Music Rituals

 I’m going to be talking about Music and Rituals.

One musical ritual that I was a part of was experiencing music at a wedding. I went to my uncle's wedding when I was a child. Music was used in two ways during the wedding. The first was the classic wedding march song when my uncle and then-fiance walked down the aisle to be wedded. The main function of this music was to introduce the onlookers to the beautiful bride and groom as they entered the room to be wedded. Not every wedding but a lot of weddings use this same wedding march song to introduce the bride and groom. The wedding march song is very old, dating back one hundred and fifty years, where it first appeared in Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The general rules to follow while the song is being played are to respect everyone around you and stay seated. Especially to not have your phones out and ruin their big moment. The second-way music was used during the wedding was during the wedding reception. For background music, they had music playing which was music that they liked, but also appropriate for the guests and children if they were present. I would say the background music would vary from wedding to wedding depending on the bride and groom. I know some to even have live bands.




    Another music ritual that I have experienced is birthdays. I’ve been to many birthdays as a kid and I would say for all of them we sang the classic song “Happy Birthday”. The main function of this song is to celebrate the person who is having their birthday. The ritual for birthdays is to sing this song while the birthday cake is brought out with candles on top. When the song is done, the person whose birthday it is will blow out the candles. The classic happy birthday song dates back to the 19th century, so it is very old. Generally, the rule is to sing the song while the cake comes out and to wish them a happy birthday.




    Finally, the last music ritual I will talk about is funerals. For a lot of funerals when the coffin is rolled out into the room they have a song playing. A lot of the time it is the deceased’s favorite song. The main function of this song is to honor the person who passed away and remember a little special piece about them. I’m not sure if this ritual is the same for all funerals or not, but I know this to be true for a good amount of them. The music should be respected and everyone is normally quiet while they respect the person who passed as they are rolled out in their coffin.




Comments

  1. Larissa FerretizMarch 1, 2022 at 4:57 PM

    I've only been to one funeral, and they had live music. Mariachis were singing both sad and happy songs, which I love since funerals are meant for the remembering the late family members. Although it does hurt being present, music is a way to keep our thoughts off the tragedy.

    I love weddings the most. At my cousin's wedding, he did an entrance to the venue by using the Star Wars theme song (he is a MAJOR geek). He also used Childish Gambino's Summertime Magic, which I thought fit perfectly.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beuanna TylerMarch 8, 2022 at 12:20 AM

    Hi Jacob! It was very interesting learning about the history behind these famous songs. I attended the MidSummer Night's Dream performance presented by Converse a few weeks ago.

    ReplyDelete

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