Music and Rites

So, as I told you yesterday in class, our Blog topic for Thursday, January 15, will be “Music and Rites.” Think about the various rites in your life. The big three in most cultures are birth, marriage, and death, but we have many smaller rites as well. Societies have different rites that deal with coming of age or passing certain milestones. Some rites happen on a yearly basis, whereas others happen less often. For the purposes of this assignment, you’re permitted to define “rite” rather broadly—feel free to step outside the birth/marriage/death continuum. And I do know that there is potentially some overlap with this entry and the previous one on “Music and Religion”—try not to tread the exact same ground, okay?

After you’ve thought about the rites you’ve experienced in your own lives, start to consider the role that music has had in those rites. Did it have a specific function? Did that function really make sense, or was it tied to a tradition that is no longer so central to the rite? What different types of music were used? Were specific pieces of music expected, or just a general style, or was it a free for all? Could the music change to reflect the experiences or personalities of the individuals at the center of the rites, or were the norms of society more or less imposed on all? Who picked the music, and who performed it, and who listened to it?

The music used for the Quichuan child’s wake that we heard yesterday is a good example of a mix of styles. The vacación is a genre specific to that particular rite, and it was played at specific times with specific reasons. The style of the vacación was very striking and disturbing. The sanjuan, however, was a much more general style of music, and the performers would use a much more mix-and-match approach to performing them. The mother’s lament at the end was an improvised expression of grief, and thus different for each wake. Some of the music was present to facilitate the expression of grief, and some of the music was there to help alleviate some of the grief.

“Music and Rites” is to be posted by midnight on Thursday, January 15. Your next round of “Cool Stuff” is to be posted by midnight the next day, Friday, January 16. For this round of Cool Stuff, look to the Music-Cultures of Latin America, the Middle East, and African-America. If your previous entry didn’t include Africa, that’s fair game, too. Enjoy!