Music as Cultural Practice in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Written By Jeremy Grimshaw
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By Jeremy Grimshaw

Overview - This course will explore music within the history and culture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Drawing on methods from various disciplines, including musicology, ethnomusicology, media studies, etc., the course will examine the development of musical practices within the institutional Church as well as across varied historical and cultural strata of Latter-day Saint experience. Topics will range from historical hymnology (the study of congregational music), to “classical” music by LDS composers, to the diverse musical expressions of LDS musicians around the world, to the impact of broadcast and social media on LDS musics. The course will culminate in a presentation and research paper, by each student, on a current topic related to musical practices within the Church or its members.

Scope - Although various religious groups trace their origins to Joseph Smith in the early 19th century, and these various groups have their own histories and cultural practices, this course will limit its scope to Smith’s early Church in the Eastern and Midwestern United States in the first half of the 19th century, and to the largest outgrowth of that movement, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which was led by Brigham Young to settle in the Western U.S. beginning in the late 1840s. The course is not intended to be a historical survey, per se, though it will draw on historical and chronologically-organized resources. Rather, it will establish a broad historical foundation for understanding musical practices within the Church and its members, and from there explore various manifestations, variations, and implications of those ideas, from the Church’s early days to the present.

Preparation for the Course - Neither membership nor expertise is required in order to participate in and contribute to this course. However, a basic understanding of the history, beliefs, and practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be needed as a framework for this course’s explorations. If LDS beliefs and culture are very new to you, I strongly recommend you read one or more of the following volumes prior to beginning the course:

  • Matthew Bowman. The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith. New York: Random House, 2012.

  • Bushman, Claudia. Contemporary Mormonism: Latter-day Saints in Modern America. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006.

  • Bushman, Richard. Mormonism: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Texts

  • Grimshaw, Jeremy. “Music in Mormonism.” In The Mormon World, Carl Mosser and Richard Sherlock, editors. London and New York: Routledge (forthcoming?).

    Note: This broad overview will be used at the beginning of the class and will lay out some of the broad themes of the course. Because it is part of a larger volume, the publication of which has been delayed indefinitely, it would be provided as a coursepack.

  • Hicks, Michael. Mormonism and Music: A History, Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1989, 2003.

  • The course will also regularly refer to publicly available resources related to Church music and music policy (hymns, children’s music, procedural guidelines, etc.) available via lds.org.

  • Other book chapters, journal articles, and media resources, as assigned. Wherever available electronically, URL for online access will be provided.

SCHEDULE

For full bibliographic citations, refer to the SOURCES section of the syllabus.

Music in Latter-day Saint Culture and Practice

Week 1 - An introduction to music as a cultural practice

Readings:

  • Smalls, Musicking, pp. 1-19.

  • Givens, People of Paradox, pp. 117-142.

  • Grimshaw, “Music in Mormonism.”

Discussion prompt: What does LDS “musicking” sound and look like?

Week 2 - Music in Worship and Kingdom-Building

Readings:

Discussion prompt: How are LDS Hymns used—within a home, a service, or the institution itself? What does a hymnal tell us as a cultural object ?

Week 3 - LDS Music Pedagogy

Readings:

Discussion prompt: What values inform institutional musical practices? What does pedagogy reveal about culture?

Week 4 - Piano Culture in America and in the Church

Readings:

  • Parakilas, Piano Roles, pp. 75-80, 119-124, 134-137.

  • Chawkins, “Musical Mormons.”

  • Sowbie, “Gift of Music.”

Discussion prompt: How are Victorian/American social values embodied in LDS piano culture?

Music and Identity in Latter-day Saint Ethnic Narratives

Week 5 - Sound and Soundscape in Book of Mormon Narratives

Readings:

Listening/Media:

Discussion prompt: What does the “other” sound like to narratives 41.3.131 Americans? To white LDS? How does musical representation of ethnicity intersect/resonate/conflict with narratives about ethnicity and ancestry?

Week 6 - LDS Musical Culture and Polynesia

Readings:

Media:

Discussion prompt: How does the LDS narrative about Polynesian culture develop? How does that affect the portrayal of Polynesian culture within broader LDS cultural contexts? What issues does the BYU Rugby Team haka raise?

Week 7 - Music, Race, and the Body in LDS Culture and History (Part 1)

Readings:

Additional Background:

  • Sotiropoulos, Staging Race.

Discussion prompt: How do issues of race, the body, and music intersect in early 20th c. American culture? In LDS culture at that time? How do attitudes about jazz and popular music (and about race and the body) change?

Week 8 - Music, Race, and the Body in LDS culture and history (Part 2)

Reading:

  • Boren, “Worship Through Music, Nigerian Style.”

  • Grimshaw and Colleen-Neff, “ “The Sounds of Sal Tlay Ka Siti.”

