Music and Rites

I haven’t had much personal exposure to music in the form commemorating a rite. Music used during rites, albeit a rite of passage, death, birth, etc, is utilized in all world customs, but sadly I don’t have much personal experience with this subject matter. Of course I do understand that celebrating birthdays, parades and national holidays, for example, are illustration’s of rites that utilizes music, but I think the most note worthy personal examples I remember are my baptism, high school graduation and my uncle’s funeral. The music used at these specific rites were all diverse and encompassed different emotions. Now that I relive these recollection’s, I have also noticed that the tone of the music utilized during these rites were different according to the occasion.
At my baptism, which occurred at the age of 10, celebratory gospel music, such as hymns and psalms were performed. The music was upbeat, lively and very engaging. The music dealt with the subject matter of washing away pervious sins and giving your life to God. That was a very important and joyous day in my life. On the other hand, Pomp and Circumstance was performed during my high school graduation. The music was stiff and constricting, and didn’t leave much room for very much celebrating, until after the event. The music performed during my uncles funeral was very melancholy, slow paced and somber, as is most music at funerals. Now as I think about these rites and the music used to facilitate them, I see that there is a correlation between the music performed and the specific rite but also the type of emotional reactions expected to be by the listeners. Upbeat music is performed at a baptism or birthday party contrary to the sad and somber music performed at a funeral. But as I sit and think about other rites and the music that accompany them, one specific event came to my mind: our first broken heart. This is a rite that occurs in everyone’s lifetime at least once and is usually accompanied by various amounts of sad music. Wow, I never noticed the connections!