The music of the Mevlevi Sufi correlates with dance to represent a connection between dance and religion. “A posture meant to represent the oneness of God”. Their actions are represented through a religious aspect and show how their movements show God sending his blessings. This type of music excites the listener and helps them become engaged. As mentioned in the slide we are able to, “Experience the direct spiritual union with God”. The Sema worship ceremony itself symbolizes the soul’s journey to God. This relates to the idea of mind over the matter since at the moment of the ceremony we put our mind and thought into worshiping and connecting to God. The music helps us get that closer connection to make it more powerful and meaningful. There are two parts of the ceremony which involves the Taksim and Pesrev. Overall, the music itself is very calming which helps people form a better connection and really focus. There spiritual energy throughout the dance enhances for better worship.
The music I choose is gospel music and the example is “Amazing Grace”. Worship in this music is performed in many different contexts and styles. Gospel music itself is pretty easy to learn when it comes to the words and its melodies. This song is particularly very connected to the Christian church. Both of these pieces are used in worshipping and strengthening faith. Both of these songs consist of a slow tempo. Both pieces are very different. In Mevlevi Sufi the dance consists of a lot of movement and I’ve realized it’s mostly men in the video. Usually, when we picture people singing amazing grace it’s very slow and powerful with not a lot of movement. Amazing Grace consists of no musical instruments, it’s known for its a cappella and it’s lining out style. Mevlevi focuses on God’s blessings and Amazing Graces emphasizes the thought of being found and letting go of our mistakes.
I also chose to compare the Mevlevi music with gospel music. I found it interesting that you said “Gospel music itself is pretty easy to learn when it comes to the words and its melodies” because this is a huge difference when compared to Mevlevi music. I noticed how Mevlevi music was very calculated and highly symbolic, but I did not realize how gospel music was definitely not like that. Good point!