Digital Commons Network^™

Mimicry As Movement Analysis, Rosa Abrahams

Faculty Publications

The analysis of movement to music often stems from examinations of video-recorded events. This allows the analyst an opportunity to re-watch, pause, and slow down the movements of their participants, and to produce descriptive notation that appears alongside a score (e.g., Roeder and Tenzer 2012). Unlike prescriptive forms of dance notation (e.g., Laban 1928), such transcriptions of movement often illuminate metrical connections between music and movement. However, when video-recording is not permissible, other methods of movement analysis must be developed. This paper pilots a new technique for rigorous analysis of the interaction between movement and music, which may be used …

“Because We Are Catholic”: Music As A Bridge Between Identities Within The Catholic Community Of South India, Johnathan Theodore Travis Rhodes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I argue that the music of the Catholic Church of South India, which draws from Indian and Western music genres, functions as a cultural bridge allowing the worshiper to express a distinctively Catholic identity without distancing themselves from their Hindu roots. This cultural connection reinterprets Karnatak musical styles, practices, and traditions as distinctively Catholic rather than Indian or Hindu. Thus, Indian cultures are recontextualized within a Catholic paradigm, as these practices are regarded as Catholic regardless of their historical, cultural, or religious origin. These identities, Indian and Catholic, are not in tension with one another, but instead, …

Reframing And [Re]Presenting Evangelism In Oral Cultures : A Case Study Of The Harare West (Mumc) Vabvuwi Choir In Zimbabwe, Irene M. Kabete

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Singing The Congregation: How Contemporary Worship Music Forms Evangelical Community, John Macinnis

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"The desire of concert attendees for an authentic spiritual experience maps onto the search for other authentic experiences by consumers today."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the book Singing the Congregation from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/book-review-singing-the-congregation-how-contemporary-worship-music-forms-evangelical-community/

Transformational Leadership: Flow, Resonance, And Social Change, Enas Elhanafi

The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs

No abstract provided.

South Africa As A Dynamic Teaching Experience, Robert A. Simons, Christine Dickinson

The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs

No abstract provided.

Music And Jewish Practice In Contemporary Istanbul: Preserving Heritage, Bending Tradition, Joseph M. Alpar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is a study of ongoing transformations in the sacred musical repertoires practiced by ḥazzanim (synagogue cantors) and their synagogue congregations in Istanbul’s contemporary Jewish community. I argue that clergy and laypeople alike negotiate their religious identities as Turkish Jews in the musical choices they make. While many try to maintain the community’s local music tradition, rooted in makam—the Ottoman Turkish melodic system—others attempt to broaden their repertoire with musics from Israel, the United States, and Ḥabad Hasidic Judaism. I examine adjustments made to the musical components of ritual as responses to decades of Jewish religious life as …

Singing God's Words: The Performance Of Biblical Chant In Contemporary Judaism, Mili Leitner Cohen

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

A book review is presented for Jeffrey Summit, Singing God's Words: The Performance of Biblical Chant in Contemporary Judaism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016).

Thirteen Ways To “Hail, Mary”: A Case Study Of The 2013 Forum For The Inculturation Of Liturgical Music In Nigeria, Quintina Carter-Enyi, Aaron Carter-Enyi

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Every two years since 1997, the Forum for the Inculturation of Liturgical Music (FILM) has given a platform for many of Nigeria’s cultures to contribute to the future direction of the Roman Catholic liturgy in Nigeria. This case study focuses on the 2013 Biennial Choral Competition, specifically 13 settings of the Ave Maria text in seven of Nigeria’s hundreds of languages. Prior to that year, FILM had already introduced music with lyrics in minority languages including Bini, “Osolobruvwe Do”, and Efik, “Yak Ikom Abasi”, into the Nigerian canon of choral music, including both concert and church performance. In 2013, the …

A Case Study Of The Culturally Diverse Worship At The Florida Hospital Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Richard Edwin Hickam

