Conclusion

The conclusion summarizes the characteristics of ritual singing that facilitate a sense of belonging as they have been proposed throughout this book. These include aspects of resonance, somatics, performance, temporality, and tacitness. These five characteristics point toward three important ways in which ritually framed singing is well positioned to promote a sense of belonging. Singing plays an important role in helping us structure experience. It has an essentially relational character. As a performed activity, singing also has agency. The ethnographic studies of religious, educational, community, and civic rituals presented throughout the book highlight ways in which the changing religious and cultural landscape of Ireland is being negotiated and transformed through sung ritual practices. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the “weakness” of singing, proposing that it is this very characteristic that allows it to function so hospitably in experiences of fragility, vulnerability, and change.