The wassails always took the form of songs, performed by groups of villagers. The lyrics of these songs appertained as a rule to good health, a good harvest, and also requested rewards and refreshments. Nonsensical verses were also included – at tines these were inserted by the wassailers to ask for more food and drink. This gives reason to consider whether the words were as important as the music – indeed the tunes were familiar to all and enabled participation by everyone, whereas the words would differ depending on who was singing them, and were apparently open to interpretation and improvisation. Therefore, it would seem that perhaps as long as the words conveyed the correct sentiment, what the actual words were appears not to have been a great concern.
I cannot find any evidence which suggests that wassailing ever took place without music or without words – they both seem to have been an integral part of the ritual. They have, however, been used independent of each other at different times in the ritual, as well as simultaneously. There is a spoken section at the end of the Apple Tree Wassail I have studied - this seems to have been used as a spoken conclusion to the ritual, an end to the song which Strang suggests is a reminder of the formal aspect of ritual music. (p.55)
The wassailing ceremony which focuses on apple trees and orchards, “orchard wassailing”, encouraged fertility of trees and warded off evil spirits. Music was central to this ceremony, usually in the form of songs or processionals. Chants, rhymes and spoken word were used, but never in isolation, and the whole ceremony concluded with singing, shouting and the banging of pots and pans and the firing of guns, all of which can be described as music of sorts.
Carols have become popular as a part of our modern Christmas celebrations, even though their original roots include Christian and pagan elements. They have, however, always involved an element of ritual. These days there are many carols used on a regular basis in the celebration of Christmas. Carols are an aspect of the Christmas celebrations which are familiar to most, if not all people, to a greater or lesser degree. The question here is, is the familiarity and the popularity of the carols due to the importance of the words or the recognition of the tune? Initially, a “carol” was a definition of a specific type of lyric, inasmuch as they all followed a particular structure. Many carols are now considered to be sacred, although some with a more secular theme, eg Jingle Bells, can also be classified as a type of carol. Whereas in the beginning, it would seem that the structure of the carol and the actual lyrics themselves were important, as time progressed and the use of carols became more widespread, the tune seems to have become the more familiar aspect to people. Often, the tunes of carols are heard being performed by brass bands and orchestras, whereas rarely if ever do you hear the lyrics being chanted or recited in the form of poetry. This would suggest that perhaps the lyrics are not necessary in order for the carol to have the correct connotations and connection with the season with which they are associated. The carol “Stille Nacht”, according to Cudsworth in his article “The True Stille Nacht” (1964), is the most popular carol. This is an interesting point as Maria Hubert has found that Stille Nacht has been translated into over forty different languages. She states that this supports the view that it is “the most popular Christmas carol in the world.”(1998, p.87) The translation of lyrics can often mean that the original meaning or emphasis can be lost, and yet this still has not affected the popularity of the carol. So perhaps in this ritual, music has the greater importance.
In rituals such as music for the mass, people involved in the ritual appear to have different priorities. The mass is very carefully controlled by the church authorities, and strict guidelines are laid out in an attempt to limit and restrict the music used for the setting of the words of the mass. In the medieval mass, in contrast with how the mass is conducted today, the priest presided over the proceedings form an altar which was far away from the congregation, and often obscured form their view by a screen. Harper (1991, p10) describes this as being similar to a private mass, where the priest would say mass by himself, because the people present were not actively involved. The music in this instance was considered to be an “ornamentation of the celebration” and the most important aspect of the mass was the priest’s word and actions. However, the people present at the mass often could only participate in the music, as the words spoken by the priest could be incoherent and they had to rely on the sound of bells to tell them where they were up to in the mass. (Score, p. 83) This would suggest that for the participants other than the priest, the music was the prevailing aspect of the ceremony. Conversely, the mass ceremony in modern times has the expectation that the texts are very important, should be clearly communicated to everyone present and only one text should be recited at any one time. In the medieval mass, the priest would often continue with prayers even when the other people present had not finished singing the previous text. The fact about the mass is that the texts came prior to the music, and then composers were commissioned to set those texts to music, having been given guidelines as to how this should be undertaken. Often when composers set texts to music, they would not scribe all of the words onto the manuscript – singers were expected to use their knowledge of the texts to insert the missing words and to create a suitable setting of them. This would suggest that the words took precedence over the music in that the singers had prior knowledge of them and the actual phrasing of them was not prescriptive, as long as the words themselves were clearly used. However, in later works, particularly one by Jean Le Munerat, it was stated that “the accentuation of speech should not be imposed on music, but rather the words should follow the demands of the music.” He suggested that those who were unacquainted with music would assign most import to the texts as they did not understand the necessity of the music. This difference of opinion is an interesting factor in the setting of words to music and again raises the question as to whether either if the two are actually of greater import.
To conclude, having discussed several rituals and examined each of them as to the prevalence of music or words, I feel that I am correct in asserting that it is dependent on the viewpoint from which you approach the ritual, and also on the ritual itself. Indeed, there are examples here that would suggest that both words and music are most important in different rituals, but this is most certainly open to discussion and I feel there is not a definitive answer. As the question I am discussing speaks of ritual in general, I conclude that neither words nor music has any greater or lesser significance than the other.
PART 2
Since the beginning of the course I have sought to improve my critical reading and listening skills, as I feel they are essential for the deeper understanding of texts and for the analysis of music. I have learned to question what I am reading; not simply accepting what is stated but considering alternatives, finding arguments and widening my own opinions and perceptions. I have found this then helps me to plan my own essays as it presents ideas as to ways of constructing an argument and how to convey differing opinions and viewpoints.
I am aware that I still need to build on these skills – I am not convinced that the structure of my argument in this assignment is as strong as it could be, and I need to find ways of addressing this. I will look at examples of good academic writing and ask for assistance if I should require it.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bill Strang, Song, Performance and Ritual (Open University, 2008)
AA317 Words and Music, Texts (Open University 2008)
AA317 Scores (Open University 2008)
