FOLK-F 450 Music in Religious Thought and Experience
Daniel Reed
Spring 2010
R 9:00 am – 11:30 am
Course # 14053
This course will explore the relationships between music and religious experience and thought in select sacred musical traditions of the world. We will comparatively analyze pertinent issues including roles of music in sacred rituals, theories about and concepts of music involving the divine, uses of music as a means of communication with spiritual domains, uses of music in the negotiation of religious boundaries, intersections between American popular culture and religion, the effects of mass media on sacred musical practices, relationships between music performance and religious identity, music and religious ecstasy, and music and trance. Case studies will be drawn from major world religious traditions, local religious traditions, and combinations thereof.