From Sanctuary to Screen: Sacred Sound, Staged Meaning, and the Broadcasting of Sacred Music as Performative Theatre

The ways that sacred music is performed and its conceptual underpinnings have changed as a result of its growing dissemination outside of conventional liturgical contexts and into the theater and television. The migration of sacred sound from sanctuary to screen creates a hybrid performative form in which aesthetic, ritual, and theological meanings are altered, according to this article, which explores sacred music at the nexus of composition, theatrical performance, and broadcast mediation. The research, which is situated within the current language of interdisciplinary humanities, emphasizes sacred music as a dynamic cultural practice as opposed to a set liturgical item. In order to understand sacred music performance as an embodied, dramaturgical, and mediated experience, this study develops a theoretical framework based on sacred musicology, performance theory, ritual studies, and media mediation theory. According to this framework, sacred sound is defined as meaning that is acquired through the interplay of gesture, sound, place, visual framing, and technology. The study provides a qualitative and interpretive examination of modern sacred music performances that are televised, looking at how media technologies and theatrical staging affect audience engagement, reception, and the sense of sanctity. Broadcasting is viewed as an active agent in meaning-making that converts congregational ritual into a mediated performance for audiences that are spread out, rather than as a neutral means of transmission. The article also shows that sacred meaning is neither only lost nor blindly maintained in broadcast performances. Rather, it is constantly renegotiated in a transitional area where digital media, theater, and liturgy meet. This study adds to ongoing discussions in Sacred Musicology, Theatre and Performance Studies, and the Digital Humanities by articulating an interdisciplinary analytical model for comprehending sacred music as performative theater in media environments. It also emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary approaches to sacred art interpretation in a cultural landscape that is becoming more and more mediated. 

Keywords: Sacred sound, Theatre and Performance studies, Digital Humanities, Cultural Landscape.

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