In Christianity music has always been very important. They use music to help show their faith, or help to declare their loyalty and worship to god. Similar to the calthoic church, a branch of Christianity, Christians also have a mass as well as a choir that would sing during the mass. They sing chorales and hold choirs for sacred music to help them express themselves during prayers and remembering scriptures. Similar to the caltholic churches again, they probably used music as a tool to help them with group prayers. By singing the scriptures of just singing during worship in general, would help keep everyone together. 

One Christian/Catholic church hymn I found was composed by Pyotr  Ilyich Tchaikovsky, The Hymn of Cherubim. This recording was performed by the USSR Ministry of Culture Chamber Choir in 1998. The piece itself has a very slow tempo. The vocals resemble the monophonic choir music from the mid-evil times. The music is also syllabic, meaning the words are very stretched out. There are multiple pitches for one word or phrase.  

Although I can’t understand what they are saying, I assume it’s a recitation of their holy scriptures. The vocals combined with the slight echo of the church hall also gives the impression of angels speaking, it sounds to be what people describe as angelic. The music is also soft and slow, so many people can probably follow along, and it’ll be comfortable to their ears. 

The link to the video:

Cited works:

Robert Green. October 11, 2022. Britanica.com. https://www.britannica.com/topic/mass-Christian-religious-service 

Wesleyan university . Christianity in music. https://www.wesleyan.edu/christianitystudies/pathways/music.html 

In a Catholic Church Gregorian chant is performed, it’s polyphonic but has elements of modern music. However, the range of music in Catholicism is extremely large. They believe that music and songs should encourage participation in the liturgical assembly. It’s also meant to cause feelings of “joy, rapture, loss, fear, longing, hope, humility, serenity, connection to God, connection to others, gravity, and solemnity”, as stated in https://www.catholicsandcultures.org/practices-values/music .

“Amazing Grace” is a song that both Christians and Catholics use. This piece expresses religious belief through its lyrics. For instance, “The Lord has promised good to me/ His word my hope secures/ He will my shield and portion be/ As long as life endures.” This song is meant to reiterate how Catholics believe that the Lord will protect them and they believe that there is hope and good because of him and his words. This song has moments of Melismatic and Syllabic singing. This song has no musical instruments. It’s acapella because there’s one main voice and then certain moments where there’s a group humming or singing along in the background.

Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions, up there with buddhism and judaism. This religion stems from the Indian subcontinent, spreading its tradition to other parts of the world, such as today in the United states which now recognizes diwali (a hindu holiday) as a nationwide holiday. The music that stems from hinduism has a lot to do with their beliefs and worship. This religion tends to have beliefs of blessing a new car, a new house, to having a “maticoor” in which families come together to celebrate the unification of two individuals.

Here is an example of a Maticoor night song at a Maticoor ceremony. These songs don’t usually stick to our music elements vocab, however, if you listen closely you can hear the melody of the harmonium. The woman vocalizing also plays a big factor into the music, in which she gives way for the tempo to get faster as she can sing faster with the melody. The harmonium is also pretty constant throughout the entire song. These songs can serve a religious purpose because they are mainly made for these religious or celebratory ceremonies (such as Maticoor). Another Hindu tradition is the mehndi night, which may also have its own set of musical genres for that specific tradition. The songs help them resonate with what tradition they are doing.

I will be discussing about Islam. islam is a religion that gives freedom to his/her believer, and yet it comes with little restriction. many people who aren’t familiar with the religion thinks that its a religion that restrict every aspect of life, many even thinks that music aren’t really legal in Islam, but that is a total false statement. muslims uses music in many different occasions. they use it to worship Allah, and use it to have fun in a ceremony. obviously, not every music used in ceremonies will be allowed in a worship place because people takes worshipping place serious more than ceremonies where they are to have fun.

the most popular musical part of Islam is the “Adhan” meaning call to prayer. this is really not a music but is is not recited in a regular speaking way either. the Adhan uses vocals to calls the attention of people to get the to have a sense of time, and when the next prayer is due. the Adhan is a type of memorizing musical form. people memorize the lyrics, and it has been passed down from generation to generation for over thousand year. one of the important part of the Adhan is that there is no musical instruments attached whatsoever. just the vocal and the changes in vocal pitches to convey feelings. in the modern days, people have started to use microphone, megaphone, and other voice increasing instruments to further cover lots of ground that people will hear from. this is simply because the society today is too big that people voice could bearly cover more than 2 houses. and it is noted in the Islamic history that the first man to call the Adhan was Bilal(a freed slave)

The Buddhist religion includes many ancient texts, similar to other religions in the world. However, these ancient texts are not traditionally sung, but rather chanted, by the Buddhist monks. The purpose of chanting the texts is to help with the memorization of the Buddha’s teachings and to be able to focus their minds. According to the textbook reading, the Buddhist musical practice remains fairly simple, and a vocal technique used by these monks is called harmonic singing, where multiple pitches are created within a single voice at the same time, thus creating harmony. The textbook also writes how the technique is “physically subtle,” as it requires “precise (and relaxed) positioning of jaw, tongue, and lips.”