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The Florida Hospital Seventh-day Adventist Church (FHC) is a multicultural, multigenerational church in Orlando, FL. This case study will examine the history of the worshiping community with particular attention to the change in the culture of the worship services enacted in 2014 and its ongoing impact. The church moved from a traditional and a contemporary service to two identical culturally conscious worship services. This format is unusual in the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) denomination. Seventh-day Adventism was named in a Pew study as the most diverse religion in the United States, but that does not mean its people are racially worshiping …

Missa Arirang: A Fusion Of Korean And Western Music, Imgyu Kang

Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning for Christians in Higher Education

This article examines Korean nationalism in Cool-Jae Huh’s Missa Arirang; this sense of nationalism is an extension of a movement that began in the late 19th century. Missa Arirang utilizes elements from Arirang, a popular Korean folk song, in the context of a Missa, or Mass; the work consequently follows the typical structure of a Mass Ordinary. The first movement, Kyrie, morphs from Western to contemporary Korean style using predominantly Western techniques. The Gloria, which follows, symbolically brings peace between two feuding provinces by blending together their respective Arirang traditions, and the Credo continues to allude to provinces …

Full Issue

Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning for Christians in Higher Education

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Stambeli In Digital Media, Nneka Mogbo

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research paper explores stambeli, a traditional spiritual music in Tunisia, by understanding its musical and spiritual components then identifying ways it is presented in digital media. Stambeli is shaped by pre-Islamic West African animist beliefs, spiritual healing and trances. The genre arrived in Tunisia when sub-Saharan Africans arrived in the north through slavery, migration or trade from present-day countries like Mauritania, Mali and Chad. Today, it is a geographic and cultural intersection of sub-Saharan, North and West African influences.

Stewart, Karen (Fa 1273), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1273. Student paper titled “Negro Gospel Music at Barnes Chapel Methodist Church” in which Karen Stewart describes a singular all-day “singing” held at the church in Beaver Dam, Kentucky, in February 1971. Stewart offers a brief description of her fieldwork methods including research and recording and provides an abbreviated background on each of her musical informants. Stewart also recounts the songs that were sung and notes recurrent themes throughout the music. The paper also includes the words to each hymn, a black and white photograph of the performers, and two reel-to-reel audiotapes.

Capitalizing On My African American Christian Heritage In The Cultivation Of Spiritual Formation And Contemplative Spiritual Disciplines, Claire Appiah

Doctor of Ministry

This project addresses what I perceive to be an opportunity for some aspects of African American spirituality to become more holistic. It is noteworthy that many African American communal worship experiences are powerful and dynamic. I hypothesize that many African American Christians can enjoy an even more enhanced spiritual experience by integrating contemplative spiritual disciplines into present dynamic communal practices for spiritual formation. In Section One, I look at the genesis of the circumstances that necessitated communal solidary for enslaved Africans in the New World. I follow the path of their religious journey from being a clandestine group of ecstatic …

Fan The Flames: Encouraging Local Expressions Of Christian Worship In A La Paz Church Community, Stephanie Cook

Masters Theses

When the members of a church in La Paz participated in a songwriting and arranging workshop, along with corresponding research into perspectives on local music used in worship, the results were mixed. An analysis of the songs used in the church’s worship shows a predominance of imported, predominantly Western or Western-styled songs. Similarly, observations of worship events in the church do not incorporate any local rhythms or instruments, even though there are musicians in the church who are skilled in Bolivian styles of music. While there is an interest by musicians and leadership in the church for locally written worship …

The Role Of Music In Worship Among Deaf Culture Christianity, Mallory Ruth Dunn

Masters Theses

Throughout the Word of God, we are called to worship our Creator through music. "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the Lord with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn--shout for joy before the Lord, the King" (Psalm 98: 4-6 [NIV]). It has been said that music is a universal language: but all cultures use it differently and therefore it is not a universal language but a universal phenomenon. What about the individual who cannot hear the music or …

Syriac Chant And The Limits Of Modality, Sarah Bakker Kellogg

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

A book review is presented for Sense and Sadness: Syriac Chant in Aleppo, by Tala Jarjour. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. 250 pp. ISBN: 978-0-190-63525-1.

