Music and Religion

Throughout my life, I have been to a few different places of worship in which the music truly reflected the atmosphere and religion itself. I have the most experience at Baptist churches in which the music strays far away from Catholic hymns. If you have ever turned on Christian rock channels on the radio, then you would have an idea of the type of music that I experienced there. It was very upbeat and diatonic, never drifting away from the key. I do not particularly remember there ever being minor keys, which may be due to the positive attitude they had whilst worshiping God. Everyone sings along to every song and there is usually a monitor that displays the lyrics. This is very helpful to those who are just beginning to go to church or people who do not go very often, such as myself. I have also been to Baptist churches where gospel music is what they sing and it was one of my favorite experiences that I have ever had in a church. Everyone seemed very excited to be there and you could tell that they all felt the music in their bones; it was a magical experience.

I have occasionally visited Catholic churches which differed from Baptist churches in almost every way, including music. What I would hear at these churches were more traditional hymns which have reappeared in my life during the last few years as a music student. I  prefer this type of sacred music more than the music from the Baptist churches that I have been to. Not every song was in English; there were times when they sang in Latin which also contrasts the Baptist churches.

Last year, I went to a Synagogue for the first time and ended up going on the day of a young man's Bar Mitzvah. If I remember correctly, there were a lot of calls and responses, just like in the Native American music that we listened to. I liked how everyone knew exactly what to sing back, so I am assuming that everyone learns the songs by rote starting when they are young. During the Bat Mitzvah, the young man sang verses by himself and every song was in Hebrew. This also relates to the Native Americans in that they all learn the original language of their culture.

I would like to visit more places later on in my life such as a Buddhist temple because I think that it is good to experience cultures outside of my own.