Interestingly, as the Buddhist teachings are brought over from India to other countries in the east such as China, there has since been the incorporation of melodic features (where the ancient texts are sung), as well the use of Dharma instruments, including the hand bell, the wooden fish, the Dharma drum, and the singing bowl (Dharma). The incorporation of these instruments, especially the wooden fish, sets a beat for when Buddhist practitioners chant or sing Buddhist texts. The link attached below is a recording of the Buddhist text, “莲池赞 (Lianchi Zan)” in Chinese, showing a practice session for playing the Dharma instruments. The Dharma instruments form a homophonic texture, as they accompany the main melodic line being sung. Depending on if the text is sung or chanted, it can be either syllabic or melismatic, as some texts are chanted in a melodic way (syllabic) and others are sung with drawn-out pitches (melismatic). In this case, we hear a melismatic melody. The text in the video is usually sung at the beginning of a 1 or 2-hour session in temples and acts as an opening to the session, and it can be seen as a way for people to calm their minds for the rest of the session. This text is also usually sung by the practitioners all together, with the person playing the singing bowl leading.

Works Cited

(n.d.). Dharma Instruments Used in Meditation Retreats. Dharma Drum Mountain Global Website. Retrieved November 19, 2022, from https://www.dharmadrum.org/portal_d8_cnt_page.php?folder_id=30&cnt_id=80&up_page=1

The religion I chose to discuss is Islam. In Islam there is one sect of people called “Sufis”. The Sufis are famous for making “Islamic” influenced music called “Qawwalis” which are listened by people in all sects of Islam. “Qawwalis” are meant to increase one’s Islamic spirituality and get them closer to the religion and God through the Qawwali. The piece I chose to discuss today is a qawwali that my family and I grew up listening to which is “Tajdar-e-haram”. This qawwali is sung in Urdu. This qawwali expresses religious belief because its referring to the “king of our holy sanctuary” which would be God ultimately and saying to bless us and be merciful on us. The dynamics of this piece would be in between piano and mezzo piano, because the song was sung in a soft manner for the most part while it did get loud during some parts of the chorus. The tempo of this piece would be andante because it wasn’t too fast and too slow. The pace was like a steady beat and so I’d consider it andante.

I’ll be using Christianity as my religion of focus, seeing as tomorrow is Sunday and I’ll be singing spiritual songs of our own soon anyway! According to the textbook, Christianity was legalized in Europe in the 4th century and was thus the focus of most songs during the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods (Resonances, pg. 393). As we know, Gregorian chant was first used in the church as a way to sing praise and memorize verses in the Bible, starting with the “Canonical Hours” that the textbook explains was an eight hour service that included a chanting of all 150 Psalms usually in Latin. As the Reformation takes hold and the church does what it can to preserve itself, Giovanni da Palestrina creates the “Mass Ordinary” that sets the precedent for our modern-day liturgy, containing five parts that must be sung or spoken in Latin during the service. In the Baroque era, Bach invents cantatas for the Lutheran church, a multi-part work for voice and instrumental accompaniment, which “reflected on the Biblical readings for the day, interpreted their meaning for the congregation, and prepared listeners to understand and appreciate the sermon.” (Resonances, pg. 414)

Perfectly enough, my boyfriend and I had been discussing a song we last heard a while ago on the K-Love radio station, one that specifically plays “Christian music,” that they haven’t played again since. I went to searching on YouTube and found it the same night!

It was just so different from the other songs that the radio station had on repeat that I instantly found it one of the best (and I don’t usually indulge in songs that dig into the religion all that much.) My favorite part is most definitely at 1:02, where the singer lets his falsetto lead into a small pause until the chorus swells with a crescendo to the namesake of the song. I don’t know what key this would be called, but it’s in that space between major and minor that just makes a song sound so powerful and motivating! Clearly, as the title and lyrics could tell you, the song is all about praising God and finding salvation/a new life through him. The style of this song isn’t exactly what you’d hear at a more traditional church, but you could probably catch it at a more contemporary setting.

And as an extra throw-in for the theater lovers, my favorite Sight and Sound track to date!

