Sunday, March 8, 2009

Religious Music

I think that, as everyone has already said, the songs "If Ye Love Me" and "Sancte" are Christian songs.  They are both a cappella with several voices, strong harmonies with a prevailing melody, and a chorale-like atmosphere.  These qualities are very much characteristic of Christian music, and another give-away, at least from what I heard, is that the lyrics are in English for "If Ye Love Me," a predominant language in Christianity (look at the title of the first song).  The lyrics of "Sancte" were probably in Latin, but I am not positive.  I also thought it was interesting how in "Sancte," almost the entire song is sung in a minor key, but then right at the very end on the last note, the singers harmonize in a major key, which could convey a positive feeling such as hope.  The song "Angklung" is probably of Hindu origin because an Angklung is an Asian percussion instrument that, to me, sounds similar to a xylophone.  The predominant instrument in this piece is a percussion instrument, the Angklung, in addition to about two or three singing voices.  During this piece, the tempo changes quite a bit.  First, it starts out pretty slow, then speeds up drastically, and then slows down again, which I think adds to the interest and unpredictability of the piece.  Finally, I am not sure about the origin of the song "Raku," but it is definitely not Christian.  It is entirely instrumental with some unusual wind and percussion instruments (the percussion instrument is extremely high-pitched), as well as a bagpipe.  These instruments are combined in an interesting way in this song.  I think that the song is really cool to listen to because it is so unusual.

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