Music. Since music has charms to do much more than soothe the savage breast, it has been a major part of all religions. It has powers to alter and match moods, to sustain and evoke emotion, to induce trance or ecstasy states, to express worship, and to entertain. At the same time, it is supremely a corporate activity: it not only binds together performers and audience, it is an activity in which many people can be engaged at once—people, for example, can chant together (not necessarily in unison) in a way which would become noise and babble in ordinary speech—facts which were much developed and exploited in oratorio and opera. At moments of despair and of triumph, humans sing, and sing together.

In India, sound itself (śabda, Om) is the sacred source of all appearance: music therefore has the capacity to articulate the order and ordering of the cosmos. The characteristic musical form of the rāga is said to resemble in its gradual construction the building of a temple (see ART). In the Vedas, music is embedded in the chants of the Sāma Veda. While many of the sacrifices, of which the chants (sāman) once formed a part, are no longer practised, the protection of the chants themselves still continues. Music is also integrated into the religious occasions and purposes of dance, as classically formulated in the Nātyśāstra, which pays particular attention to the ways in which religious and other sensation (rasa) can be produced. Although Indian music divided into two major traditions (the Hindustani and Carnatic), the underlying religious perceptions remain the same.

In China, music received official recognition and support at an early date (at least by 1000 BCE) as an instrument of education and court ceremony. Ritual music of this kind was later called ya-yüeh (yayue, ‘elegant music’), in distinction from ‘popular music’, su-yüeh (suyue). When Confucius emphasized ethics and education as the basis of government and society, music formed a natural part in sustaining appropriate rituals and attitudes. Shih Ching (Shijing, The Book of Odes) became one of the Confucian Classics, but no music from it survives. Music was equally central in Taoism: poetry-writing and the playing of the ch'in (qin, a kind of zither-like instrument) were regarded as avenues to the realization of the Tao.

In Japan, music was early connected with shamanistic rituals, but later music was much affected by ‘imports’ from Korea, China, and Central Asia. Thus gagaku (elegant music; cf. China above) is the traditional court music developed during the Nara period, and codified during the Heian period (794–1185), which includes mikagura (music for the Shinto cult in relation to the court). Mikagura is divided formally between komagaku derived from Korea, and tōgaku, derived from China. If gagaku is music for the purpose of accompanying dance, it is known as bugaku, if not, as kangen. In 701, a department of court music (Gagaku-ryō) was established employing hundreds of musicians, often for specific state rituals and occasions. During the Heian period, the Buddhist practice of chanting sūtras, known as shōmyō, became widespread, and was of particular importance for Shingon and Tendai. Music is also important in theatre, with its continuing religious connections, as e.g. in Kabuki and Nō.

Buddhist music has undergone a comparable transformation in Tibet. Ritual chanting of myths and formulae seems to have been a part of Bön religion. But the advent of Buddhism led to the development of music, both vocal and instrumental, partly to accompany the rituals, but even more to prepare those present for visualization and meditation. Ritual drama (e.g. ʾcham) was also an important occasion of public music.

Jewish music is clearly rooted in the biblical traditions which speak of the Temple music and of the powerful music of David. But none of this has survived, and the most important continuity of Jewish music is secured in the synagogue. From the earliest period, synagogue music included the sung recitation of Psalms, cantillation (recitation of the masoretic text of scripture according to accent marks written in the text, led by the ḥazzan or cantor, or by a member of the congregation, in cadences indicated by gestures of the hand—hence ‘chironomy’, the traditional instruction of these techniques), and the chanting of prayers. To these were added a large number of hymns and piyyutim, and among the Ḥasidim niggunim, sung to nonsensical words, or to no words at all, in order to induce the desired state of ecstatic joy.

Christians from the outset were enjoined to ‘sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs’ (Colossians 3. 16; Ephesians 5. 19), and they have not stopped doing so since. The biblical text underlay the development of Christian music, with especial emphasis on the Psalter. Plainchant (plainsong) is a monophonic chant in free rhythm, which developed in various traditions (e.g. Ambrosian, Gallican, Gregorian, Mozarabic, Armenian, Byzantine, etc.). But plainchant led into polyphony, introduced in about the 11th cent., but coming to maturity from the 14th cent. on. The opportunity this afforded to the Reformation of telling the biblical story led to the astonishing achievements of Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672), whose major works, Cantiones Sacrae, Symphoniae Sacrae, Psalmen Davids, The Resurrection History, The Christmas History, and The Seven Last Words from the Cross, indicate how important the biblical text was. Even more spectacular was the development of the oratorio by J. S. Bach (1685–1750): although written for church settings, his Passions according to St Matthew and St John can still convey a religious sense of occasion, even in concert performances. In the Church, during this whole period, there had been developing the early Greek custom of singing hymns, some early examples of which are still in use. Hymns have also spread their skirts a little into the related forms of motet, canticle, anthem, and cantata.

In Islam, music is related to the chanting of the Qurʾān which is highly technical and stylized, and to the mosque, where the ādhān (call to prayer) is taught and adjudged musically. The power of music to affect moods has led to its extensive use in Sūfī movements. Although no body of religious music has been developed in Islam, Muslims have taken a great interest in music as a part of God's creation, and early works on music (especially that of al-Fārābī) were translated into Latin, thereby extending their influence into Europe.