Music and Rites

I have never in my life participated in or witnessed any sort of rite that did not in some way involve music. That is not to say that music is involved in every single rite known to humankind. The first rite that I can really remember is that of my baptism as a child. I was five years old and I can still vaguely remember the hymn being sung as I was presented to the congregation saying “Wash me whiter than snow”. Since then, I have constantly been exposed to ‘rites’ of sorts and the music that always seems to accompany them.

What would graduation be like without “Pomp and Circumstance” blaring through the auditorium? What would a wedding be like without a small chamber ensemble playing Pachebel’s Canon in D or the Wedding March? Pretty boring, I bet, and most defiantly not as meaningful. In my extensive experience of my eight or so years playing music, the venue of the rite is never quite the same without a group of musicians, or just a single one, plunking merrily along in the background. One of the rites I believe music plays by far the largest role in is the rite of marriage. I mean, who would want to go to a wedding that had little or no music in it? I know I wouldn’t. The musicians the wedding party employs have the power to make or break the ceremony for the family and friends of the bride and groom.

I think it would be quite interesting to experience or witness any sort of common rite, or any sort of unknown rite, without the aid of music. I wonder what it would be like. Would I be bored out my mind, feeling like whatever is going on may possibly last forever, or will I be more enraptured by the essence of the ritual? Who knows.