A Survey of Religious Music in West Virginia

Mary Linscheid* and Travis Stimeling, School of Music in the College of Creative Arts, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506

Field (Broad Category): Music/Music Therapy (Human Engagement) 

Student’s Major: Multidisciplinary Studies 

Religious music in West Virginia has been undocumented and our understanding of the music made in houses of worship has been largely speculative for the past fifty years. By updating the previous ethnographic data, the goal of this project is to 1) determine whether there is a correlation between people of a certain economic class and the churches they choose to attend, and 2) to observe what forms of musicmaking exist in these circumstances. In order to do this, we sent out a survey asking houses of worship about their use of published and recorded music materials, instruments, ensembles, whether the musicians volunteer or are paid, etc. We then layered this data onto a geographical map of West Virginia along with the 2020 census data. The expected results are that people from higher socioeconomic brackets attend houses of worship with established music-making practices (e.g. music-making with the use of the Methodist hymnal). The information gathered by this research is meant to aid scholars and others who are studying Appalachian music and/or Appalachian religion by providing them with a foundation on which to base further studies. 

Funding: 

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU's Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP) & accompanying HONR 297-level course