Studying Congregational Music: Key Issues, Methods, and Theoretical Perspectives

by Andrew Mall (Editor), Jeffers Engelhardt (Editor), Monique M. Ingalls (Editor)

Overview

Studying the role of music within religious congregations has become an increasingly complex exercise. The significant variations in musical style and content between different congregations require an interdisciplinary methodology that enables an accurate analysis, while also allowing for nuance in interpretation. This book is the first to help scholars think through the complexities of interdisciplinary research on congregational music-making by critically examining the theories and methods used by leading scholars in the field.

An international and interdisciplinary panel of contributors introduces readers to a variety of research methodologies within the emerging field of congregational music studies. Utilizing insights from fields such as communications studies, ethnomusicology, history, liturgical studies, popular music studies, religious studies, and theology, it examines and models methodologies and theoretical perspectives that are grounded in each of these disciplines. In addition, this volume presents several “key issues” to ground these interpretive frameworks in the context of congregational music studies. These include topics like diaspora, ethics, gender, and migration.

This book is a new milestone in the study of music amongst congregations, detailing the very latest in best academic practice. As such, it will be of great use to scholars of religious studies, music, and theology, as well as anyone engaging in ethnomusicological studies more generally.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367697808
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/29/2022
Series:	Congregational Music Studies Series
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Andrew Mall is Assistant Professor of Music at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He teaches courses in ethnomusicology, music industry, and popular music studies. He is the author of God Rock, Inc.: The Business of Niche Music (University of California Press, 2021) and Book Review Co-Editor of the journal Ethnomusicology.

Jeffers Engelhardt is Professor of Music at Amherst College, Massachusetts, USA. He teaches courses in ethnomusicology focusing on community-based ethnography, music and religion, voice, and analytical approaches to music and sound. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Journal of Music and Religion and Digital and Multimedia Editor of the Journal of the American Musicological Society.

Monique M. Ingalls is Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director of Church Music at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, USA. She is the author of Singing the Congregation (Oxford, 2018), coeditor of three books on congregational musicmaking, and series editor of Routledge’s Congregational Music Studies Series.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Studying Congregational Music-Andrew Mall, Jeffers Engelhardt, and Monique M. Ingalls; Part I: Methodological Perspectives; 1 In Case You Don’t Have a Case: Reflections on Methods for Studying Congregational Song in Liturgical History-Lester Ruth; 2 Worshipping "With Everything": Musical Analysis and Congregational Worship-Joshua Kalin Busman; 3 Mediating Religious Experience? Congregational Music and the Digital Music Interface-Anna E. Nekola; 4 Ethnography in the Study of Congregational Music-Jeff Todd Titon; 5 Re-Sounding the History of Christian Congregational Music-Sarah Eyerly; 6 Music Theology as the Mouthpiece of Science: Proving it through Congregational Music Studies-Bennett Zon; Part II: Key Issues; 7 Political Economy and Capital in Congregational Music Studies: Commodities, Worshipers, and Worship-Andrew Mall; 8 Congregation and Chorality: Fluidity and Distinction in the Voicing of Religious Community-Jeffers Engelhardt; 9 "We Just Don’t Have It": Addressing Whiteness in Congregational Voicing-Marissa Glynias Moore; 10 Researching Black Congregational Music from a Migratory Point of View: Methods, Challenges, and Strategies-Melvin L. Butler; 11 Studying Byzantine Ukrainian Congregational Music in Canada: Considering Community and Diaspora-Marcia Ostashewski; 12 Congregational Singing and Practices of Gender in Christian Worship: Exploring Intersections-Teresa Berger; 13 Searching for a Metaphor: What is the Role of the Shaliach/Shalichat Tzibur (Leader of Prayer)?-Jeffrey A. Summit; 14 Ecclesioscapes: Interpreting Gatherings around Christian Music in and outside the Church through the Dutch Case of the "Sing Along Matthäuspassion"-Mirella Klomp