Media:

  • Video: Cultural celebration for the dedication of the Accra, Ghana, LDS Temple, Accra Sports Stadium, 10 January 2004. https://youtu.be/lzc_A-0yz3g

  • Boye, “Africanized” covers

    ○ “Royals” (Lourde)

    ○ “Roar” (Katy Perry)

    ○ “Peponi/Paradise” (Coldplay)

Discussion prompt: How do cultural notions of “reverence” affect perceptions of musical propriety when the LDS Church expands into West Africa? How does Alex Boyé’s representation of Africanness appeal to LDS audiences? How does it transgress LDS norms?

Music and Media in Latter-day Saint Culture

Week 9 - Music and Media in LDS Cultural History

Readings:

  • Prince, David O. McKay, pp. 124-138

  • Hicks, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Ch. 4

Discussion prompt: What is the relationship between technology, theology, and teleology in the realm of LDS soundscape?

Week 10 - LDS Musical Culture and Contemporary Media

Readings:

  • Austin, “Reality Corrupts.”

  • Williams, “16 Past and Present.”

  • Atkinson, “Reality TV.”

  • Grimshaw, “The Lindsey Stirling Effect.”

Discussion prompt: How does LDS affinity culture affect music and popular culture? How might we understand the appeal of “mashups” in LDS culture?

Week 11 - LDS Culture, Musical Theater, and Pageantry

Readings:

  • Johnson, Mormons, Musical Theater, and Belonging in America, Chapter 1.

  • Michal Hicks, “Elder Price Superstar.”

  • Sanborn Jones, Contemporary Mormon Pageantry: Chapter 5.

Media:

Discussion prompt: How do Johnson and Sanborn-Jones describe the spiritual dimension of LDS theatricality? How does music in Book of Mormon contribute to satirical effectiveness? Is music in the work always satirical/antagonistic, or does it serve other purposes as well?

Musical Imagination and the Contemporary Global LDS Church

Week 12 - Musical Imagination and the Contemporary Global Church (Part 1)

Readings:

Media:

Discussion prompt: How do various LDS composers embody identity or belief through musical style or technique? How does the actual sound relate to any LDS narrative content or to the composer’s religious identity?

Week 13 - Musical Imagination and the Contemporary Global Church (Part 2)

Reading:

  • Grimshaw, Draw a Straight Line, chapter 5

Media:

Discussion prompt: How might we explain the curious cohort of “Jackmormon microtonalists”? What connection does LDS culture have to sound and acoustics?

Week 14 - Paper Presentations

See “Possible Topics for Further Research”

Week 15 - Paper Presentations

See “Possible Topics for Further Research”

SOURCES

Aikau, Hokulani. A Chosen People, a Promised Land: Mormonism and Race in Hawa’ii. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012.

Austin, Karen. “Reality Corrupts; Reality Television Corrupts Absolutely.” In Peculiar Portrayals: Mormons on the Stage, Page, and Screen, edited by Mark T. Decker and Michael Austin, Logan: Utah State University Press, 2010: pp. 183–96.

Atkinson, Sally. “Reality TV: America’s Next Top Mormon.” Newsweek , 10 May 2008. https://www.newsweek.com/reality-tv-americas-next-top-mormon-90117

Balme, Christopher. “Staging the Pacific: Framing Authenticity in Performances for Tourists at the Polynesian Cultural Center.” Theatre Journal 50 no. 1 (1998): pp. 53-70.

Boren, Murray. “Worship Through Music, Nigerian Style.” Sunstone , May 1985: pp. 64-65. https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/049-64-65.pdf

Chawkins, Steve. “Musical Mormons See Pianos as the Keys to Spiritual Lives.” Los Angeles Times, 23 April, 2002.

Davidson, Karen Lynn. “Hymns and Hymnody.” Encyclopedia of Mormonism, New York: Macmillan, 1992: pp. 667-669. https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/EoM/id/3783

Faulkner, Ann Shaw. “Does Jazz Put the Sin in Syncopation?” Ladies Home Journal, August 1921, pp. 16-34. Reprinted in Walser, ed., Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Givens, Terryl. People of Paradox: A History of Mormon Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Grimshaw, Jeremy. Draw a Straight Line and Follow It: The Music and Mysticism of La Monte Young. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

Grimshaw, Jeremy. “Music in Mormonism.” In The Mormon World, Carl Mosser and Richard Sherlock, editors. London and New York: Routledge (forthcoming?).

Grimshaw, Jeremy. “Mormon Music After the ‘Mormon Moment.’” New Music Box, Sept. 2014. https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/mormon-music-after-the-mormon-moment/

Grimshaw, Jeremy, and Ali Colleen Neff. “The Sounds of Sal Tlay Ka Siti: Alex Boyé’s ‘Africanized’ Covers and Mormon Racial Dynamics,” Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Conference, Pittsburgh,

PA, November 2014.

Grimshaw, Jeremy. “The Lindsey Stirling Effect.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 48 no. 4 (Winter 2015): pp. 69-88. https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/the-lindsey-stirling-effect/

Hicks, Michael. “Ministering Minstrels: Blackface Entertainment in Pioneer Utah.” Utah Historical Quarterly, 58 no. 1 (Winter 1990): pp. 49-63. http://digitallibrary.utah.gov/awweb/awarchive?type=file&item=35221

Hicks, Michael. Mormonism and Music: A History, Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1989, 2003.

