Smells and Bells

  Hearing in Religion;  Looking at Music as a Full Body Experience When I think of sound as an experience I tend to think of music. Because I tend to get overwhelmed by my sense so easily, I look to music as a safe source of sensory comfort. I pop on my headphones and just press play and I’m transported to a space where I control what’s going on in my mind. In addition to this, I personally do not feel sound on a merely mind based space. I have fission, meaning I tend to get chills when listening to music, contributing to a more full experience where I find that all my senses are impacted. I like to close my eyes and let the music overtake me, and sometimes I’ll even turn off the lights just so I don’t have to think about what I’m doing! Despite the fact that I do not follow any specific religious practices (I am agnostic), I find the use of music in religion extremely interesting. Music is such an accessible form of art for people thanks to the internet, so anyone with an int...

Quran Recitation in Indonesia Quran recitation is common in many Islamic countries, but there is an indiginous Indonesian style of Quran recitation different from all others. Quran recitation in Indonesia differs from other Islamic performing traditions because Indonesia is the only place where excerpts of the Quran will be recited alongside musical instruments. Other Islamic cultures present Quran poetic shows, but leave out the music. Is Quran Recitation music? According to the US Census, 87% of the Indonesian population identifies as Muslim. Indonesian culture, however, is unique in many ways, which also affects Indonesian religious practices. Although most Indonesian citizens follow Islamic religious beliefs, there is one specific factor of Indonesian worship that differs from the way Islam is practice in other parts of Asia and that is Quran recitation. What is Quran recitation? Quran recitation is strictly to be separated from music in Islamic cultures. The addition of singin...

      School's Out.    It's been four months since my first blog post on the senses, and I still sit in the same "sea of smells" as before, although perhaps it’s a bit mustier. But, if I've learned anything, it's to appreciate the less pleasant sensations. A monolithic sensory palette is no palette at all, and as such, I wish to spend my last blog post meditating on a new sense, one with much more potential for linguistic expression: hearing.    Around me, dozens of sounds swirl around my head. Heavy feet stomp from above, creaking the hundred-year-old wood. A door slams, followed by sharp, clear laughter reminiscent of wind chimes. Cars rumble alongside the buzz of crickets and thick summer heat. And in the distance, I hear the faint mumblings of Kendrick Lamar's new album. With sound, the unseen world becomes realized, and I find myself able to connect with it beyond my physical limitations. In this sense, I ground myself into a universal narrat...

  I have had swimmer’s ear too many times to count, but I can proudly say that I’ve only ever had an ear infection once. The swimmer’s ear makes sense since I was a part of local swim teams from ages 9 to 18, even though I wasn’t really good at the sport. The ear infection though I remember exactly when it happened. I was in fourth grade when I got it, and I woke up in unbearable pain. Now, I was notorious for being a crier when I was little (so much so that my mom didn’t believe that I had gotten stung by a jellyfish until I got stung two more times, but that’s a story for another time), so I’m glad that my mom believed me when this happened. My mom called the doctor’s office and the earliest appointment that they had for me was at 3:30. At first this was fine, until about 10 am. My mom suddenly decided that she was not mentally prepared to listen to me scream and cry in pain for 5 more hours so she called again and luckily was able to get an appointment in 45 minutes in the nex...

  Anne Rasmussen's Women, the Recited Qur'an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia Courtesy: University of California Press      Through reading Anne Rasmussen's Women, the Recited Qur'an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia I was really fascinated by the differences in Qur’an recitation cross-culturally. Learning about the significance of Indigenous Indonesian styles of music and Arabic poetry traditions was certainly eye-opening. The way that the Qur’an is used and honored by Muslim people are vast, complex, intimate yet public.       A very damaging misconception about Islam is that women are not allowed to participate in activities or express themselves in any way. While it is unfortunately true that many Muslim women are subject to abuse and control, this absolutely does not automatically apply to all Islamic communities. The Indonesian Islamic songs sung by women that we listened to in class, particularly Al-Quran, were inspiring, emotive and empoweri...

