Submission Date
7-28-2022
Document Type
Paper
Department
Interdisciplinary Studies
Faculty Mentor
Meredith Goldsmith
Second Faculty Mentor
Nathan Rein
Project Description
The impetus for my project was how I view listening to music as a spiritual or religious experience. Listening to music, instead of practicing religion, satisfies my inclination toward spirituality. In the introduction to my paper, I outlined how music exists in my life. I thought it was valuable to provide my unique experience to give context to my research. I created a diagram that delineates how I interact with music and the benefits I derive from listening to music. During this self-reflection, I realized listening to music functions like a ritual for me. I noticed my individual ritualized listening derives from how my family listens to music together and shares music with each other. It is like a ritual that nourishes our relationships. I wanted to know if this group listening phenomenon is common and if it has been previously studied.
I familiarized myself with relevant research and theories from multiple disciplines, specifically neuroscience and religious and ritual studies. The key theories I encountered were the pleasure instinct, communicative musicality, and what I termed ‘prelinguistic ritual syntax.’ I noticed similarities and connections between these theories, which helped me refine the early conceptual core of my personal theory of music as a ritualistic form of emotional communication.
I wrote a literature review paper, which summarizes and comments on my sources, compiled an annotated bibliography, wrote a brief personal essay reflecting upon music in my life to introduce the paper, drew a diagram about music in my life, and made a PowerPoint presentation about my project.
Recommended Citation
Gerlach, Jillian N., "Music: Seeking Pleasure, Emotional Language, Ritualized Communication" (2022). Interdivisional Studies Summer Fellows. 1.
https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/ids_sum/1
Seeking Pleasure, Emotional Language, Ritualized Communication Presentation
MusicInMyLife-MindMap-JillianGerlach-2022.jpg (710 kB)
Diagram: Interactions + Benefits
Open Access
Available to all.
Included in
Community Psychology Commons, Ethnomusicology Commons, Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Interpersonal and Small Group Communication Commons, Musicology Commons, Religion Commons, Social Psychology Commons, Social Psychology and Interaction Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons, Sociology of Religion Commons
Comments
Presented during the 24th Annual Summer Fellows Symposium, July 22, 2022 at Ursinus College.
Included as supplemental files are a PowerPoint slide presentation and mind map diagram.