Judith Becker
received her degrees in Music and her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She is an authority on the music of Southeast Asia. She is a co-founder of the Center for World Performance Studies
and was its first director. She also served as director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies for six years. For most of her years at the University of Michigan, she has been director of the University
gamelan
ensemble, which she helped to establish in 1967. She has written numerous articles, and is the author of three books,
Deep Listeners: Music, Emotion and Trancing, Traditional Music in Modern Java and
Gamelan Stories: Tantrism, Islam and Aesthetic in Central Java. She is the editor of
Art, Ritual and Society in Indonesia and the three-volume set of translations entitled
Karawitan: Source Readings in Javanese Gamelan and Vocal Music.
These three volumes are the first substantial set of translations ever made of musical works written by Southeast Asian scholars and musicians.
Professor Becker has conducted fieldwork in Myanmar (Burma), Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka. Currently, her interest is in the relationship between music and religious ecstasy across cultures. She is exploring the common ground between the humanistic, cultural, anthropological approaches, and the scientific, cognitive, psychological approaches as she sees the bringing together of the two as among the great challenges of the field of ethnomusicology.
Email: beckerj@umich.edu
Website: http://www.music.umich.edu/departments/musicology/JudithBecker.htm
Music Moves Religion
Syracuse University, April 18-20 2008
Syracuse University, April 18-20 2008
Judith Becker, " Religious Ecstatics: Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Christian"
Music plays a central role in ecstatic religious practices throughout the world. Religious ecstatics are always deeply emotional. I am claiming that music, as a known generator of emotions, is a catalyst for religious ecstasy, and that those worshippers who are propelled into trancing during religious liturgies are particularly susceptible to musical arousal. My talk will involve the brief presentation of a Balinese exorcist ritual (Hindu), a Sri Lankan healing ritual (Buddhist), and a Muslim sama’ (New Delhi).
I will conclude with a summary of my current physiological research involving GSR (galvanic skin response) measurements of US Pentecostal trancers and other groups. My results suggest that religious trancers are more susceptible to musical arousal than the general population, and that this helps to explain the world-wide association of music, worship and religious ecstasy.
Questions? Please contact Juliana Finucane: jkfinuca@syr.edu