Re: [SRM-SIG] Digest for SRM-SIG@googlegroups.com - 2 Messages in 1 Topic

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Birgitta Johnson

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Jan 30, 2012, 2:08:26 AM1/30/12
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Hello Deborah,

In most of the Black Protestant (USA) denominations "traditional" and "contemporary" have more to do with stylistic expectations of the actual musical content and not instrumentation. If budgets allow it, most would have a standard rhythm section as accompaniment: piano/keyboard workstation, electric bass, drums, and rhythm guitar. If funds are limited, piano and/or organ and drum would be the basis of the accompaniment. Traditional gospel music and hymnody, for example, can be played on any of the configurations mentioned above. If there is a special occasion or available auxiliary musician you may even have a lead guitar or saxophone (or some other wind instrument).

In the Black megachurch context, there will be a full service, professional level band: 2-3 keyboards/Hammond organ, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, drums w/ auxiliary percussion and possibly drum/percussion loop (ProTools or Reason). In all contexts the band, small rhythm section, or piano/organ/drum combo would accompany all music sung during the worship service as in songs for the choir and praise team. Praise teams in this context are singers and don't play anything. They may have instrumental skills but generally only sing when serving on the praise team or as worship leaders.

The rare exceptions in the Black Protestant denominational circles is one of the Church of God holiness groups that do not use any instrumental accompaniment at all. All music is performed a cappella by the congregation. 

Horace Boyer talks about gospel instrumentation but it is definitely dated because it only covers gospel music up to just before the contemporary gospel music era. A lot of the instrumentation in these contexts reflect the instrumentation in much of recorded gospel music

.

Birgitta Johnson, Ph.D. 
Postdoctoral Fellow Ethnomusicology
Art & Music Histories Department
Syracuse University

On Sat, Jan 28, 2012 at 5:52 PM, <SRM...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Group: http://groups.google.com/group/SRM-SIG/topics

    Deborah Justice <drju...@indiana.edu> Jan 28 01:10PM -0500  

    Hi everyone,
     
    I have a literature/personal research experience question for the list.
     
    Think Worship Wars, think of Traditional and Contemporary worship
    musics. If you think Contemporary, what would you describe as "typical"
    instrumentation? How would your expectation of instrumentation change
    if you're thinking in Sunday service vs abstract Contemporary "ideal?"
    In a more baited question, are you expecting a guitarist or a keyboard
    player to be leading worship? Would this expectation change given a
    mainline vs. evangelical context? (yes, I know these [can] overlap)?
    Feel free to comment on various racial/ethnic settings (although my
    research focuses on mainline Protestants [~98% white]) Do we have any
    literature that points toward these expectations?
     
    Thanks very much,
     
    Deborah Justice
    Indiana University

     

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