Papers by Birgitta Johnson
Journal of the American Musicological Society, 2022
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Journal of the Society for American Music, 2022
swered. The book informs the reader that Bernstein flirted with jazz in his youth, playing in clu... more swered. The book informs the reader that Bernstein flirted with jazz in his youth, playing in clubs across New York and even transcribing jazz solos for Harms-Witmark. A more thorough overview of his years as an aspiring musician would document a pivotal time period. Additionally, she cites personal correspondence between Bernstein and numerous composers without examining the cited material in its entirety. A section including their relationships would prove useful for fans and for scholarly inquiry. Moreover, the prose included moments where recent developments in scholarly literature would prove useful for clarifying and augmenting several of the book’s contentions. For instance, the methodological framework put forth by Sherrie Tucker’s “When Did Jazz Go Straight?: A Queer Question for Jazz Studies” offers an insightful theoretical model for analyzing queer identity and relationships. Tucker’s model would have drawn new conclusions and insights in creating a queer analysis of Bernstein and his associates. In relation to questions concerning Zionism and Israel, drawing from Rachel Beckles Wilson’s post-colonial study Orientalism and Musical Mission: Palestine and the West would have added a contemporary perspective on pressing issues relating to the country, especially as Beckles’s study foregrounds identity and music—a perennial concern of Bernstein. In Chapter 3 the treatment of West Side Story does not mention pianist Oscar Peterson’s album West Side Story (1962), a surprising omission, as Peterson’s album suggests an explicit link between jazz musicians and Bernstein’s music. The text focuses on questions of identity, sexuality, nationalism, war, poetry, race, and gender. Drawing on methodologies in semiotics, queer studies, hermeneutics, literary studies, anthropology, archival research, and performance studies, Baber aims to understand Bernstein’s eclecticism, individuality, and critical reception. Her methodological approach evokes Lawrence Kramer’s “hermeneutic window” and the linguistical procedures located in Jean-Jacques Nattiez’s Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music. By contemplating jazz music’s cultural associations in various non-jazz concert/theatre settings, the book provides insights into aesthetic/compositional practices, identity formation, and musical semiotics. This book is an excellent addition to musicology, and specifically jazz studies scholarship.
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The Journal of African American History, 2021
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The Oxford Handbook of Musical Repatriation, 2018
Since 2004, collaborative archiving of gospel music between institutions in higher education, com... more Since 2004, collaborative archiving of gospel music between institutions in higher education, community groups, and individual collectors has increased. Three university archive initiatives have emerged and engaged in various partnerships with gospel music heritage communities on regional and even national levels. Archives and libraries at UCLA, USC, and Baylor University have contributed greatly to the preservation of gospel music’s recorded and ephemeral past and to the documentation of contemporary performance traditions. While two of these initiatives have faced sustainability challenges, one has expanded its impact by partnering with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. This chapter delineates key success strategies of the UCLA Gospel Archiving in Los Angeles Project, the Gospel Music History Archive of the University of Southern California, and the Baylor University Black Gospel Music Restoration Project; highlights accessibility and susta...
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Oxford Bibliographies Online Datasets
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Black Music Research Journal, 2011
Page 1. Black Music Research Journal Vol. 31, No. 1, Spring 2011 © 2011 by the Board of Trustees ... more Page 1. Black Music Research Journal Vol. 31, No. 1, Spring 2011 © 2011 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois Back to the Heart of Worship: Praise and Worship Music in a Los Angeles African-American Megachurch Birgitta J. Johnson ...
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Religion Past and Present
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Religion Past and Present
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Ethnomusicology Forum, 2012
Often the issue of archives and repatriation is discussed in terms of dichotomous and unequal exc... more Often the issue of archives and repatriation is discussed in terms of dichotomous and unequal exchanges between members of a ‘collecting culture’ and ‘collected culture’. As archiving approaches expand, however, a collected culture or, more specifically, groups from within a ‘cultural heritage community’ can themselves be considered community archivists. While not afforded access to modern audiovisual archiving facilities, there are some groups whose responsibility to a community's music culture extends beyond performance and includes various forms of preservation (e.g., collecting audio and visual recordings and storing sheet music). After decades of functioning as ad hoc community archives, privately held collections of amassed recordings and ephemeral materials run the risk of being lost to poor storage and environmental conditions. Founded in 1981 by composer and educator Dr Margaret Pleasant Douroux, the Heritage Music Foundation (HMF) is an example of a performance and outreach organisation within a heritage community that engages in the preservation of audiovisual materials but does not have access to long-term archival facilities. In an effort to promote proactive and communal archiving, the University of California Los Angeles Ethnomusicology Archive acquired a UCLA Community Partnership grant in 2004 for a year-long collaboration with the HMF in a joint archiving and ethnographic video documentation project called Gospel Archiving in Los Angeles (GALA). While serving as the fieldwork project manager for GALA, I experienced the archiving process from several perspectives including as a member of the heritage community. This paper will describe how institutionally supported community archiving programmes can empower cultural heritage communities by assisting their preservation activities as well as increase community awareness and use of institutional archives by the heritage communities themselves.
