My Experiences with Music and Religion

Growing up in a Unitarian Universalist fellowship, I have learned about many different religions throughout my life. The Unitarian Universalist church is founded on the idea that every individual person is free to embark on their own spiritual journey, wherever it may lead them. Because of this, I grew up going to church with Jews, Buddhists, Christians, Agnostics, and people of many other belief systems.

As part of our Religious Education program at my fellowship, my youth group traveled to several different places of worship. Each religion had its own musical style and unique way of expressing that style.

In the Catholic Mass we visited, the music consisted entirely of hymns sung by the whole congregation. Everyone in the church knew exactly when to sing which song, when to stand, and when and what to answer when the priest led a call and response. When I attended a Mass at a different church with one of my Catholic friends years later, it was exactly the same. This was fascinating to me, considering that in our fellowship we get a program each service telling us what hymns we will be singing and on what page – and the minister still announces the hymn and it’s page number, just in case someone’s still a little confused.

The African American church was vastly different from the Catholic Mass. The people there didn’t simply stand politely through the duration of the songs and sit when they were over, but they would all clap their hands together and move to the upbeat, rhythmic music. Every once in a while, one of the older members of the church would interject an “Amen” or “Hallelujah!” Growing up around people from many religions, I had always thought of the different denominations of Christianity to be basically the same with a few differences here and there. But witnessing the immense differences between the music of these two churches showed me that this was not the case.

The Buddhist temple that my brother attends has its own use for music. When several of us from my youth group went to the temple, the Buddhist nun there led us all in a meditation. The music that she used was not at all like the participatory music of the Christian churches, but instead an aid in meditation. It was very simple, calming music, and had virtually no rhythmic value.

As far as aesthetics, I think that these examples of music in religion reflect our own approaches to music in everyday life. The Catholic Church’s reverent hymns and structured liturgies remind me of the way that we are taught to turn our cell phones off and not clap between movements at a recital or concert.

In the African American Church, their lively, spirited gospel tunes that everyone can clap along to are emulated in the music that we dance to.

As far as the meditation music of the Buddhist Temple, how many times have you decided to kick back and relax to some Death Metal playing in the background? I’m guessing not many. Most people in our culture seem to agree that music that is not too rhythmically driven or fast-paced is what we find soothing.