Sacred Sounds: A Compassionate Listening Guide to Musical Worship (original) (raw)
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Sacred sound in world religions: An interreligious teaching and learning experience
Teaching Theology & Religion, 2020
This article reflects on the experience of teaching a course called "Sacred Sound in World Religions" at Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. I claim that the nature of music and music-making has profound implications for teaching and pedagogical theory in an interreligious setting. Drawing upon scholars including Lisa M. Hess, Sus
Sound, Music, and the Study of Religion
Temenos - Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion
The study of religion has been greatly enhanced in recent years by the new emphasis on lived religion and materiality (Meyer et al. 2011). It also impels us to consider how the aesthetic factors into the interpretation of religious worlds (Meyer 2009). Moreover, the shift in academic focus from beliefs and texts to practice and the sensorium has generated stimulating new questions about religious communication and mediation (Morgan 2009). Surprisingly, music and extramusical sound receive scant attention despite the significance of sound and hearing in our lives. Scholars of religion have been slow to engage the multidisciplinary boom in sound studies of the last few years (Keeling & Kun 2011). 2 In what follows I discuss some of the historical biases and methodological challenges related to studying religion from an acoustic and auditory perspective. I review the work of some authors who have overcome what Isaac Weiner calls our 'disciplinary deafness' (2009, 897) and made the 'sound of the sacred' a centerpiece of their research and publications. 3 In the course of the essay, I identify some of the topics that are arguably integral to the development of a more sonically aware religious studies, as well as areas that await more study. The undervaluation of sound in the academic study of religion is linked to the privileging of sight over sound in Western modernity, whereby the aural as a spiritual sense is diminished (Chidester 1992; Schmidt 2002). Furthermore, listening is held to be the most passive of the senses, and 1 My work on sound and music in religion has been greatly aided by a course I taught on this topic (spring 2011) and by the assistance of Jeremy Spiers. I also acknowledge the contributions of the 'Sound In/As Religion' symposium' that I organized at the 2010 World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR) in Toronto. 2 On this topic, see the excellent blog, Sounding Out! <www.soundstudiesblog.com>. 3 Cf. Morgan 2012 on 'the look of the sacred'.
Sounds, Bodies and Power: Politics and Poetics of Religious Sounds
National University of Singapore, Asia Research Institute, Feb 27-28, 2020
Whether through mantras, Quran recitation contests, or Christian congregational singing, sounds, bodies and texts depend on each other for the continued vitality of the sacred and the way it is experienced in Asia. However, texts have been given utmost priority in the field of Religious Studies for a series of historical and cultural reasons that have been summarized as a "scriptist bias" and "ocularcentrism". Ranking vision over other senses in Western cultures, at the expense of the auditory and other sensory realms, has produced a kind of "disciplinary deafness" in the study of religions. This conference aims to consider the importance of "a sonic turn" to bring forth understudied connections between bodies, sounds and media in the private and public life of religions in Asia. It welcomes toolbox approaches from multidisciplinary scholars who combine methods and perspectives from religious studies, history, ethnomusicology, anthropology, media studies, folklore and performance studies. Bodies of texts, which represent our common acceptation of the term corpus/corpora, will give way to a specific attention on "bodies of songs" (Hess 2015), "bodies of sounds" (Dodds and Cook 2013), the "skinscapes" of religious experience (Plate 2012), the sensory and embodied dimensions of the sacred (Csordas 1994, Meyer 2011), and the "entextualization" of the body through sacred sounds (Flood 2005). The role of sounds and embodied practices will also emerge as encompassing these intimate and affective dimensions, and reflecting broader questions on mediatization, and on the relationship between sounds, religions and power. In fact, the use of sound shapes the ways in which space is produced and perceived. Hence religious soundscapes, especially in urban and multicultural spaces, have been discussed as enveloping and claiming territorial authority, establishing boundaries, or awakening inter-religious tensions. An emerging literature on congregational singing as establishing community and the sense of belonging, and recent scholarship on the relationship between religious soundscapes and place-making are helpful in articulating the theoretical liaison between sound, people, places and identities. However, these conceptual frameworks, frequently based on urban, predominantly Christian, and North Atlantic contexts, often neglect intimate discourses, real experience and lived understandings of sound-and what sacred sound does to the people who are creating, listening, producing, and interpreting it. The focus on the sonic aspect of religion cannot be separated from movement and touch, as fundamental dimensions of the experience of the religious body. Sound, and the senses of the praying/playing/listening/dancing body, appear as an interconnected and fundamental point to start an innovative discussion on the politics and the aesthetics of religious experience. The ways in which performed and sounded religious experiences are produced, transmitted, reproduced, commodified and received is also inseparable from the technical and mediated ways in which these communicative acts take place. Therefore our discussion is necessarily embedded in the understanding of the relationship between religion and media. Sound and the sonic ritual body are articulated and understood in different religious mediatizations, as cultural expressions communicated by oral, textual, musical, danced, digital, and other vehicles. Whether conveyed by live performance, graphemes, televangelism, or social media, the sensorial field of religious chanting, preaching, mourning, ritual dancing, or singing, becomes a site for broader social negotiations, sectarian contestations and trans-territorial identity formations, ultimately unsettling and multiplying the discussion on religion, the senses and the media in Asia. Our discussion is interested in the various intersections between religious sounds, bodies, mediascapes and the reflection of power relationships, in order to understand contemporary issues that comprise but are not limited to: Community-making and place-making processes; Sound in ritual performance and the heritage discourse; Multicultural soundscapes in the public sphere; Sacred music, migration and diasporas; Sonic contestations and the production of inequalities; Religious sounds in new and changing mediascapes.