James Macmillan's Mass Of Blessed John Henry Newman And The Culture Of Liturgical Music-Making In The Scottish Catholic Church, Michael Ferguson

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

James MacMillan composed his Mass of Blessed John Henry Newman as a congregational setting for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom in 2010. The work was heralded as the first setting of the new English Missal translation, and MacMillan expressed hope that it would make a longer-term contribution to music-making in the Roman Catholic Anglosphere. However, in Scotland at least, Mass of Blessed John Henry Newman has not made a widespread impact. The purpose of this article is to understand why MacMillan was unable to add his setting to the body of congregational music in Scotland. …

From Organ To Gamelan: Javanese Catholic Musical Traditions In Yogyakarta, Central Java, Elizabeth Hamilton

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

Contextualizing Worship And Music In A Multicultural Church: A Case Study At Christ Fellowship Miami, Kimberly A. Martin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Christ Fellowship Church is a Southern Baptist, multicultural, multigenerational, and multilingual church with eight local campuses, which hosts worshipers from seventy-six nations every weekend in Miami-Dade County. While the worshiping body of Christ Fellowship Miami is extremely diverse, the music and worship genres and styles are predominantly homogeneous. This case study serves the worship ministry at Christ Fellowship Miami as they seek to engage in more culturally conscious methods of worship and music by exploring the diverse cultures, languages, and music styles represented in the congregation. It discusses the planning, development, and execution of a global worship experience at the …

Santería In A Globalized World: A Study In Afro-Cuban Folkloric Music, Nathan Montgomery

Lawrence University Honors Projects

The Yoruban people of modern-day Nigeria worship many deities called orichas by means of singing, drumming, and dancing. Their aurally preserved artistic traditions are intrinsically connected to both religious ceremony and everyday life. These forms of worship traveled to the Americas during the colonial era through the brutal transatlantic slave trade and continued to evolve beneath racist societal hierarchies implemented by western European nations. Despite severe oppression, Yoruban slaves in Cuba were able to disguise orichas behind Catholic saints so that they could still actively worship in public. This initial guise led to a synthesis of religious practice, language, and …

Mediating Gospel Singing: Audiovisual Recording And The Transformation Of Voice Among The Christian Lisu In Post-2000 Nujiang, China, Ying Diao

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

The contemporary gospel singing of the Nujiang Lisu in China’s southwestern Yunnan province seems to have been predominated by new media technologies and recorded popular mutgguat ssat music. The prevalence of Christian audiovisual recordings reflects more than a shift in the materiality of Lisu religious practices. Moreover, it speaks to the transformative ways that the Christian Lisu have engaged with technologies for their gospel singing as a practice of religious mediation. New musical styles and expressive forms have been disseminated through recordings and further institutionalized in the worship service and other religious settings. Drawing on a material approach from the …

Sounding The Congregational Voice, Marissa Glynias Moore

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Congregational singing is a participatory vocal practice undertaken by Christians across a wide range of denominations, yet the specific qualities and active capacities of the congregational voice have yet to be investigated. Drawing on recent musicological and philosophical perspectives on voice, I theorize the congregational voice as an active practice, illuminating its abilities to do something in worship through sound.

