Music and Religion

Music has always played an important role in my spiritual life. I was born and raised a Catholic and the Holy Mass I attended every Sunday included a lot of singing and chanting of hymns and prayers in both English and Latin. When I was a teenager, attending Holy Mass became all about the music. I felt that I connected with God the most, when I sang hymns. This was what motivated me to attend church every Sunday. After having spent many years as a Church musician, playing Organ, Piano and Flute for Masses and services, singing in the choir and being the Cantor that leads the singing of the Psalm, I have come to experience the beauty of music in religion and how much music enhances church services. In the Catholic Church, music is as an agent that helps unites the congregation. People feel more of a spiritual connection when singing a prayer than just saying one. Only specific instruments are used. The electronic Organ, the Piano, the Violin, the Flute, the acoustic Guitar are some of the popular ones in use. Sometimes the use of music depends on the type of service at church and depends on the decisions made by the priest who is celebrating Mass on that day. For eg: no instruments were allowed during a service on Good Friday, as a sign of respect and mourning. The style of music and instrumentation used always has a sense of solemnity and reverence. Hymns and chanting are meant to be sung with sensitivity, and instruments that can produce a lot of “noise” such as drums, brass instruments and electric guitars are generally discouraged.
Being in Sri Lanka I have also grown up hearing Buddhist chants that are used in Buddhist rituals and ceremonies. These sounds that I have heard while growing up have certainly had an impact on me and how I decide what is aesthetically please to the ear. Since I have heard and seen the way music has been used in the Catholic Church and how it is being used in Buddhism, the music has become familiar to my ear and therefore aesthetically pleasing. By growing up hearing these sounds, I have been able to appreciate and acknowledge the importance of music in religion. Just like how Native Americans see a strong connection between music and the divine, I believe that music can be used like no other form of art, to call out to God.
As a composer, I have had many personal experiences where I have felt inspired by God to write music. I have had many instances in my life where I have prayed, asking God for inspiration. I believe that God has filled me with ideas and has never left those prayers unanswered. It is in these instances that I have composed some of the best music I have ever written. I am happy to have had such experiences with the divine.