The Matrix of African American Sacred Music in the 21st Century
The Journal of Traditions Beliefs, 2014
Based on the author's keynote lecture for RASHAD's Spring 2009 Religious History and Sacred Music Institute M usic frames and shapes the worship and social justice life of most African American churches. Vocal and instrumental music accompanies Christians from birth to death, during special sacred holidays, weekly worship, and in protest against injustice and oppression. Socio-cultural and religious contexts, and the sacred and secular texts, inform music: a combination of sound and silence, affecting listeners on a deeply spiritual, sensual, physical, and psychological level. From making a joyful noise to moments of contemplation, from pomp and circumstance to baptism and funerals, music is integral to corporate worship. Simultaneously, worship does not just happen on Sunday in the sanctuary. Worship is a daily activity. Just as there is no monolithic African American church, there is no monolithic or single type of African American sacred music. The styles and choices of music used to worship vary from church to church, from denominational to nondenominational environments, from Catholic to Protestant, to those faith institutions that align with but are not Christian at the core. The lived experiences and needs of the body of Christ from cradle to grave also change and inform music preferences. Issues of education, socio-cultural location, colorism, gender, and class often also shape affinity to particular musical types. Further, not only do the genres, uses, and performance styles of this sacred music vary, but they emanate upon and within diverse praying grounds, and the particular choices from venue to venue are contested. When thinking of praying grounds, imagine multiple kinds of spaces. Where does one pray? Imagine having an attitude and experience of prayer, of communicating, of dialoguing with God, where one speaks and listens in venues or spaces that are sacred-churches, hallowed land, mosques, temples, synagogues, in nature, and places individuals think of as secular-in 1 Kirk-Duggan: The Matrix of African American Sacred Music in the 21st Century
Sound and music play a vital role in many religious and spiritual practices around the world. However, they have not been studied considerably in the field of religion or in related disciplines thus far. This article begins to bridge this gap by drawing a preliminary cartography of the research field and proposing a transdisciplinary methodological basis for further studies. It includes a survey of the state of research and firmly locates the field within the secular study of religion rather than within phenomenological, theological or religious approaches. The key concepts “sound,” “music” and “religion” are introduced; and the manner in which common perceptions of these concepts have prevented us from noting some of the most interesting phenomena, especially in contemporary religiosity, is discussed. Finally, a spectrum of potential research perspectives that could be covered by future studies is proposed.
Hope in the unifying power of music: Teaching sacred music in a secular setting
Constellations 2005; Choral Journal 2007, 2007
One of the major challenges in teaching standard choral repertoire to school and community choirs is that what we call choral music (an ensemble of singers performing in harmony or counterpoint with more than one voice to a part) grew primarily from a Christian tradition, developed in the West and spread throughout the world by Christian missionaries. While there also was also a secular repertoire developed in the courtly world, much of the most important choral literature originated in a Christian religious context. Teaching sacred choral literature without engaging the religious context of its origins shields the singers from a essential dimension of the music. What does it mean to teach and perform sacred music with groups of people who do not share a common religious point of view? Can music composed from the wellspring of religious faith be understood and performed with authenticity from outside the point of view of that faith?