We and They, Part 1 of 2

In Music and the Mind, Storr (1992) notes that “music brings about similar physical responses in different people at the same time.” Music serves as an aid to group formation for good or ill, but also “…has the effect of intensifying or underlining the emotion which a particular event calls forth, by simultaneously coordinating the emotions of a group of people” (Storr, p. 24).  Through this synchronization affect on individual emotional behavior, music can reinforce the notion of who are we, and who are they.  Two areas in which music plays an important role in behavior coordination and group identification are religion and sport.

The inclusion of music in religious services or rituals is universal (Bowker, 1997), and in some instances music not only identifies and binds members of a group, but may also serve to impel outsiders to join the group. As a child and teen growing up in the Bible Belt, I witnessed music’s power and influence on individuals to join a group in the context of evangelical tent revivals.  I saw how music played an important part in distinguishing between believers and non-believers in the message conveyed by hymns such as “Onward, Christian Soldiers,” but I saw music’s most powerful influence during the “come to Jesus” apex of the program. Almost invariably, the choir and crowd sang “Amazing Grace,” as the preacher urged the un-saved to come forward.  The hymn’s spare, unadorned, ¾ time melody is easily learned, remembered and popular; regardless of musical ability, those attending the revival as members of the believer group were able to join in singing the hymn.  The song’s quarter note, half note rhythm seemed to create a musical impetus and momentum that drove non-believers out of their seats and walk to the front of the tent for salvation and inclusion into the fold.  The resulting combination of the pull of the preacher’s message, the push of the song and the massed voices of crowd and choir was commanding and difficult to ignore.