Final Thoughts

I was intrigued by the similarities that weave their way through all of the cultures we have studied. One that particularly stood out to me was the spiritual aspect—the belief that music has a “higher purpose”. As it was created, it has the ability to inspire transcendence and connect people, both the musicians and listeners. It can join one with the divine. Within this belief are common characteristics: ritual, repetition, the importance of silence, balance and harmony as seen in nature, oral tradition, and the value of community. These can be seen in the Yeibichai songs and Enemyway ritual of the Native Americans; the BaAkan belief that God is everywhere in this world; the k’antu of Latin America, the bhajan songs and ragas of India; shakuhachi of Japan, where the goal is to reach enlightenment; and the gamelan music of Indonesia.

Through the study of these various cultural traditions, I have reflected on what they can contribute to my understanding of my own culture. The cyclic nature of life, for instance, was a recurring theme that reaffirmed my practice of observing the church’s liturgical year. It is not only the continual process of change, but the repetitiveness and constant renewal of nature that allows one to begin to understand truth. Another particular idea of interest to me was found in the chapter on Japan: “The intellect is not needed in the pursuit of truth. We can search to know about things, but we do not really know them. To know them, we must throw away our notions of scientific investigation and logical reasoning and instead rely on a heightened awareness and intuition about life.” This quote resounded deeply with my own beliefs. It is amazing to see such similarities in cultures that on the surface seem completely different from our own.

In our study of Africa, we learned about their belief that music is a necessary and normal part of life. I am interested in discovering further how our own society is lacking in this vision, and in finding ways that we can, as a culture, better appreciate the gift of music.

Cool Stuff #3

This is “Mokshamu” by Indian composer V.S. Narasimhan. It is an Indian classical piece arranged for a Western-style string quartet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGCIbn5ZT0g

These are two song/dance scenes from the amazing Indian movie Devdas.
“Silsila Ye Chaahat Ka” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TOts7pqSdw
“Dola Re Dola” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiIL-w_jD8o

Music and Society

"Give me control over he who shapes the music of a nation, and I care not who makes the laws." - Napoleon Bonaparte

In every culture throughout history there has been a connection between the society and music. It is often true that music follows the predominant values of a certain culture (or subculture) and can be the product of the times. It is also good to consider how music can start trends and affect society’s ideals. Beethoven, Elvis, and the Beatles and are just a few artists that come to mind whose music revolutionized their respective societies—not just in ideas about music, but about culture as a whole.

As can be seen in our own society, certain groups can be associated with particular music genres. While researching, I read about an issue related to the Columbine shootings. When it was found that the two shooters were heavy metal and Goth music fans, the media raised the concern about whether their behavior was influenced by the music, especially by the singer Marilyn Manson. This question over the influence of certain types of music is certainly not new. In the modern case of the social effects of certain genres—rock, rap, what have you—perhaps it may be only a correlation, rather than a causation (an important distinction in psychology), though even then one should not discard music as an empty medium. You hear all the time about “not listening to the words”, but I always wonder if that is a viable excuse to not be changed in some way by the music you experience.

The desensitization of our society can hardly be ignored. Explicit language, provocative dress, the prolongation of adolescent behavior—did these come about on their own? Or did they find a vehicle in music, among other things? Here is an interesting, if rather controversial, quote by Plato on a related subject:

“Our music was once divided into its proper forms...It was not permitted to exchange the melodic styles of these established forms and others. Knowledge and informed judgment penalized disobedience. There were no whistles, unmusical mob-noises, or clapping for applause. The rule was to listen silently and learn; boys, teachers, and the crowd were kept in order by threat of the stick. . . . But later, an unmusical anarchy was led by poets who had natural talent, but were ignorant of the laws of music...Through foolishness they deceived themselves into thinking that there was no right or wrong way in music, that it was to be judged good or bad by the pleasure it gave. By their works and their theories they infected the masses with the presumption to think themselves adequate judges. So our theatres, once silent, grew vocal, and aristocracy of music gave way to a pernicious theatrocracy...the criterion was not music, but a reputation for promiscuous cleverness and a spirit of law-breaking.”

