Religion, Music, Song

by Mel Rosenberg - מל רוזנברג

After fruitful careers as a scientist and inventor I've gone back to what I love most - writing children's books Read More

Joined Oct 2013
Published Books 1495

Religion is the basis for ‘heavenly’ music.

Religion tries to control music.

Religious music ‘bleeds’ into popular music.

Popular music ‘discusses’ religion

We’ve looked at Bach,

At requiems,

The Torah,

Gregorian chants

Paul Simon’s ‘borrowed’ song

Leonard Cohen

Let’s look some more.

Chatgpt had this to say:

Religion has shaped music more than almost any other human institution, for two big reasons:

it creates regular, repeatable occasions (weekly services, fasts, festivals, life-cycle rituals) where music is needed
it cares intensely about how emotion, community, and the body are managed—so it both encourages music and polices it

Here are the main ways that influence shows up.

1) Religion as a “music factory”

Most religions generate an ongoing demand for music:

timekeeping: marking hours, seasons, sacred calendars (bells, calls, chants, hymns)
memory: helping people learn and retain long texts (psalms, sutras, Qur’anic recitation rules, liturgical poetry)
group cohesion: synchronizing breath, voice, and feeling—one of the fastest routes to “we-ness”
authority and identity: “this is how we sing” becomes a badge of tradition

That’s why you see huge repertoires tied to worship: Jewish piyyut and nusach, Christian hymnody and chant, Islamic recitation traditions, Hindu bhajans and kirtan, Sikh kirtan, Buddhist chant, etc.

2) Sacred text shapes musical form

When the words are sacred, the music adapts to serve them:

chant-like styles keep text intelligible and stable
formulaic melodic patterns let cantors/imams/chanters deliver long passages reliably
call-and-response helps participation and reinforces key lines
limited melodic ranges can make communal singing easier and reduce “performance” vibes

Even when the style changes over centuries, the “text-first” priority often remains.

3) Rules, debates, and the policing of pleasure

A lot of religious influence is about boundaries:

which contexts are appropriate (worship vs weddings vs taverns)
which instruments are permitted (or discouraged)
who may perform (gender roles, clergy vs laity)
what musical features are suspicious (dance rhythms, sensuality, theatricality)

This isn’t only “anti-music.” Often it’s “music is powerful—therefore it must be controlled.”

You can see a recurring pattern: