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Theorizing Musical Ritual.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Conference paper
Unpublished
| Publication date | 11/03/2010 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
Conference
| Conference | 13th International Doctoral and Postdoctoral Seminar on Musical Semiotics |
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| City | Department of Musicology, University of Helsinki, Finland |
| Period | 7/03/10 → 11/03/10 |
Abstract
Music has had a long association with ritual practice, and is used to provide a variety of iconic, indexical and symbolic functions within the ritual framework. In its interactions with other ritual objects and actions, music loses its identity as “music” and – from a semantic viewpoint at least – becomes an indivisible part of the ritual whole. The functional nature of ‘ritual’ music means that it is almost never considered from an aesthetic-philosophical viewpoint. Conversely, music that is the focus of such analysis (whether it is ‘art’ or ‘popular’) has rarely been considered from a ritual standpoint. Given the ubiquity of ritual in human (and possibly animal) behaviour, I argue that the possibility exists for its structures and processes to find expression within musical forms. In this paper, I shall outline some of the necessary conditions for ‘ritual thinking’ in music, along with the interpretative opportunities this observation gives rise to.