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.