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The Spirit of Praise, 2015
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Liturgy, 2018
One of the highlights of weekly worship at the Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, Califo... more One of the highlights of weekly worship at the Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, California, is its Spirit-filled opening praise and worship. Typically led by worship leaders Jimmy Fisher or Kurt Lykes and any of the church’s three praise teams, the musical worship includes prayer and three songs from gospel-styled praise and worship music to “gospelized” interpretations of contemporary Christian music (CCM) praise and worship songs. One popular tune at Faithful Central is the massively successful “You are Good,” by Israel Houghton and New Breed, released in 2001. In addition to its infectious funkand rock-driven grooves and lyrics that draw on several well-known psalms from the Bible, one lyric in particular stood out at Faithful Central on Sunday at the morning church service in January 2009: “‘People from every nation and tongue, / from generation to generation. / We worship you. / Hallelujah ... ” These lines noticeably shifted the atmosphere of praise and celebration ...
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UMI, ProQuest ® Dissertations & Theses. The world's most comprehensive collection of dis... more UMI, ProQuest ® Dissertations & Theses. The world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses. Learn more... ProQuest, "Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing": Music and worship in African American megachurches of Los Angeles, California. ...
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Liturgy, 2018
In my research on African American megachurches in Los Angeles between 2003 and 2009, I observed ... more In my research on African American megachurches in Los Angeles between 2003 and 2009, I observed that musical decisions about repertoire and weekly worship services were driven by cultural factors and internal and external influences that coalesce in many congregations to form what Mary McGann describes as “local liturgies.” In her gospel music research in African American Catholic churches in San Francisco, California, she notes:
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The Spirit of Praise
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The Journal of African American History, 2021
Cords of legacy bind this monumental text about the life of one of America’s greatest Black compo... more Cords of legacy bind this monumental text about the life of one of America’s greatest Black composers. The Heart of a Woman: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price represents one of the most significant aspects of Rae Linda Brown’s academic research.....
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Columbia Museum of Art, 2020
Black Is Beautiful ROUND TWO..The wonderful folks at the Columbia Museum of Art have outdone them... more Black Is Beautiful ROUND TWO..The wonderful folks at the Columbia Museum of Art have outdone themselves with the Kwame Brathwaite exhibit. In the midst of the pandemic, they have increased the digital interface with the museum exhibit and engaged artists, activists, and scholars like myself to produce really nice digital 'extras' to go online with the virtual presentation of Brathwaite's timeless images. A few weeks ago, I masked up and joined Drew Baron in an interview about the exhibit and the images that inspired the Spotify playlist I curated for the CMA. Check it out!
#BlackIsBeautiful
#ColaMuseum
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It has been an honor to be among the scholars and fans called to reflect on the life
and legacy... more It has been an honor to be among the scholars and fans called to reflect on the life
and legacy of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. The outlets paying tribute have been as diverse as Aretha's global fanbase. Yesterday, I was on BYU Radio's Top of Mind with Julie Rose talking about Aretha Franklin and her legacy. It was recorded live for BYU Radio and Sirius XM 143. My conversation with Julie ended the show and so it can be found at minute 84:48. We covered a lot of ground and got to talk about her rich musical background as well as her early involvement in civil rights activism as the Queen of Soul. This was the first time an interviewer allowed time for me to really get into her range of activism over her life and the progressive stance of her father, Rev. C.L. Franklin. Some of the information I got to share with Julie Rose can be used in classes that address the role of music in the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, the race record era, multi-genre musicians, women in pop music, and how the soul era shifted production trends in the record business after World War II.
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Papers by Birgitta Johnson
#BlackIsBeautiful
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and legacy of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. The outlets paying tribute have been as diverse as Aretha's global fanbase. Yesterday, I was on BYU Radio's Top of Mind with Julie Rose talking about Aretha Franklin and her legacy. It was recorded live for BYU Radio and Sirius XM 143. My conversation with Julie ended the show and so it can be found at minute 84:48. We covered a lot of ground and got to talk about her rich musical background as well as her early involvement in civil rights activism as the Queen of Soul. This was the first time an interviewer allowed time for me to really get into her range of activism over her life and the progressive stance of her father, Rev. C.L. Franklin. Some of the information I got to share with Julie Rose can be used in classes that address the role of music in the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, the race record era, multi-genre musicians, women in pop music, and how the soul era shifted production trends in the record business after World War II.
#BlackIsBeautiful
#ColaMuseum
and legacy of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. The outlets paying tribute have been as diverse as Aretha's global fanbase. Yesterday, I was on BYU Radio's Top of Mind with Julie Rose talking about Aretha Franklin and her legacy. It was recorded live for BYU Radio and Sirius XM 143. My conversation with Julie ended the show and so it can be found at minute 84:48. We covered a lot of ground and got to talk about her rich musical background as well as her early involvement in civil rights activism as the Queen of Soul. This was the first time an interviewer allowed time for me to really get into her range of activism over her life and the progressive stance of her father, Rev. C.L. Franklin. Some of the information I got to share with Julie Rose can be used in classes that address the role of music in the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, the race record era, multi-genre musicians, women in pop music, and how the soul era shifted production trends in the record business after World War II.
You can listen on Anchor, Spotify, Google Podcast, and several other platforms.
This discussion will explore how the music, songs, and dance of the Gullah Geechee embody the power of memory, tradition, and cultural aesthetics, having endured across the passage of time and space. Dr. Johnson is Assistant Professor, Ethnomusicology, School of Music and African American Studies Program, USC.
http://southcarolinapublicradio.org/post/shape-note-singing-may-be-endangered-tradition-south-carolina-0
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This round table took place on July 30, 2019 at the Christian Congregational Music: Local and Global Perspectives Conference held at Rippon College Cuddesdon in Oxford, England.