Religious Sounds
Sound is so important for so many different faiths and religions because sound is how so many people communicate with each other as well as pray to their god(s) or deities. The one thing we can expect to find when attending a place of worship of any faith is song, prayer and talking. Sounds such as specking and singing are such a large part of cultures and we can clearly see this in the videos of showing people practicing parts of the Islamic faith. Another large part of religion and faith when it comes to sound is music. One can find different types of instruments such as drums, guitars, pianos and many others being used while praying and worshiping god(s) and deities.
There so are many ways to show that one is dedicated to their faith or religion and using music is key role way of showing dedication in many groups. Every religion has different approaches to how they wanted to use it, sometimes it depends on gender, age, location, position of power, language and intentions. Some examples of these different usages of music based on other factors include coming of age ceremonies , prayer lead by religious leaders, male only prayers.
Gender and religious music is such an interesting intersection because historically in many faiths’ women weren’t allowed to participate in religious practices such as going to religious cites to pray or practice. This ideal of women not being allowed to participate because women were often viewed as not pure or not clean but it’s important to clarify that not all religious currently or used to feel this way. Anne Rasmussen’s book “Women, The Recited Qur’an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia” addresses many many things about how music in the Islamic faith is used, it also addresses how women can participate and be an active member in the Islamic faith. In addition Rasmussen touched on the role of Muslim women in Indonesia.
I think in addition to your points about the great variety of ways that music can be used to express different religions, it can also be important to note the ways that third-parties can interpret religion through music. I'm thinking of like how classical composers would create symphonies based on religious influences and depict religious stories through their music.
ReplyDeleteGood point. When I teach a course on Scripture in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam from a comparative perspective, a have a unit on J.S. Bach as a Christian interpreter of Scripture, particularly in his St. Matthew and St. John Passions composition. One year when I was teaching Smells and Bells, the Wheaton choral groups got to sing the St. John Passion with a Boston professional chorus on campus. Our own Wheaton Professor of Music Delvyn Case composes a lot of music based on Christian religious, especially Biblical texts, and he's had them performed on campus.
DeleteWhy do you thing music or music-like sounds such as virtuoso Qur'an recitations "work" so well at encouraging "religious" experiences? I suspect it's both the deep emotional impacts that certain kinds of sounds, and the very physical, embodied way we feel music, whether it's instinctive foot-tapping and hand-clapping to rhythmic beats (which can be very similar to our own heart beats), or swaying, or formal and informal dancing, or to the ways we feel and control our breath when we ourselves are singing - musical sounds touch us deeply, even sometimes wordlessly. Emotion and physicality are important ways that people experience religions or religion-like things, and give ordinary sound experiences that "something more" feeling we call spiritual, or religious.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't want to underplay your points about the roles of gender in religious sounds in general, and Indonesian Qur'an recitation in particular. Rasmussen alluded to view of some Muslim clerics particularly in Arab cultures that there was something improper or even lewd in hearing women's voices singing. It reminded me of the Jewish rabbinic prohibitions of women singing within the earshot of men, even Jewish prayers, because "kol ishah ervah," Hebrew literally for "the sound of woman is nakedness, sexuality." Obviously even pious Indonesian Muslim men and women do not hear women's recitation of the Qur'an in this way, at least according to the examples Rasmussen described. How can religious traditions differ so profoundly over the holiness of women's voices?
ReplyDeleteBefore reading Anne Rasmussen's book I never would have thought that women's voices or how they make sound could be significant; I know various aspects that may or may not be important to different cultures, like how family bonds and such are very important to the Chinese, but I never would have considered sound to be so significant.
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