How Music Ties into Rituals

 Music has always been a great way to add to events, ceremonies, and other rituals. Where words cannot speak, music often finds way to enhance the mood of an event, whether it be joyous or gloomy. My favorite time of year, minus all the sickness, is Christmas. One of the greatest remnants of the good days of childhood lies in Christmas music. Every time I hear that glockenspiel start playing before Mariah Carey sings her only good song, I am immediately transported back into an inner dream of my old living room with the happy little ghost of myself who doesn't talk to me much nowadays. Besides a sob story, I would like to get to the heart of the issue and address what makes Christmas music so nostalgic for most of us. Similar to how someone might hear a sitar and associate it with Indian music, we might associate jingle bells to Christmas time.

In this song by indie pop band, The Go! Team, you can hear the very Jingle bell I just talked about all throughout the song. To me, this is a giveaway indication to it being a song about Christmas (and New Year). The lyrics affirm my very intelligent theory. My point is it's interesting how certain instruments can be tied to one specific type of music, or in this case, ritual. Christmas would not be the same without jingle bells. 

If you think about it, it's not far from obvious as to why jingle bells are a staple of Christmas music. When you think about jingle bells, chances are you think of the ancient prophecy of Santa Claus gliding through the night sky, delivering presents to good little boys and girls around the world. But he would not be able to navigate as easily if it weren't for his reindeer and their jingle bells. Then Jingle Bell Rock hit the radios in 1957, and engraved the sound of jingle bells into our innocent minds. And now, it's pretty rare to find jingle bells in genres outside of Christmas music.

Apart from Christmas music and jingle bells, there are other darker rituals you will find music a part of. If you are an avid music enthusiast, you may know some hidden lore such as the 27 club (I won't explain that now, but you can look it up if you have a few hours on your hands). Some believe in music as being a ritual for more secret things. I came across a theory a while ago and would just like to clarify that I am no crazy conspiracist that lives in his mothers basement posting silly little speculations on Facebook.  However, this one kind of goes hard. Basically, if you ever heard of Prince, you may know he's a pretty good musician. One of his songs is called "I Would Die 4 U" and it's crazy.

But the song is not as crazy as the person who first came up with a theory that I Would Die 4 U was a prophecy. They took the title literally and said that it was no coincidence that the number 4 and letter U were used. It seems like a clever little trick to make the title more unique, but someone went deeper. See, if you look at when Prince died, you will find it was on the 21st of April. April is the fourth month of the year. U is the 21st letter of the alphabet. Well would you look at that... I Would Die 4 U aka I Would Die 4/21? I don't think it's super serious, but I thought it was pretty crazy how the numbers match up. Now I hope that I don't end up dying anytime soon for some "mysterious" reason.

Again, some people take theories like this to the max and speculate that all popular music is tied back to the illuminati and we're all being brainwashed with backwards messages and propagandist lyrics. But even in a more shallow sense, some people think all music is a ritual just because you are "conjuring" your emotions in a different way and expressing ideas through the means of sound. So then is all music ritualistic? What do you think?

Music and Me

What's up. I am Augustine and I like music because why not. I was born at a young age, and ever since, I have been into music. I enjoy music that is detailed, complex, and most importantly, artistic. That's what I believe music is fundamentally. I am originally from Binghamton, New York, a small town in the upstate known as the "Carousel Capital" of the country. I hate carousel music. At the less younger age of 13, I started taking piano lessons before moving to South Carolina. In a time of desolation, I picked up a cheap toy acoustic guitar that lay in my house and began learning every part of all my favorite songs. I don't think I would have been a musician in any other universe, but now I'm going to college for it and am obligated to label myself with such a goofy title. Like previously mentioned, I am into complicated music as I feel it's very fulfilling. My favorite genres include indie, rock, indie rock, shoegaze, math rock, indie, folk, indie folk, and indie, and other stuff like that. Ten years from now I'll probably be very broke and out there in terms of mentality, but that's just part of being someone who is fascinated with music enough to make a career out of it.

Here is some cool music that I like that you should listen to...

This first one is my go-to right now. Indie folk/rock group Bright Eyes recently released a bunch of EPs of alternate "companion" versions of their most well-known songs featuring folk female duo First Aid Kit. The song includes a lot of chordophones like guitars and mandolins and has really cool drums. The lyrics sound like it's a song about uncertainty and death but the fun music makes you forget about that nonsense. What I like most about this band is that the lead singer's vocals kind of suck, but they're supposed to so you have to pretend that you like it until you gaslight yourself into actually liking it. Then you can brag about it and act like you're more intricate than all your friends. But his voice layered with First Aid Kit's voices bring a lot of energy to an otherwise basic folk song and make you want to dance to it or something.

Next up is Sufjan Stevens. You may have actually heard of him from TikTok but I've been listening to him before he was famous, I promise. This song is important to me because it's kind of like the music that I like to write. In this specific piece, you will find a lot of complex layering of sounds and melodies and countermelodies and cool stuff like that. It's also kind of funny how at one point it sounds like a very calming choir piece before going full rock with heavy electric guitars and drums. Towards the end, we are introduced to the coda which mixes all of the previous sections of the song into one in a satisfying way. 

Last and least is Katy Perry's "Firework." I think it sounds pretty good until she starts singing. The lyrics sound silly and some of the metaphors like plastic bags in the wind don't stick very well. It also encapsulates my beef with pop songs very well i.e. the same 4 chords literally throughout the whole song and overproduced sounds and synths that make a track sound lifelessly robotic to me. I guess there are some people out there who like it and all I can say is sorry.