Music and Rituals

 As I was thinking about this post I realized that the rituals that I am most familiar with are primarily religious in nature. I spent most of my life attending church regularly, first a Catholic church and then protestant nondenominational churches. In both settings music is used every week through the services. There is often music playing before the service, and music to call the congregation’s attention to the altar, and music to sing together, and music to close the service. 

I rarely, if ever, go to church anymore due to a number of reasons that I am, honestly, unwilling to go into. I also rarely, if ever, listen to the music of the church anymore, but I heard and played so much of the music that I can still recall nearly every lyric to a large number of both hymns and more contemporary worship songs to this day. And so I am struck by how influential and meaningful the music of rituals can be. 

This past week was the anniversary of my uncle’s death and, while I was reflecting on what was happening around this time a year ago, I began to consider how music touches our lives and our rituals. Last year, my aunt asked me to play the well known hymn Amazing Grace at my uncles’ memorial service, which I was more than happy to do. When my grandmother passed away over 15 years ago, I played How Great Thou Art, yet another well known Christian hymn. A good friend of mine always mentions that they sang the hymn It Is Well at her parents’ funerals. In the Spring, I did my music therapy practicum at the Hospice Home and clients requested religious songs (mostly hymns; this is the South, after all) almost every week. 

When I think about these examples what I notice most is that the music of the rituals (church services) that brought each person comfort in the course of their lives was also called upon to bring comfort at the end.  I am most familiar with the rituals of the Christian church, so my personal experience primarily comes from that lens and it is through that lens that I often speak. That said, something that we discussed often in my hospice practicum was how common it was for people who are sick or grieving to call on the music that was meaningful to them when they were healthy and strong. That music then brings them back to when they were healthy and strong and they are able to call on the strength they had to get the through their current circumstances. 

The following is just one of hundreds of recordings of Amazing Grace, chosen almost at random because of how many option there were. I just like the violin, so that’s the instrument in this recording. This song is one that is ubiquitous in Christian rituals and is deeply meaningful to many people:

While it could be argued that this is more of a tradition than a ritual, my family is from Germany, so we celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. Before doing anything else, we always sing Silent Night in German when we gather. Every time I hear Stille Nacht I think of my family and my Oma (grandmother) and I am reminded of the connection that we carry between us.