The Emotion of Sound

There are certain decorums found in places of religious worship, such as a mosque, that are followed with the utmost care. The sermon is generally relegated to the domain of the place of religious worship however with the introduction of the cassette tape the sermon can now leave the place of religious worship and go out into the busy streets and public spaces of cities. The sermon and the Quran tapes are played five times every day, as that is the amount of times the call to prayer occurs, in public places such as cafes, and stores and these places change. They become places of religious worship and thus the decorum that they previously entertained changes to match the moral, ethical and behavioural landscape of the mosque. This change from one landscape to the other is based of the change of the soundscape (pg.124). Sound is an important aspect of religious worship as the way you reacts to the sounds of religious sermons, the reading of a religious text, or listening to religious lyrics affects their relationship with the religion. When you are reading a religious text there are purposely placed pauses meant for self reflection as well as a break so that you can absorb what you have just read (pg.54). When you are listening to a reading you can get lost in the ebb and flow of the spoken word. Listening to the spoken word or music hits us at our emotional core and by introducing the cassette tape sermon the emotional aspects of religious services that once were only found in the place of religious worship can now be found in various places across a city.

Ciara Williams