Cool Stuff #2

This is a beautiful Bolivian folk song, played by a duo on the charango and the quena.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PudyB3vhcHg

Here is a Quichua song/dance from the Andes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoaO42Kbaj4&feature=related

This is quite interesting. It's called Horse Dance, and they mean that literally.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_ExtcqcMPE

Music and Rites

In my experience, baptism, marriage and funerals are rites that, along with all other services, are closely tied to music. They are mostly chanted and have corresponding songs. For the purpose of this blog topic and the desired length, I will focus on weddings as they have an especially rich musical tradition.
In all of the Orthodox weddings that I have attended, instruments are not used, so the music is all choral. This may seem rather foreign to people who are used to Wagner’s bridal chorus, Mendelssohn’s wedding march, Pachelbel’s canon and the like—but the use of ancient hymns and chants make the ceremony even more traditional, in the literal sense. Since the service is almost entirely sung, it allows one to see the extremely sacramental nature of marriage. “Secular” music can be used at the following reception, but the marriage ceremony itself is preserved as a clearly liturgical service.
The marriage service consists of two distinct parts, the Betrothal and the Crowning. The Betrothal service is conducted at the entrance to the church and ends by the exchanging of the wedding rings. The bridal party then moves to the center of the church for the second part, during which lengthy prayers are offered for the couple, the crowns of marriage are placed on their heads, the common cup is shared and the celebrational procession takes place around the table. During the crowning the priest chants “O Lord, crown them with glory and honor," (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9v88XpVdWI&feature=related). The specific Epistle and Gospel for weddings are chanted during the service. As the bride and groom are led around the table three times, three significant hymns are sung. The first speaks of the indescribable joy that Isaiah the Prophet experienced when he envisioned the coming of the Messiah upon the earth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJKK2OyNtbs). The second is a reminder of the martyrs of the Faith, who received their crowns of glory from God through the sacrifice of their lives. The third is an exaltation to the Holy Trinity. The final blessing and recessional is also sung (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2hLLqmg_Z0&feature=related).

As can be seen, music plays a large role in the Orthodox wedding service. It is hard for me to associate one without the other.

Music and Religion

“The aim of this music is not to display the fine voices of the chanters, or to entertain the congregation, or to evoke aesthetic experience…. This music is, in the first place, a means of worship and veneration; and in the second place, a means of self-perfection, of eliciting and cultivating man’s higher thoughts and feelings of opposing and eliminating his lower, undesirable ones.” –Constantine Cavarnos, Byzantine Sacred Music


Music is a very important part of my religious life. In the Orthodox Church, theology and the arts are inseparable; there is not a sharp distinction in its worship between the spiritual and the aesthetic. One becomes aware of God's presence through the senses, in the experience of beauty. The Divine Liturgy is the anticipation of the time when the whole world, not only man, is transfigured. It is also meant to bring about the awareness that the Kingdom is present now and that we may participate in it.

Music plays a significant role in the Liturgy. Most of the Bible is phrased in a way meant to be sung, so Scripture is presented mainly in the form of chanting and hymns. Choirs as a distinct entity are in place, but they are not meant to replace congregational singing; rather, they are to aid the prayers of the people and to lead the format of the service.

The Liturgy most commonly used is that of St. John Chrystostom. The Liturgy of St. Basil is used less often throughout the cycle, and the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is used during Lent. From week to week nearly everything is the same, except for the Prokeimenon/epistle, Gospel reading, and hymns that change according to the day of the church year. (For a more detailed description: http://orthodoxwiki.org/Liturgy).

The American Orthodox Church is rather unique in its musical tradition. As I said in my first post, the style of singing can vary, depending on the jurisdiction. In the OCA branch, pieces are taken from many traditions—Russian, Romanian, Greek, etc.—and are adapted to suit the English language while still retaining the original musical character. All of the music is vocal without instrumental accompaniment (unless you count the ringing of bells outside the church and the sound of a swinging censor).

