to be followed, but when I went to church most of the time we would sing all together with one person leading, have someone sing a solo while we all listened, or have a group of people sing to the rest of us. It wasn't a very informal act, but it wasn't at all strict either.
Do the prevailing religions of your surroundings have an influence on what is found aesthetically pleasing in music? Is there any way in which the values of those religions are inherent in the way music is built or experienced?
I do not think that the prevailing religions of my surroundings have an influence on what is found aesthetically pleasing in music. Since Americans practice so many religions, there is in my opinion a separate culture of popular music. Most religions do not to my knowledge have an influence on mass culture music in America because everyone listens to it and not everyone is for the same religion. For example, there are no religious influences on the song Tennessee whiskey. There are however religious influences on multiple songs, but the artists that write those songs, write them with the intent of having a religious influence. I think that the way the values of music are inherent or experienced depends on the individual's personal experience with the music. Everyone listens to music with a different intent. The song or piece of music could raise an emotion of sadness for me, but happiness for another, so depending on how the person perceives the music is how it is experienced. I have listened to music that isn't written with the intent of being religiously influenced, but I can relate to the music in a way that can almost enhance my faith. The song will just speak to me and make sense, in a religious way but only because that is how I perceived the song.
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That's how the sermons were always introduced at my church too, except our hymn books were a kind of marbled burgundy if that makes sense. I'm not sure if that's an accurate description or gives the best idea. The closest I've ever been to a church with more formal roles for its audience and choir was my brief attendance of Catholic services with my aunt and maybe A.M.E services.
ReplyDeleteReally good and straight forward blog, I like how you got right to the point and just expressed how you felt about music in religion. I think this would be a really good blog for people who aren't christians, and just want the facts, to read :)
ReplyDeleteI think you bring up a good point that while not all aesthetics have a religious influence, there are religious aesthetics in certain musics. They can always hit a certain emotions. Certain gospel songs can move people to tears by how much they feel the faith in themselves.
ReplyDeleteOh man. I remember my preacher always asking us to stand up and open our little brown hymn books. You better believe that we would be standing there singing for a while. As a kid, I hated standing up for so long. Obviously, now that I'm older it isn't a problem. Growing up that was my least favorite part of church. It is very rare that a classic hymn will bring a tear to my eye. I have definitely stumbled across a few that moved me to tears though.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog. In the first paragraph you mentioned how the preacher would ask everyone to open up their books, It brought a nostalgic memory when I was young that I completely forgot. Also, I figured out when reading the blogs that mostly every religion uses music to connect with everyone around.
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