Taking Brian Kane’s model of the voice as a circulation of content (logos), sound (echos), and source (topos), I explore how these categories are redefined through an active-based theorization of congregational singing. I argue that …

Paralinguistic Ramification Of Language Performance In Islamic Ritual, Michael Frishkopf

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Across time and space, Islamic ritual practices maintain certain fixed features while adapting to local environments, thereby developing a branching or ramified structure—though political, economic, ideological, or technological factors may cause certain local forms to globalize as well. Such ramification offers a means of interpreting the past as well as a window into religious meaning and the ritual process itself. How does such adaptation take place, what drives it, what is its social-spiritual meaning and impact, what can such a ramified variety across history and place tell us, and where does the essence of such ritual lie? In this paper …

Women In Music: Letting A Long Story Be Long Contemplating Women’S Sonic, Musical, And Spiritual Experiences In Prehistory, Deborah J. Saidel

Theses and Dissertations

Situated within deep history, this study explores the auditory and spiritual lives of Paleolithic women. It considers their personal agency in mediating the spiritual power of sound and how doing so contributes to a multifaceted musicality. The theoretical framework involves a wide spectrum of topics, from ways of rethinking the writing of history and reckoning with time, to sound studies and the study of acoustics in ancient sites, to a critical examination through a feminist lens of normative disciplinary scholarship in anthropology and archaeology, religious studies, and musicology. I explore potential audio-visual-lithic relationships for their implications for deepening an understanding …

Worship Music As Spiritual Identity: An Examination Of Music In The Liturgy Among Black And White Adventists In The United States From 1840 To 1944, David A. Williams

Dissertations

The Topic

This study examined Black and White Seventh-day Adventist music in the liturgy in the United States from 1840 to 1944. Little scholarly attention has been given to the development of Adventist liturgical practice, the function of music in the liturgy, and the effect of music upon the spiritual identity. This study utilized liturgical history, ritual studies, musicology, and liturgical theology to derive and compare the spiritual identity fostered through music in the liturgy by these ethnic groups. This study considered both the shared and distinct spiritual identities of Black and White Adventists, as cultivated by the music in …

Calundu's Winds Of Divination: Music And Black Religiosity In Eighteenth And Nineteenth-Century Minas Gerais, Brazil, Jonathon Grasse

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Calundu was an African-derived religious practice known in colonial Brazil, most widely recognized in Minas Gerais during and following that region’s early eighteenth-century gold rush. Drumming, chant, and dance channeled healing and divinational powers brought about primarily through trance possession. Severely disrupted by Church intervention, descriptions of calundu found in Portuguese Inquisition testimony join the published observations by European travelers as windows into the social history of Minas Gerais, an important yet often overlooked cultural territory of Brazil. This region of gold, diamonds, and coffee formed one of the most intense, highly populated slave operations known in the Western Hemisphere. …

Nationalist Transformations: Music, Ritual, And The Work Of Memory In Cambodia And Thailand, Jeffrey M. Dyer

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Cambodia and its diaspora since 2004, this article explores tensions that arise when individuals and institutions impose nation-state ideologies on music and ritual that predate the nation-state concept and transcend official state boundaries. In numerous contexts, musicians and dancers in Cambodia and Thailand perform offerings and blessings that honor their teachers and initiate artistic lineages. Due to broad influence from India and centuries of conflict and borrowing, these rituals—though not necessarily their musical content—have proliferated in these two countries. I describe these nearly identical rituals—called thvāy grū in Khmer and wai khruu in Thai—and their …

The Acoustics Of Justice: Music And Myth In Afro-Brazilian Congado, Genevieve E. Dempsey

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

For the Afro-Brazilian musicians of popular Catholicism, or Congadeiros, who live precariously on the urban and rural margins of Brazil, ritual undergirds their struggles for subsistence, spiritual fulfillment, and racial equality. When Congadeiros create ritual, they enter into a tradition begun in the seventeenth century in Brazil by their enslaved African and Afro-descendant ancestors who intoned songs of redemption. In keeping with their ancestors’ evocations of dignity during slavery, worshipers in the present day embed multiple kinds of vested interests within ritual festivity to achieve racial equality. This article explores Congado, the ceremonies of these disenfranchised musicians, to …