Relevant Christian Rock Rituals

How have Christian churches responded to the pervasive ritualistic culture of rock concerts?


Rituals provide places of safety in which individuals can access and play with the sacred. Although normally associated with baptisms, Bot Mitzvas, and funerals, rituals can also take the form of concerts and raves. In many ways, concerts have served more ritualistic purposes than church services of late, by providing "the possibility for fulfillment and transcendence individually and with others" that many churches have lacked (Laderman, 39).


The few churches, like Hillsong, that have adapted their ritualistic processes to meet the current culture have been critiqued as having thin theological practices and being opaque in their beliefs. Hillsong itself provides a Christian rock concert vibe, and “In sensory stimulation, Hillsong’s productions rival any other contemporary form of entertainment" (Paulson). It is this ritual change that has not only drawn tens of thousands of people to its churches around the world, but has enabled Hillsong to share other Christian rituals with thousands of people who have never heard of God. In this way, Hillsong’s ritualistic concert services have become a “prosperity movement for the millennials” that have converted rock fans, hipsters, and celebrities, like Justin Bieber, alike into Hillsong groupies and have brought relevance back to Christian rituals (Paulsong). This freedom and love that Hillsong provides in its concerts has opened the world of Christianity back up to people seeking the "sacred source of religious life" in music that has been devoid of so many Christian churches of late (Laderman, 24).





Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/10/us/hillsong-megachurch-with-a-beat-lures-a-young-flock.html?_r=0

Country Music as a Religion

Music is a part of all religions. Whether in a church on a Sunday morning with an organ, or in a synagogue on Shabbat with the cantor’s voice, music often plays a vital role in religious ceremonies because of its sacred characteristics of rhythm, beat, and sentiment. However, have you ever considered music as its own religion in a way? Laderman discusses rave culture, the blues, hip-hop, and rock and roll in his book, however another example of music having religious characteristics is country music. Country music has its roots in Atlanta because members of the Appalachian community went to Atlanta to work in the city, but they brought their music with them and it persisted throughout the Great Depression on the radio when people couldn’t buy records. The music provided an outlet for entertainment for these hard workers. Country musicians used a wide variety of instruments, including fiddles, banjos, guitars, etc. Also, country music, like many religions is associated with a region, primarily in the southern and western areas of America. However, despite starting out in this small area, it has grown and has become a key aspect of America’s identity as a whole. In fact, in 2009, the country music radio channel was the most listened to station on the radio throughout the country. This genre of music has provided Americans with an identity that is fairly unique to America. It started out in America, evolved in America, spread throughout the country, and is now a key part of our mainstream culture. There are many household name country stars, including Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, and some older ones like Johnny Cash and Woody Guthrie.

Country music even has its own culture in some ways. From the clothes that are worn by country musicians and its followers, to the atmosphere at concerts, it is unique and has many dedicated followers. At concerts, thousands of people will gather in order to listen to country music icons. As Laderman states, concerts include “pilgrimage, spirituality, mysticism, shamanism, identity, transformation, unity, sacraments…” (39). Thousands upon thousands of people will attend some of the biggest country concerts in the world in order to experience all of those aspects listed by Laderman, which are often a result of the icon performing. Musicians are examples of icons, some even bordering the line of being idols, because of the way in which they are viewed and treated by members of society. That is another aspect that makes music a religion – the key players and they way that people act towards them.

According to Laderman, “Music intersects with the sacred for millions of Americans who make sense of their lives with a musical soundtrack rather than the written word” (28). It is obvious that the culture, sound, and ritualistic nature of music make it into a sacred aspect of life, and therefore functions religiously in a way for many people.

Music AS Ritual

Music AS Ritual

      In chapter 5 of Sacred Ritual, Livingstone writes, "Rituals are found in every human community and are a primary means of social communication and cohesion... Rituals range from simple gestures, like bowing or shaking hands, to elaborate ceremonial dramas." There is no debate that music is a concrete source of ritual across many religions. For example, most Jewish, Christian, and Muslim practices involve some sort of musical recitation that occurs on daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly bases. In accordance with Livingstone's statement that rituals bring cohesion and communities together, for these religions, participants come together to "perform" these religious musical recitations, creating a larger sense of community among them. However, can musical rituals exist outside of religious practices, or do they then become just simple routines? It is important to note the fundamental difference between routines and rituals. Routines occur in an unchanging time and place, week after week at the same time going through the same motions one's accustomed to. Rituals, on the other hand, are generally an out-of-body experience that take one out of their routine, bringing meaning the boring repetitiveness of one's routine life. So, in what ways can a non-religious musical activity classify as a ritual?

