Church Music Through the Lens of Performance

This book investigates church music through the lens of performance theory, creating a systematized performance vocabulary to support interdisciplinary studies of Christian congregational music-making in today's complex world. It employs a hybrid methodology combining ethnographic research and theory from ritual studies, ethnomusicology, theology, and church music scholarship to establish performance studies as a possible next step in church music studies.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 200 pages
Publication date: 26 September 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This comprehensive book delves into the world of church music through the lens of performance theory, exploring its disciplinary and theoretical aspects. Scholars who study religious music, particularly Christian church music, employ various approaches to performance, leading to confusion regarding the term's usage. To address this, the book proposes a systematic performance vocabulary for the study of church music, fostering interdisciplinary investigations into Christian congregational music-making in today's complex and interconnected world.

From the perspective of performance theory, every individual involved in church musicking is performing, whether it be on a platform or in a pew. The book employs a hybrid methodology that combines ethnographic research with theory from ritual studies, ethnomusicology, theology, and church music scholarship to establish performance studies as a viable field of study in church music. By analyzing ethnographic case studies using a developmental framework based on the concepts of ritual, embodiment, and play/change, the book demonstrates the potential of studying church music as performance.

This book offers a fresh and innovative perspective on Christian congregational music-making. It will serve as a valuable resource for scholars engaged in Congregational Music Studies, Ethnomusicology, Ritual Studies, and Performance Studies, as well as practitioners interested in examining their own church music practices. The book's comprehensive approach and interdisciplinary insights make it a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the role of performance in shaping the world of church music.

Weight: 336g
Dimension: 155 x 234 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367530709