Hicks, Michael. “Elder Price Superstar.” dialoguejournal.com, September 2011. https://www.dialoguejournal.com/2011/09/elder-price-superstar/

Hicks, Michael. “How to Make (an Unmake) a Mormon Hymnbook.” In A Firm Foundation: Church Organization and Administration, ed. David J. Whittaker and Arnold K. Garr. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2011: pp. 503–19. https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/firm-foundation/22-how-make-and-unmake-mormon-hymnbook

Hicks, Michael. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir: A Biography. Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield: University of Illinois Press, 2015.

Johnson, Jake. Mormons, Musical Theater, and Belonging in America. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2019.

McAllester, David P. "New Perspectives in Native American Music." Perspectives of New Music 20, no. 1/2 (1981): 433-46. https://www.jstor.org/stable/942422

McMurray, Peter. “A Voice Crying from the Dust: The Book of Mormon as Sound.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 48 no. 4 (Winter 2015): pp. 3-44. https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V48N04_23.pdf

Nelson, Glen. “Mormon Masterworks of the 21st Century.” SquareTwo, 9 no. 3 (Fall 2016). http://squaretwo.org/Sq2ArticleNelsonMormonMasterworks.html

Parakilas, James. Piano Roles: Three Hundred Years of Life with the Piano. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.

Peltier, Raphaelle. “Comment les mormons sont devenus des rock stars.” SlateFR (France), 3 January 2015.

Prince, Gregory. David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2005.

Sanborn Jones, Megan. Contemporary Mormon Pageantry: Seeking After the Dead, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2018.

Smalls, Christopher. Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1998: pp. 1-19.

Smith, Christopher. “Playing Lamanite: Ecstatic Performance of American Indian Roles In Early Mormon Ohio.” Journal of Mormon History, 41 no. 3 (July 2015), pp. 131-166. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jmormhist.41.3.131

Sotiropoulos, Karen. Staging Race: Black Performers in Turn of the Century America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006.

Sowbie, Laurie Williams. “Gift of Music Blesses Many.” Ensign, April 2009: p. 76-77.

Taylor, S. (13 September 2007) “Brouhaha Haka,” Deseret News, 13 September 2007. https://www.deseretnews.com/article/695209541

Thatcher, Nathan. Paco. New York: Mormon Artists Group, 2016.

Waterman, Michael. “Radio Clash: The Secret and Sometimes Ugly History of How Alternative-Rock Radio Took Hold In Utah.” City Weekly, 11 June 2007. https://www.cityweekly.net/utah/radio-clash/Content?oid=2129028

Williams, Lindsey. “16 Past and Present ‘American Idol Contestants Who Have Ties to Utah or the LDS Church.” Deseret News, 24 February 2016. https://www.deseretnews.com/top/3599/0/

Possible Topics for Further Research

This list is simply a brainstorm of possibilities. Undoubtedly, during the course of the semester, students will encounter and uncover other rich topics that will speak to their interests.

Music in the global Church

  • Regional studies of musical practices in services and social settings

  • Singing time: children’s musical pedagogy in the Church

  • Ethnicity, heritage, and representation in cultural celebrations associated with temple dedications

“Alternative” music in Utah

  • In locales where one culture dominates, various cultural “others” are set in greater relief. Why does the idea of “alternative” culture develop such a strong dynamic with(in) Utah’s cultural mainstream?

  • Examination of Utah’s unusually long and robust relationship with the “alternative radio” format

  • The Provo alt-pop music pipeline (Velour, Neon Trees, Imagine Dragons, etc.)

  • Music and LGBT+ issues in Utah (LoveLoud Festival, Hive Riot, “I’ll Walk With You” as ally anthem”

  • The Spanish Fork Color Fest

LDS Musical Families

  • Family music-making in the LDS home

  • Notions of the Musical Family and representation in popular and LDS culture

  • The King Family, The Osmonds, The Jetts, The Five Browns

  • Latter-day Saints in Branson, Missouri, and LDS Americana

LDS Musical Instrument and Vocal Culture

  • Piano culture in the global Church

  • Historical and contemporary notions of “reverent” and “worshipful,” as they pertain to LDS institutional practices

  • Choir and congregational singing practices, historically, today, and globally

  • The cultural dynamics of “accompaniment”:

    ○ Use of electronically-assisted accompaniment in Church services (digital keyboards with hymns pre-loaded, CDs, etc.)

    ○ A capella singing at church or in the home

LDS musical voices

  • Studies of individual composers, artists, and styles

  • Examination of repertoire, style, and genre in Church educational and promotional media

  • The “Be One” Broadcast and issues of race in the contemporary Church

  • Gladys Knight, gospel, and LDS culture

Jeremy Grimshaw
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