     An example that comes to mind is the widespread theme of athletes, both professional and nonprofessional, listening to music in solitude for extended periods of times before games (interestingly enough often referred to as a part of pre-game rituals). While one might argue that this is simply a routine, something that athletes simply just consistently do before games, it is important to acknowledge the reason these athletes partake in this ritual. Athletes use their music and this solitary time to calm themselves and take their minds off of everything else going on in their life other than the game they're about to participate in. By the definition of ritual, this rapid change of mindset brought on by music takes athletes out of their everyday lives and into a zone that they sustain for the remainder of the contest.

     

Music and Ritual

Religious rituals are often connected to the human life cycle and to human crises. Many people turn to music in times of crisis or trouble. Music provides a spiritual connection that allows its listeners to feel comfort or sympathy. Because of this, bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, or Nirvana, developed mass followings with religious connotations. Concerts became ritualistic, with fans worshipping their idols from their seats. This ritual began to extend into people's homes and daily lives. Fans hang up posters of their favorite artists up on their walls or write lyric quotes on their belongings. People are so obsessed with worshipping bands and music that we have even created The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where fanatics can go to worship and bond with some of their favorite musicians.


Laderman says, "Americans… have turned to music as a sacred source of religious life, discovering the rhythms and beats, lyrics and sentiments a valuable way to escape." Many individuals turn to music to escape the realities of their everyday lives. We choose to worship music because we are attracted to the lifestyle it presents.   We may never experience life on the road or the struggles that musicians go through, but by investing ourselves into their music we are connecting to an entirely different world.

No More Thrillers

31 years ago, millions sat in front of their televisions and watched the 13 minute long spectacular that was Thriller. Since then, millions more have experienced one of the most important artistic works in history. In 2009, the video was inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant, the first music video to ever receive this honor. What made Thriller a phenomenon was not simply its artistic merit. What made Thriller a phenomenon was that we let it be. As Livingston writes, "rituals are found in every human community and are a primary means of social communication and cohesion" (98).

Today, Thriller would be nothing. Thriller would rot away in the depths of YouTube as many other works have, not because technology has advanced or because people are more talented than Michael Jackson,  but because we as a society have a changing collective culture. Despite this change, the vast number of media outlets have increased the accessibility of a wealth of talent. The result is a culture that has more musical artists to be fanatics of.

However this dynamic is still influences our perception of media and talent. In the past, it was to the mainstream media; radio, television, and movies that would inform how american cultural rituals were performed. Music was pushed in various forms to maintain the power of rituals as a means of social communication and cohesion.  However, we have been taught of the manufactured media. We have learned of the seemingly unauthentic nature of mainstream media which has damaged our perception of it. This conflict raises the question if growing cynicism will mark the stark decline of musical religiosity? Moreover, does that limit the possibility of there ever being another Thriller?

Religious Rituals in Music

When is music more than just a sensory experience?

What makes listening to music alone and going to concerts so different?

For my fifteenth birthday, I went to a music festival with my best friend. At first, we were overstimulated by all the different stages, vendors, and attractions. We got lost among the hardcore metal and 'screamo' groups before finding our place among the more mainstream, popular groups. Seeing the contrasts between the crowds for different performers was a strange experience. My friend and I were confused as to how anyone could enjoy seeing a particular band called "Of Mice & Men" ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgMS8-vQ-qk ) It was all incoherent screaming, and while we ran away screaming from that stage with our ears plugged, there were people purposely there and dancing along to the harsh music. Our confusion surpassed varying musical taste; to us, the whole experience seemed violent and unpleasant. However, now that I understand the role of concerts as a ritual, the whole music festival makes a whole lot more sense. That tangle of bodies thrashing to violent screaming was a fulfilling religious experience for the concertgoers.

The meaning of music is more profound than just the enjoyment of pleasing sounds. Music is a vehicle for self-expression and identification. Music is a religious experience and concerts are its rituals. Livingstone describes the significance of rituals thusly: "Through its appeal to bodily movement, verbal chants and responses, and our multiple senses, ritual is symbolic in the most profound sense, for it 'brings together' the mind, the body, and the emotions, and at the same time, binds us to a community of shared values" ("Ritual", pp. 99). The stage is a sacred space, literally set apart from the audience. The musicians are leaders preaching a message that they identify with to a crowd that feeds off all aspects of the performance.  

Of Mice & Men's audience weren't just 'moshing' and headbanging for the fun of it; the act in itself connects them symbolically to the musician's performance as well as the rest of the crowd. The concert wasn't about what they heard, but how they felt. 

Religion, Rituals & Music: Quite an Af"fair"

You may have heard of a musical routine, but have you ever heard of a music ritual? Both seem to mean a similar thing. When something is routine, you do it over and over again. Rituals, as one author puts it, are found in every human community; the word rite derives from a Greek word meaning “a thing done” to achieve a specific end (Livingstone 98.) Yet how can a music be something so liberating, and also be a ritual, when you follow certain guidelines?

