CDAS Seminar: Death's Playlist
Music at Contemporary Funerals
Date: 20 August 2013
Time: 13.00 - 14.30
Venue: 3E 2.20, University of Bath
Speaker: Dr Lisa McCormick
Hymns are still commonly sung at funerals in the UK today, but the range of music heard at these events has recently expanded. Drawing from fieldwork conducted in the southwest of England, I will use social performance theory to make sense of the changing role of music in religious and non-religious ceremonies. The central questions I will address are: How do celebrants and the bereaved determine what music is "appropriate" for the occasion in the absence of a shared religious framework? How are personalised selections incorporated into the funeral service? How has the installation of digital sound systems in crematoria transformed the experience of mourners?
Lisa McCormick is a cultural sociologist working at Haverford College, PA, USA; during summer 2013 she is an academic visitor at CDAS.
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