Music communicates feelings,
thoughts and evokes emotion and plays an important role in ones spirituality.
Everyone responds feels and thinks about songs in different ways. For some
people music or a song is a spiritual experience that allows them to connect to
others or a transcendent being. The role of music in religious institutions is
essential and is used as way to connect and communicate with God and express
ones thoughts. This is demonstrated through the importance of music in
religious rituals, for example in Christianity during the Baptism and Communion
music is played. Also, in some churches music is part of the everyday
congregation with songs in, for example the Bible such as the Psalms and Songs
of Solomon.
In regards to popular music some
people believe it should be considered in the profane and is not part of the
religious or spiritual experience of faith. But as Partridge argues, “popular
music should be taken seriously because it is clear that it is used in everyday
life to manage feeling and thought” (Partridge, 2012). Popular music can be considered
a religious experience as one interpret songs differently to have religious or
spiritual meaning as some songs have religious connotations due to the musicians
religious experiences or background.
Also, there is a genre of music
of Christian rock in which the songs revolve around the musician’s Christian
faith and beliefs. The musicians communicate their thoughts and feeling through
music for the purpose of communicating their message and spreading the word of
God. Some argue that Christian rock is not as effective as a sermon administrated
by the minister at a church. I disagree as the communication of one’s faith is
just as effective as a sermon because one is engaged with the music and is not
only taking in the lyrics but the musicians’, the audiences and their own
individual feelings and emotions.
Source: Partridge C. 2012. Popular Music, Affective Space and Meaning. In Lynch G. and J. Mitchell
with A. Strhan Eds., Religion,
Media and Culture: A Reader. 182-193. London and New York: Routledge.
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