Although it may not be as clear-cut as that, (liberating vs. guidelines), there’s an interplay here between liberty and constraint, ritual and improvisation, inherent in musical performances. 

It’s almost undeniable that music is a powerful thing. David Laderman writes that for many people, the physical and visual/sensory stimulations found in the music scene create a “sacred mix that has the power to transform identity, offer revelations, and provide liberation.” Bodily movement and proximity to others are found at music festivals, and religious gatherings. Is circling around the Kaaba in Mecca completely different than circling in a mosh pit at a metal concert? Yes, they do have many differences. But they both use certain patterns of movement to achieve an out-of-the-ordinary sensation, and a sense of community.

Many have said they have a “spiritual experience” at  concert – but what do they mean by that? If we look at religious ritual, which can be defined as “an agreed-on and formalized pattern of ceremonial movements and verbal expressions carried out in a sacred context” (Livingstone 98), then we can see that the “sacred” is a key part in this experience. What is the sacred? Deriving from Greek, it means to something set apart, away from the mundane. And when do you ordinarily “sing and dance and groove with others ” in public, other than at a music event (Laderman 32)? Or other than at church or a religious space? There is a specialness and sacredness in the newness, proximity to others, and routine that music and strictly religious rituals facilitate.

Where did I see this ritual the most? At the New York Sate Fair. It seems like an unexpected place to find the sacred: I doubt many see the divine among corndog and fried Oreo stands. But music and rituals were everywhere. I turned one corner, and there’s a Iroquois Village. I sat and watched people from numerous different tribes sing, play traditional drums, and dance the Shadow Dance. This was different than the carnival ride; it was sacred. I could tell this was a mix of music and ritual: I knew when to sit and applaud, and they knew when to dance, turn, even in improvisation. It was without a doubt that this music had a large tie to their heritage, while creating a sense of liberation from their everyday lives and community.

As I continued walking along the signs for ice cream and a barn full of prized sheep, I also saw another example of how religion influences the style of music. I heard a powerful Gospel band preaching and praising the Lord, and hands were raised, Amens were said, heads nodded along.

But after the sun slipped over the horizon, I made way for my religious ritual. I entered a closed off area: a space set apart and scared from the rest. We all huddled and faced the front, knew when to sit for the ballads, and stood up and jumped for the techno hits. I thought of the women shouting for Jesus at the Gospel concert earlier, and I and hundreds of people shouted our praise for Young the Giant. I wore a creamy fringe top and a flower in my hair: a costume out of the ordinary for me, but strangely liberating. I could be a part of a community of flower children, seeing a free concert and rebelling against consumeristic people in their 40s – we were enclosed in our special arena of good harmonies and smiling faces.

One Associated Press story said that the experience of (crunk) music is “reminiscent of a religious experience” (Laderman 38). I’d argue that it’s a deeply ingrained religious experience rather than just a lingering feeling. Music involves a type of spontaneity because you never quite know what the set list is, or who will be standing in your row, but you’re bound to belong, and know when to sway and sing along. I saw at the State Fair that  some musical rituals are easier to spot than other, but I think religious rituals are aspects of many “life-changing” and liberating musical performances.   

The Sanctity of Concerts

            Music is an important and integral part of humanity. This form of artistic expression seems to connect deeply to us on many different levels, and has throughout recorded history. So much so that the way in which we regard music often takes on religious proportions. Often the act of listening to music is ritualistic in nature. According to Livingstone, through the use of chanting, rhythms and other mediums, ritual is “symbolic in the most profound sense, for it ‘brings together’ the mind, the body, and the emotions, and at the same time, binds us to a community of shared values” (99). Music acts similarly, using comparable methods of stimulation to achieve this end.

            This phenomenon can often be seen at concerts. While we can all simply whip out our iPod and listen to whatever we want, the ritualistic nature of concerts is something inherently attractive about the experience. By transforming our inhibitions and behaviors, concerts serve as a ritual space that changes our identities. Even further, it speaks to one of the most basic human desires of belonging and being an accepted part of a group or community. Knowing the lyrics and singing along with strangers is a very powerful tool of “belonging”. This is taken to another level at large music festivals, where masses of people flock to the festival areas, often sleeping in tents and creating temporary societies. For example, the original Woodstock music festival in 1969 drew hundreds of thousands of people. While it was a “music festival”, it really was about much more than just music. It represented the “hippy” culture of the time, and provided a space where a community could come together and in a way “worship” their beliefs. For individuals going to that event, it provided a unifying experience that defined who they were, in the same way that religion and ritual does. By joining together and singing ballads of peace and love, the festival turned into a sacred ritual space. This is how concerts, and music as a whole, become both religious and ritualistic.