     One of the things that struck me while reading Women, The Recited Qur’an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia was just how diverse and varying Indonesian Qur’an recitation and music were in their forms. Anne Rasmussen discusses the many different contexts in which Qur’an recitations happen, including in children’s schools, at the college-level, in local and national competitions, and others. It’s so interesting how various musical traditions are distinct and yet interwoven as well; in chapter 5, Rasmussen notes the three main streams of Indonesian Islamic music as ones that have derived from Arabic traditions, Indigenous Indonesian music traditions, and the incorporation of contemporary Western music into the first two. Continuing with the theme of interconnectedness, I found it fitting that in Indonesian, Islamic music is called musik yang bernafaskan or “music that breathes or is scented with Islam” (153). Although this book is mainly about sound and music, the mixed ...

      People try to appeal to others' sense of sound in a variety of ways. Music is a key aspect of most cultural traditions, religions, and lifestyles in general. People speak at sermons, at vigils, at weddings, formal events, informal events, and more, all to convey different messages and evoke different responses from their audiences. Rasmussen describes the varying intentions of music and Qur'an recitation in Arabic and Indonesian cultures, and she also notes the different intentions involved with these sensory experiences between both Arabic and Indonesian practices of Islam.       A new genre of hearing has recently come about, although it has existed in similar forms for centuries. This genre is ASMR –autonomous sensory meridian response. Okay, but what the heck does that mean? Well, ASMR involves creating sounds that induce a subjective experience of "low-grade euphoria" on the listener, for example, when someone taps gently on a glass vase, th...

The term is an oxymoron. Sacrality implies (at least in the salvation religions dominant in Western and Near Eastern history), a meaning rooted in a cosmic frame that transcends any immediate sensed from. The sacred cannot, therefore, be “performed.” Any reduction of meaning to form deprives that form of meaning. To perform the “sacred” necessarily is to profane it. Yet the sacred becomes real only as embodied in form. (1990, 208) This quote from Peacock in chapter three, page 119, of Rasmussen's book really intrigued me. It's sort of a different take than what I recently read in Exploring Judaism: A Reconstructionist Approach  by Rebecca Alpert and Jacob Staub. There's an entire chapter on Mordechai Kaplan's transnaturalist perspective that I was reminded of in this section. Kaplan's view was more so that God is found in the process, "God works through  us rather than upon us" ( Exploring Judaism , 20). I can't exactly remember if the phrase 'God...

Even prior to reading Anne Rasmussen’s Women, The Recited Qur’an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia , I knew the significance that sound plays in Indonesian culture. I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel to Indonesia last summer. Among the diverse cultures, traditions, and landscapes, I was also drawn to the rich sonic environment. Although I was not able to attend any of the cultural and religious festivals that Indonesia is known for, I was still able to get a good sense of the sounds in Indonesia. When we drove through the villages with our car windows down, we were met with the bustling sounds of the streets- outdoor market vendors selling various produce, honking cars, the revving of motorcycle engines, and barking dogs. On one of the days that I was there there, we noticed that the cars ahead of us had stopped moving. We couldn’t see what was going on, but we could hear- the beating of drums, the sound of the laughter of children, the footsteps of people, etc. fil...

In Rasmussen's book Rethinking Women, Music, and Islam, she explores the idea how Islam is incredibly eclectic and multifaceted, especially its music. There is no “standard” music… it can include anything from chantings and recitations to gatherings where people sing together. Rasmussen recounts an experience in Indonesia where she was able to spend a lot of time with people because they all shared a passion for music. Even though she didn’t know the words or instruments used, they were all able to enjoy themselves because they were “sharing a performance” with one another. This makes a ton of sense to me. One time I had to go with my sister to a Harry Styles concert in Manhattan. I initially I did not want to go at all, but was talked into it because I figured could get a nice dinner somewhere in the city. At the concert, we were up in the nosebleeds and to be honest, I only knew one of his songs. His music wasn’t really for me, but about fifteen minutes in I began to have a lot ...