Just to rant for my own personal fun, Sight and Sound has got to be the most exciting Christian-related thing I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing. It’s as if Broadway turned to the Bible for inspiration and brought it to the stage. The stage itself is built wall-to-wall, so instead of just one straight ahead of the audience, curtains reveal an extension of it to the left and right! Live animals are used in productions! Set pieces are moved in real time and, in the case of “David,” gigantic props are used. Goliath was made life-sized and he moved without looking like it took a lot of effort! My congregation went to go watch the David show as a part of our yearly summer outing, making this the eighth Sight and Sound show we’ve watched (wow!) The scene with this track, “Bathsheba,” in particular stuck with me the whole ride back to our hotel just for how ethereal the vocals were.

Music in the catholic church is mostly used to encourage the congregation to participate during the mass. Growing up, I remember my Sunday class teacher encouraging me to take one of Gospel lectionary and to follow along with the congregation. We would often get dirty looks if we did not follow along and were fooling around. Although it was encouraged, adults would often tell the youth to follow along so that they can believe in the faith and preach the faith forward to future generations. In the assigned reading, it says that the music creates a shared physical experience with others, which is similar to what I said before. I mostly think that the reason our Sunday class teachers pushed it so much is because the faith is getting lost after kids make their communion/confirmation (which is an important ceremony in the church). So, by them using music, it becomes a little more enjoyable rather than listening to the priest speak. Often, the music is used to help transition from one part of the mass to another. One of the more important pieces is called “Alleluia”  

“Alleluia” is a piece of music that is used to transition to the Eucharist. The Eucharist is a catholic ceremony in which bread is eaten and wine is drunk as a way of showing devotion to Jesus Christ. In my personal experience, this is the one song that always stays consistent throughout the mass, The choir changes their songs for the readings but the song before the Eucharist is always Alleluia. Alleluia consists of the congregation singing “alleluia alleluia alleluia alleluia” but what is interesting is the technique they use. Instead of just singing the words, they hold it out and have multiple pitches during each word. This technique is called melismatic. Melismatic is when multiple pitches are sung during one syllable. It is way more enjoyable and satisfying to the ears in my opinion because it sorts of contrasts against each other. This song does vary towards each church, but this is the best example I could find. Right from the beginning of the video, the men are stretching out the word alleluia with multiple pitches while the lady begins telling a story. The alleluia is really serves as a way for the congregation to join because it is just one word they must sing repeatedly.  

A religion that I chose to focus on is Roman Catholicism which is another branch connected to Christianity. Within this religion, music is widely used and praised in all Catholic churches. Some ways in which music is used within this religious practice is during mass when praying to God as well as in different important events. In the article “Catholics and Cultures” goes on to state, “Funerals and weddings almost always include it, in styles particular to each occasion”. While looking at religion many individuals are also prompted into singing within the choir, therefore, learning many of the hymns sung. A piece of music associated with this religion that isn’t featured in the assigned reading would be “Christ Be Our Light by Bernadette Farrell”. This song this piece of music describes as well as expresses religious beliefs and/or serves a religious purpose. This is because it goes on to depict how there are followers within a dark place that are asking christ to take them out of their despair and darkness, to shine a light on them, in their hearts, and within the church. The music that is being heard in this video would be considered homophony due to the one melodic line being accompanied by chords. The timbre is very soothing as the guitar as well as the voice that is singing the song is not high pitch but is being played at a medium-low pitch. As for the rhythm, it has a medium beat when being played not to face but not very slow as well. 

https://www.catholicsandcultures.org/practices-values/music

Buddhism was “originated 2,500 years ago in india”(National Geographic). Buddhism is practice to relieve ones suffering, through “meditation, spiritual and physical labor” in order to obtain “enlightenment, or nirvana.” In Buddhism music it requires chanting is some way, it also requires of dancing, and some instruments. Chanting is part of the most regional Buddhism.

A song related to Buddhism is a song called, ”Buddham Saranam Gachchami” meaning “I go to the Buddha for refuge”(Meditative Mind). This song is used mostly for meditation while trying to connect with divine forces. it’s also used to clear the mind as a ”freedom of suffering”. In the song we hear three sentences, ”Buddham Saranam Gachchami”, “Dhamman Saranam Gachchami“, and “Sangham Saranam Gachchami“ meaning “I go to the Buddha for refuge”, ”I go to the Dhamman for refuge” and ”I go to the Sangham for refuge”. This song or this chant helps to surrender and bring you peace. This chant is syllabic in other words it only has one or two pitches per syllable.

Works cited:

“Buddhism.” National Geographic Society, https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/buddhism. 

Bhatia, Dilpreet. “Buddham Saranam Gacchami Mantra, Meaning and Benefits.” Meditative Mind, 27 Dec. 2019, https://meditativemind.org/buddham-saranam-gacchami-mantra-meaning-and-benefits/.