Music and Worship

A Manual For The African Church
Author: Roberta King
Published by: Evangel Publishing House, Nairobi, 1999

Ever wondered how you can make songs in a more African style? Have you wanted to make songs that are closer to your heart and speak deep to your Christian faith? "A Time to Sing" gives you biblical guidelines for making and singing new songs based on scripture in your church.

Helps for Developing Indigenous Hymns
Authors: Brian Schrag, Paul Neely (eds.)
Published by: EthnoDoxology/ACT Publications

This “tool chest” of materials brings together a compilation of documents and research tools, each describing an idea, activity or concept to enable the missionary or Christian worker to encourage some aspect of indigenous hymnody.

Book & CD-ROM, available from Ethnodoxology at $29.00.  [more...]

Lynchburg, Virginia, USA
Sponsor: Liberty University, Music in World Cultures

Music In World Cultures (MIWC) developed the graduate program in ethnomusicology at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. This new degree—a Master of Arts in Worship Studies (Ethnomusicology)—is housed at Liberty’s Center for Worship

Ethnomusicology is the study of music, in particular worship, in the context of culture. This degree prepares musicians to serve as missionaries focused on establishing worship programs specific to the culture and people of a particular nation.

Monday 9 August - Friday 24 September, 2010
The Wycliffe Centre, Horsleys Green, High Wycombe, UK
Sponsor: European Training Programme

This seven week course comprises three modules and is intended to be of particular value to those wanting a comprehensive approach to engaging in music and the performing arts anywhere in the world.

Although the course is designed primarily for workers who desire to communicate with people through performing arts, it requires no prior training in any aspect of performance.

GIAL, Dallas, Texas, USA
Sponsor: Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics

Courses on ethnomusicology and arts include:

  • Audio and Video Techniques for Fieldworkers
  • Research Methods for Performing Arts
  • Expressive Form Analysis
  • Generative Analysis of Non-Western Music
  • Applied Arts
  [more...]
Many Tribes, Many Songs, Many Peoples, One Saviour
Sunday 4 - Wednesday 7 July, 2010
Singapore

GCoMM 2010 is an opportunity to "join with music makers and Christian mission leaders from around the world, to learn how to use culturally relevant music to reach and encourage others with the good news, share knowledge and experiences and celebrate God's manifold wisdom through multi-ethnic praise."

Some of the topics will be relevant to those using "heart music" in promoting Scripture Engagement, especially in cross-cultural contexts. Tracks include: Ethnomusicologists track, Creative Communications track, Creative Arts Ministries track, Missionary track.

Registration is open until 15 May 2010.  [more...]

Communicating effectively to non-readers
Author: Rick Brown
Published by: International Journal of Frontier Missions (21.4 Winter 2004)

In seeking to free ourselves from the biases of a print-oriented culture, we need to consider, not only the kinds of media and discourse genre (e.g. narrative) that are most appropriate for oral cultures, but also the most effective ways to use those genres and media. What do non-readers like to see and hear? What do they enjoy listening to? Their choices will not necessarily be the same as those of print communicators. If the styles of presentation are ones which oral communicators prefer, then they will be more likely to listen, to understand, and to remember what they hear.

In this paper, Rick Brown argues that oral cultures have their own preferences for ways to communicate truth, and that these are often different from what print-oriented people prefer. In order to share the message most effectively, we need to find out what media and methods work best for them. In most cases this will include a multi-media approach with an emphasis on memorizing the Scriptures with the aid of high-quality recordings from skilled actors or voicers.  [more...]