Between Sound and Theology: Timbral Performativity in Brazilian Religious Musicking

Authors

Marcell Silva Steuernagel, Southern Methodist UniversityFollow

Abstract

This article explores the performativity of timbre, summarizing key perspectives from the English-language scholarship on the topic and setting them in conversation with Latin American perspectives on timbre. In addition, it examines a performance of “500 Graus” (500 degrees), a song performed by Brazilian Pentecostal artists Cassiane and Shirley Carvalhaes, to demonstrate how the performativity of timbre unfolds within a particular expression of Latin American religious musicking. In doing so, it investigates the phenomenon of timbre between music and sound studies, and theology and church music studies, providing insights relevant to the study of timbre and the study of religious musicking.

Author Biography

Marcell Silva Steuernagel, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Church Music and Director of the Master of Sacred Music and Doctor of Pastoral Music Programs at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology. Marcell writes at the intersection of church music, theology, musicology, and performance theory. He served as Minister of Worship, Arts and Communication at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Curitiba, Brazil, for more than a decade, and is an internationally active composer and performer. His most recent monograph is Church Music Through the Lens of Performance, published on Routledge’s Congregational Music Studies series. Marcell also serves as the Latin American regional editor for the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology, and co-senior editor of the Journal of Praise and Worship.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Silva Steuernagel, Marcell (2025) "Between Sound and Theology: Timbral Performativity in Brazilian Religious Musicking," Yale Journal of Music & Religion: Vol. 11: No. 1, Article 9.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17132/2377-231X.1304