Music and Worship
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.
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...]
EthnoDoxology is a journal devoted to the multifaceted music, arts, and worship of every tribe, tongue, and nation. Among the many people groups (ethnos) across the globe, God is raising up meaningful worship (doxology). Keep up with how God's Spirit is inspiring culturally appropriate worship throughout the world by reading this journal.
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
Heart Sounds International exists to help ignite culturally relevant and biblically appropriate worship, especially in places where Christ-followers are restricted, persecuted or unknown.
Heart Sounds International promotes worship predominantly in the non-western world by providing services in audio and video production, training and teaching, and song writing workshops.
HSI is an international division of Operation Mobilisation (OM), based at OM USA.
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...]
The ICE network exists to encourage and equip Christ-followers in every culture to express their faith through their own heart music and other arts. We facilitate online networking and provide resources for the development of culturally appropriate Christian worship, utilizing insights from ethnomusicology, missiology, worship studies and the arts.
"Because of these songs many are hearing the good news for the first time in their language... These songs, full of God's Word will not return void."
This video highlights the role of ethnomusicology in running Scripture song writing workshops. [more...]