I suppose you could say that my experience with Orthodox music influences the way I view and experience other music, to some extent. I believe that all music is called to be a participation in the divine, regardless of the style. I enjoy classical music, rock, and any other genre by their own merit, as much as the next person. I do, however, regularly try to test them against the standard of whether they are spiritually constructive or not.

“The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of the past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.” –C.S. Lewis

Cool Stuff

Here is a link to a very interesting article about the history of recording Native American music, the different approaches of recording, and the importance of oral tradition.
http://www.indianhouse.com/music/essay_detail.php?title=Collecting%20American%20Indian%20Music

This is a recording of traditional Inuit throat singing. It is a type of vocalizing that is said to be the basis for a game, and it can involve either words or vocables.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNAKH4KdRY0

Here is a Fancy Shawl dance that was performed during a competition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCjiyiqU7pI&feature=related

Music and Movement

“You can dance anywhere, even if only in your heart.”
– Author Unknown

I am always excited to see dancing incorporated with music in different cultures. Besides acting as a means of communal bonding, it adds another dimension to the musical experience. Watching a good deal of classical ballet over the years has helped me appreciate the power of non-verbal communication. One may express an abundance of ideas and emotions, sometimes even those that words cannot describe.
Some may say that music and movement are not always mutually dependent—that dance can act as a purely visual art form, and music can be played exclusively—but I do not think that this is a natural condition. After all, as a simple matter of physics, music in the physical sense cannot happen without movement.

Dance, too, can act as a form of music in itself. Here is an example, shown through Irish step dance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W22gpBv00gg

Movement seems to be guided innately by some form of rhythm. It is very rare that one listens to music without being inspired to move in some way, be it tapping, swaying, or dancing. It does not even have to be outwardly physical—you need only think, and your mind is engaged in activity.
In my own experience, I tend to be involved in the latter, more inward form. There are many types of music—Irish, Indian, Spanish, swing—that almost instinctively inspire me to dance, but for the most part these genres I appreciate in the more subdued manner. Of course, if I were given the opportunity to learn and practice these dances, I would not hesitate, but then there is that implication that there are “appropriate” places to outwardly express music in dance form. It is always interesting when I learn about other cultures where there are different expectations and levels of expression.

Musical Autobiography

I suppose in this entry touching on various influences on my musical culture, I should first address my exposure to church music. I am an Orthodox Christian—and no, I’m not Greek. There is much musical diversity within the Orthodox church, among the various ethnicities. Until I was around five years old my family attended a Carpatho-Russian church in Connecticut. When we moved to New Orleans for four years, we attended an Antiochian church. Since moving to South Carolina nine years ago, our home parish is OCA, which descended from the Russian church. I have also attended a number of services in the Greek church. Though obviously there is an ethnic difference, both in the makeup of many of the parishioners and subsequently in the overall style of music, they all have somehow combined in my memory and current outlook to form a common Orthodox experience that transcends cultural differences. It has also helped that the great majority of services have been sung in English, with the exception of the Greek one where English may be used only half the time. (On the other hand, if you get to hear Orthodox hymns sung in their native tongues, you don't need to understand the language to appreciate their beauty). In my current parish, the liturgical hymns we sing throughout the church year are collected from all of the Eastern traditions.
Though I am very much American and have no ethnic ties to the historically Eastern church, its musical traditions are nonetheless still a part of my musical culture. In a way, the traditional Western hymns, spirituals, etc. that prevail in the Bible Belt are more foreign to me than Byzantine chant and Russian polyphony, as strange as that may seem.

Another major influence in my “musical makeup” is traditional Irish music. It has had a continuous presence in my life since early childhood and is a genre close to my heart. When I was younger I was also involved in Irish dance, which I have since stopped (but would love to pick up again someday), and so was acquainted with the larger context of the music. On campus here at Converse, my sister and I have been a part of a group she founded, the Bards of Eireann, in order to enjoy the repertoire. Though I am pursuing a degree that focuses on classically trained viola, there is still nothing quite the same as the carefree experience of playing jigs, reels and hornpipes with friends who share my love of the rich musical tradition.