Smells and Bells

 The Power of a Pause Dr. Maria Ulfah & Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. By Ava Barry When I first heard Dr. Maria Ulfah I was spell bound. Sitting in my dorm room, listening to a video that was posted as homework for one of my classes. I was planning on only watching a mere one to two minutes of this 28 minute video, yet I found myself sitting there in awe as the minutes quickly flowed by. This video was of a Quran recitation. The audience in the video was full, yet we [the viewers] didn't hear a sound other than her voice echoing through us.  "Indonesian audiences are not known for silence, even in the context of formal events. In this case, however, although the women enjoyed the snacks provided and some of them whispered to one another, there was relative silence for the duration of the presentation and recitation. At this event and the many others I attended where she was a featured (and paid) reciter, Maria Ulfah commanded an attentive audience." (Rasmussen, 205) For ...

One of the biggest reasons I have committed my life to music is because, for me, music is spiritual. In particular, the human voice carries a significant power to promote spiritual experiences through triggering emotional responses. When listening to someone sing, have you ever felt the hairs rise on your arms, the back of your neck or a tingling rise up your spine? The opportunity to connect with another person so deeply as to elicit a response like that is precious. This level of connection is rare. The rarity, and the power of this kind of connection is why I seek to both find and create it. Over the course of my life, I have discovered that there is a sensitivity required to experience this level of connection from another's voice and I that the performer is also required to share this vulnerability. In Anne Rasmussen's Women, and Islamic Music in Indonesia  she discusses how expert Qur'an reciters use ornamentation and the "breaking" of the voice stylistica...