Music as a Sacred Ritual

Livingstone describes rituals as an “agreed on and formalized pattern of ceremonial movements and verbal expressions carried out in a sacred context”. A ritual is therefore a routine action that acquires a sacred meaning for a group of people. It also acts as a mean of social communication and unity that brings a certain group of people together. Music, just like rituals, acts as a social communicator that establishes and maintains the identity of an individual within a certain group.
In some instances, music plays a guiding role in shaping identities during the rites of passage. Each transition; from childhood to adolescence to adulthood, is accompanied by a change of preference in the kind of music we listen to. As we grow up, our personality evolves along with the our music preference that is influenced by the subculture that we identify ourselves with. That’s the reason 13 year olds listen to One Direction and 50 year olds to U2. Music also underlines the meaning of a certain rite of passage. The difference in melody, form and sentiments expressed by music played at weddings and funerals symbolizes the happiness of the former, and the sadness of the latter. Ritual and music are related because they both shape the values and define the sacred that are expressed by a group of people.

Believers of the Sound

Individuals often seek activities that bring them comfort and explanation for moral dilemmas; music/sound, in similar ways to religion, has served that purpose for centuries. Oral presentation of sacred teachings has occurred since the formation of religion, as the original method for teaching. As such, the presentation of stories or values through music is a very appealing emotional experience. At concerts, we are not only doused in the physical nature of the music and lyrics, but we are surrounded by a community of individuals who have similar thoughts, bearing a striking resemblance to the religious service experience. Matthew Moore's article Take Me to Church: The Religious Experience of a Concert, illustrates the "[power] about singing songs together as a community," through the "emotions that wash over you when you hear a room full of people singing the words of your favorite song together." 

There was a stark difference between my first concert experience (a rave) and my most recent concert, Jake Bugg, one of my favorite artists. The former was a surreal experience, mixed with confusion and jam-packed energy, but alongside many friends. The latter, on the other hand, was more calm and formal, where I only knew one other person in the room. Ironically, I felt more comfort at the latter where I was able to engage with the artist as soon as he began to sing. I felt part of a greater community with strangers singing in passionate unison, than in the presence of a large group of friends. 

I can only equate the feeling to reciting the "Our Father" during mass. While I have not been to mass in a very long time, I can very tangibly recall the overwhelming emotion that would come over me as I recited the prayer alongside a room full of fellow believers. In this way, sound and/or music transcends past the individual and simultaneously strikes a chord with a larger community. 

Music and Ritual in Jewish Rites of Passage

     How does the music in Jewish rites of passage create its own sense of ritual? How does secular music also develop its own religious connotations and become incorporated into religious contexts?

     Judaism has four major rites of passage: the Bris (circumcision ceremony), the Bar Mitzvah (entrance into adulthood), Marriage, and Death. These rites of passage are a form of ritual for every Jew that separates sections of that person's life. These rituals are similar to any other religion, and they all use music in order to do authentic religious work. 

     These ceremonies incorporate both Jewish based along with pop culture based music to help with the rite of passage. In all of these cases, the central music during these ceremonies is prayer. In most Jewish ceremonies, these prayers are always the same, but are done slightly different depending on the synagogue. The prayers in these ceremonies are usually sung by a Cantor or a Rabbi (some have the congregation or the people doing the rite of passage joining in) with an organ usually playing for a beat, creating a unique situation as each person will sing the prayer differently. These rites of passages also have non-musical rituals such as the breaking of glass during the marriage ceremony, which serves as a way of connecting the community through similar actions.

     The reception after these rites of passage is where music has its largest effect. First off, by having receptions at different venues it creates a unique experience every time. In every Jewish reception, there are certain musical rituals that are always repeated. This begins with the prayer for the cutting of the Challah to the most recognized example, the Hora. The Hora involves the entire party (bringing them together as a community) and also recognizes the person (or people) who is undergoing the rite of passage by lifting him or her up in a chair. 

     Modern times are also created a situation where music has become even more prevalent in these rites of passages, especially at Bar Mitzvahs. As someone who attended an overwhelmingly Jewish Middle School where you would attend a Bar Mitzvah almost every weekend during the seventh grade, I observed the similarities of music at all the receptions. All of these receptions used the same pop music for the dancing part of the reception (every party had a dance floor). Even though the music was always the same, I would always flock to the dance floor and dance to my favorite beat. The space, along with the different DJs, created a different experience every time that gave me energy to do the same time every time. These dance floor routines was just like any concerts where the people knew when and where to perform certain actions. These actions make the audience "follow" the music just like during the prayer at the synagogue. 

     All of these rituals are cyclical and "appeal to the whole person weaving together bodily gesture, speech and the senses...and bind[ing] [them] to a community of shared values," while at same time creating a slightly different routine that make them want to participate in the ritual again (Livingstone, 99). This shared community applies to both the religious Jewish ceremony and the secular reception that copies many religious functions through its use of music.