Aidan Travis Sound in Religion / Rasmussen post

I found “Women, the Recited Qur'an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia” by Anne K. Rasmussen to be very insightful on Islam, the women of Islam, and how western culture is viewed in the east. I have never really learned much about Islam in my life and I have met very few muslims in person as well. But, I was very eager to learn more going into this reading. I was fascinated learning about the true nature of Islam when it came to sounds, like she states in the second chapter, I had only heard sound in Islam depicted as in her words, “A chilling voice that slices through the air.” I was very pleased to learn that that was not the case. I was fascinated to learn that it is a group of voices all reciting the Qu’ran in a loose free-meter fashion. I feel that learning about religion in its true form is crucial in a world where seemingly all media outlets have a bias. 

I have always been involved with sound in the context of religion. When I was very young I was in the choir at my local church. I enjoyed it so much that I would even take the liberty of echoing the other kids in the choir because I thought it would sound good. But, looking back on it, I probably just made everyone in mass think I was two beats off. When I was in high school I joined my school chorus and sang Mass in G by Franz Schubert at Carnegie Hall. This was an awesome experience and it allowed me to further explore the world of sound and religion.