Orality vs Aurality and Contemporary Christian Worship Music
When seeing examples of Qur’an recitation, I could not help but think of my own experiences with contemporary Christian worship music. The concept of Aurality is incredibly interesting to me. The thought of an encompassing experience with worship and music. Beyond just the sound or lyrical composition, but a complete participation in the practice. With this distinction in mind, it often, in my experience, feels as if some Christian worship music works through the channel of “Orality” rather than “aurality.” This became even more apparent to me when watching the videos of the Qur’an recitation in the Indonesian tradition. I could see this channel of Aurality and this idea of “taking it to heart” rather than just hearing. As the Qur’an recitation is placed in the framework of a melodic and timbred performance, it becomes musical.
To me, music is not just heard but is felt throughout the entire body. Rhythm and movement are inextricably connected to music and without it, the experience is incomplete. This experience doesn’t have to take the form of a complete dance, but the experience should display some sort of reciprocity between the performer and the music. It is difficult to put this relationship into words, but this is one way that I conceptualize Aurality as Anne Rasmussen writes it, and this feels like a central characteristic of music that makes it spiritual. This is where I see a fascinating comparison between some Christian traditions of musical worship and this Indonesian tradition of Qur’an recitation.
In many contemporary forms of Christian worship music there is an emphasis on the disconnect from the performer and the music. The object of importance in this case is the music itself, as it’s meant to be a form of prayer and individual enjoyment of participation should be minimized. Individual expression and divergence from the sheet music is discouraged. Performers are reminded that the performance is not about them, it’s about God. This is one immediate difference that I’ve noticed between these two traditions. The embellishment of some phrases through the melismatic singing stands in contrast to the stiff and direct performance of some contemporary Christian worship music. This difference is also in part thanks to the cultural influence on the musical style such as in the microtonality of parts of the melodies. This is not to say that all Christian worship music is stiffly performed, because plenty do embrace this embodied form of performing music, but I found this contrast between my own experience with musicality in worship and and the Indonesian traditions of Qur’an recitation very interesting.
I take it that you sing chorally, and you're speaking from your experience doing this. The Muslim mystic and poet Rumi has a beautiful image at the beginning of his poem the Mathnawi, of the poet/singer as a reed, through whom the wind flowing through - i.e., the breath of God - makes music (as the reed in a woodwind) and poetry (as written with a reed pen). Yes, the singer/poet/reed shapes the character and quality of sound, but doesn't create something from nothing. So yes, there's definitely some room for the performer's creative art, but key in the this image, and I think in your points, is the relationship, the connecting element that makes the musical sounds sacred. Reciprocity not only between the performer and the music, but also between these two and the audience. In any case, your musically informed reflection and observations are quite perceptive and thought-provoking. Nice!
ReplyDeleteI agree a ton with all of this! Rusmussen was really careful to write about the pride and bits of individualism in the recitations she listened to and preformed and there was a large emphasis on hearing these sounds -- they were to be heard, to be a call, to be shared and enjoyed religious experience for all. Christian music is a lot more for the performer than the listener, to the point where we now have people singing Christian music on planes; it's all about the performer saying to the world that they believe and that it's important to them and it's considered extra bonus points if the experience is enjoyed by those listening.
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