Music & Religion

In every culture that I know of there is a serious link between music and spirituality. Of course there are a few exceptions, including religions that completely reject music. Music is often used in religion as a way to worship or pay respect to the god(s). Many forms of traditional music are adapted to fit religious purposes or have descended from religious music. Music is also often times composed for the purpose of religion. For example, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote most of his music for the Lutheran church. The main themes found in religious music are praise, worship, penitence, and lament. Most religious music in our culture is vocal music, which involves singing from either a whole congregation or small group. A lot of religious music in our culture is accompanied by instruments. Some denominations, however, prefer unaccompanied singing. In churches that I have visited the most common accompaniment instruments are the piano and organ. I've also seen a "worship leader" playing a guitar while singing. In some churches there is an entire band with drums, guitars, bass, keyboard, etc. It all depends on the type of church and their musical preference. The most recent church I visited was the one my dad goes to in Franklin, TN. It's just south of Nashville, so there are a lot of musicians who live there, which may explain the music scene at this church. The worship portions of the service were led by a contemporary christian band, and they sang contemporary christian songs instead of traditional hymns. In my opinion, the religious music of our culture is more effected by the popular music of our culture than vice versa.