»Jag kände mig religiös och musiken var min gud» Om starka musikupplevelser ock deras religiösa aspekter

Abstract

The main topic of this article is the relation between musical and religious experience. Both in musical and religious settings there is evidence of exceptional experiences called peak experience, mystical experience, or the like. The article presents a large-scale investigation on Strong Experiences related to Music (SEM), initiated by professor Alf Gabrielsson, University of Uppsala, Sweden. In the project, several hundred reports of strong experiences were subjected to content analysis and then ordered into a descriptive system with seven main categories: General Characteristics, Physical Reactions and Behaviours, Perception, Cognition, Feelings/Emotions, Existential and Transcendental Aspects, and Personal and Social Aspects. Each of them contains a number of sub-categories with further sub-divisions amounting to a total of about 150 different aspects amply illustrated by means of excerpts from the reports.

One finding in the study was that quite some of the SEM reports showed connection to religious experience. They were picked out and analysed. This resulted in nine specific aspects of religious experience in musical contexts, ranging from just vague talking about religious experience to the overwhelming state of facing God, the Holy or Divine.

These findings were focused upon and discussed in relation to related research and with a view to the role of music in church and other religious settings. Matters discussed were music and theology as both being a carrier of faith in its immaterial and symbolic features. The sacred room was also looked upon as a carrier of faith and how all these different parts often becomes a frame for the strong experience.

The conclusion is, that the study presented in this article, tells something important about the fundamental role played by music in the church. A strong experience of music certainly has important implications for the individual. These implications is a challenge for the church.