Music Ethnography

Taylor Ellett

professor MaryAnn Young

Music 1306

11 March 2010

Music Ethnography: Christian Music in Dallas, Texas

1. Introduction

If you cant tell from the title, my focus during my music ethnography research was Christian music in the Dallas, Texas region. Finding this music wasn’t hard considering that there is a different church to go to and be a part of almost every mile. I chose to follow only one of the types of Christian music which is more modern and incorporates a worship band. Through research and an interview I have gathered that Christian music is performed to express one’s personal beliefs and feelings towards the Christian faith. Most anyone that practices Christian music finds it very meaningful giving a deeper understanding of their own faith.

2. Methodology

Ok, first off I would like to start off the methodology section of my paper with interview that I conducted with my dad. The interview went quite well and I learned a lot from a credible source. My dad, Ed Ellett has been singing, playing the guitar, and a Christian for as long as he can remember. He has played at multiple churches, malls, and neighbors’ houses that enjoyed his company. I asked my dad all kinds of questions face to face, questions ranging from why you take part in Christian music to the meaning of his music. I also interviewed a local church attendee that enjoys Christian music and has been a Christian for a very long time. Kathy Poppitt had very many educational answers and led me to think more about the culture. I took the information that I gathered from my interviews very seriously meaning that I considered what I learned to be a basis for Christian music and from there continued to research and think about Christian music.
The experience that I had with Christian music first hand was great. I went to a church called Riverbend where I observed modern Christian music played by a worship band, individual singer with various instruments, and traditional. I also observed my dad’s music in his studio. All of this helped me understand the feeling and emotion put into Christian music. I didn’t feel that any other live music research was necessary in understanding Christian music.
I also did research online, watched YouTube videos, looked at Wikipedia, christianmusic.com, christianmusic.org, and even gazed at ccmmagazine.com but didn’t end up taking any information from this site because I didn’t feel like it had any real meaning in comparison to the other information that I found. Out of all the research I felt like the reading of text from these websites was the most boring and least efficient way to learn about the Christian faith and music culture. The first hand experiences that I had with people and music enlightened me so much more than anything that I could learn from simple text.

3. Aspects of This Music-Culture

“The Christian music culture exists because it gives people a feeling that they are in touch with Jesus and develops their relationship with God”(Ed Ellett). Music in this culture is basically anything that has to do with one’s faith in relation to God that is done in a respectable manner. From what I have seen there aren’t any people cursing or running around in unacceptable clothing performing acceptable Christian music. When I say acceptable or unacceptable I mean what would be accepted in a normal environment like on campus at UT Dallas. There isn’t anything special about how artists of Christian music dress or perform, although most of what I have seen is done in a church environment wearing casual clothing. Christian Music can be played at any time of year on any day, but you will see the majority of it performed on Sunday. “This type of music that you see performed in a lot of the modern churches is an evolved form of singing traditional hymns, blues, and rock & roll”(Poppitt).
Christian music can be found all over the place you can find it on iTunes, live concerts, churches, festivals, basically anywhere. From the events that I attended, most of them being churches all of the performers played as a hobby. The majority of the people that play Christian music play as hobby simply participating at their local church. But, there are definitely professionals, meaning people that sell their music for money. The type of people that participate in Christian music doesn’t matter, as long as you are Christian. There isn’t any discrimination against a certain race or anything like that, but if you aren’t Christian you aren’t likely to be seen attending Christian music. The performers of Christian music can range from a bunch of singers to one singer and a bunch of instruments. Almost always the audience is involved in the music, singing along, clapping, and dancing are all very popular things to do while listening to Christian music in a church environment.
Christian music is a genre of its own and is a worldwide genre. “The use of words/lyrics in Christian music brings forth feelings and emotions that are directed towards God, uniting those singing”(Poppitt). All of the music that I witnessed had the same theme and that was God and Jesus Christ and portraying your love for them. The suffering that Jesus went through to get rid of our sins is a common subject for Christian music. The thought that we should forever be thankful for what Jesus has done for us and sing to rejoice his name is also a very common subject. The Christian music is spread through large gatherings of Christians at a place known as a church where these songs are enjoyed by all. Naturally the favorites are sung at most churches with a spice of new stuff thrown into the mix.
Honestly, there aren’t many material objects used in this culture, the only ones that I saw and heard about would be the bible and the cross. Bibles and crosses are found all over the United States and for that matter, all over the world. You could stretch the music culture out and maybe say that the body of Christ and the blood of Christ represented by bread and wine respectively are reoccurring material objects. Like I said this culture isn’t heavily dominated by material, it’s a culture that is dominated by feelings and emotions towards God and as far as I can tell that is how anyone that participates in Christian Music wants it to be.

4. Conclusion

This Dallas music-culture Christian music is performed to express one’s personal beliefs and feelings towards the Christian faith. It is widely popular in Dallas and like I said there are churches all over the place that are singing and enjoying Christian music. This culture is unique in that it unites people to sing about an all-powerful being that has offered his life for the people. “It is completely based on faith and it brings people great happiness to sing Christian music”(Poppitt). Even though Christian music is not only in Dallas, Tx it does not fluctuate all that much from city to city or from state to state. Doesn’t matter where you are in the United States this music culture is a very welcoming one and it welcomes all types of people to join in on singing about Jesus Christ their savior.

Works Cited:

1. Christian Music, 9 March 2010. http://www.christianmusic.com/
2. Christian Music, 7 March 2010. http://christianmusic.org/
3. Poppitt, Kathy. Personal interview. 6 March 2010
4. Ellett, Ed. Personal interview. 7 March 2010
5. Sunday Service. Riverbend Church. March 7 2010. Christian music.
6. Ellett, Ed. Christian music presentation. 2604 Hillview, Tx. 6 March 2010.