Music and Religion

Like most things in my life, I have a very polarized set of experiences with a couple of different religions to pool from--so my view of music's specific place in varying religions is complex. I am, by birth, an Episcopalian--not the same sort as Professor Vaneman describes herself as being--my church is (or was I should say, I have since moved and not attended a church in Spartanburg) very formal. For instance, at funerals in the Episcopalian church that I attended, music was sung and there were instrumentals--but in a very conservative manner and always with some restraint. You will understand what I mean by this as I continue with my second type of religious musical experience. Music was used in church to worship God or share stories from the Bible. As I stated, performance was very conservative and restrained, meaning to say that no one person was particularly louder than any other--it was pretty uniform.

The polar opposite experience that I have is in the Baptist Church--Black Churches to be exact. One of my good friends is a Deacon at a local church, and he constantly sings and musically vocalizes his feelings about God. He believes that he is singing directly to God. I went to a funeral for one of my coworkers recently and was blown away by the experience. The congregation was on its feet in praise, with people singing loudly and adding their own spin onto the songs. There was no restraint shown which was oddly therapeutic and cathartic. I believe (and have been told by my friend) that music is celebrated in Black Baptist Churches and is used as a vehicle through which to get closer to God. I was reminded of this in class today when Professor Vaneman was discussing the Ecuadorian funeral rites. The service began with some sadder songs, but then became a celebration, and then ended on a sad note again with the closing of the casket. The most concise way for me to explain the differences between the attitude towards singing in the two separate churches would be to say that in the Episcopalian Church that I attended the more uniformly and conservatively you sang the more respect you were showing for God; in the Black Baptist Church that I attended the more animated and passionate you were showed respect for God. Both churches had the same goal--but viewed the means to fulfilling that goal different.

I absolutely believe that the musical aesthetics are different between the two religious groups I discussed and I absolutely believe that what is deemed beautiful and pleasant is dictated by surroundings. Isn't everything? In the Episcopalian Church that I attended it was aesthetically beautiful to show restraint and uniformity, with soothing sounds and steady melodies. I think this mirrored the congregation--a group of pretty conservative people that were well put-together and showed more restraint in their lives (that we were aware of anyway!). In the second church, what was beautiful was passion, not showing restraint or concern for what others thought but simply God. You did not sing for your neighbor, you sang for God--and it was an "A" "B" conversation. I am glad that I have gotten the chance to experience these polar opposite churches and aspire to experience even more varieties of churches and experiences in general. We cannot grow in a vacuum.