CMU Faculty

Anneli Loepp Thiessen she/her

Teaching Lecturer in Music

Anneli is a musicologist/ethnomusicologist who focuses on questions of gender,  representation, and agency in religious musical environments. She is a PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary Music Research at the University of Ottawa, where her dissertation uses interviews with women in the Nashville-based Chrsitian music industry to consider how they navigate socially and religiously restrictive environments as songwriters, recording artists, and worship leaders. Prior to beginning her PhD, Anneli completed a Master of Music in Piano Performance at the University of Ottawa, where she studied with David Jalbert and primarily performed solo piano works by women. She holds her ARCT in Piano Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Anneli has presented her research at conferences in Canada, the US, Australia, and the UK, including at the American Musicological Society and the Society for Ethnomusicology. She is published widely in journals across disciplines, including in the areas of music, religious studies, and worship. Anneli’s dissertation research has been supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Louisville Institute, and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship. She has won numerous paper awards, including the 2024 George Procter Prize from the Canadian University Music Society, the 2024 Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza New Scholar Award from the Journal for Feminist Studies in Religion, the 2022 Emerging Scholars Forum from The Hymn Society, and the 2021 Canadian Federation of Music Teachers Association doctoral essay competition.

An experienced music educator, Anneli is particularly interested in helping students of all ages encounter a diverse range of historical and contemporary figures.  Her first picture book, The ABCs of Women in Music, was published by GIA Publications in 2022. An accomplished pianist, Anneli has taught piano proficiency to undergraduate students, teaches private piano students from her home studio, and has been a piano adjudicator for music festivals across Canada.

As a composer and church musician, Anneli writes music for Christian congregational worship and advocates for women’s equal involvement in community worship. She had the opportunity to serve as a committee member for the Voices Together hymnal, which includes four of her hymn tunes and over a dozen piano accompaniments. Her work can also be found online through GIA Unbound. Most energizing for her is when she can enliven hymn texts by historical women, such as those by Hildegard von Bingen (VT #376) or Annalein von Freiburg, a 16th century Anabaptist martyr (VT #630). Anneli works as a co-director for Anabaptist Worship Network and was the director for Ontario Mennonite Music Camp for 6 years.

Areas of Teaching

Music History, Music Theory, Music and Culture, Piano Performance

Education

PhD (Cand.) University of Ottawa (expected 2025); MMus in Piano Performance, University of Ottawa (2020); GDip in Arts Management, Queens University (2018); BMus in Piano Performance and Music Ministry, Canadian Mennonite University (2018)

Work in Detail

Teaching

Music Theory I

Western Art Music

Art of Music

Blurred Lines: Cultural Appropriation in Music

Research

Peer-Reviewed Journals Edited

Graber, Katie and Anneli Loepp Thiessen, eds. 2021. Worship and Witness, an issue of Anabaptist Witness 8(1).

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Forthcoming 2024. ""Reckless Love": Sexual Violence, Gendered Interpretations, and Intimate and Aggressive Language in Contemporary Worship Music." Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 40(2).

2023. "Publishing Privileges the Published: An Analysis of Gender, Class, and Race in the Hymnological Feedback Loop." Religions 14(10): 1273–1296. Co-authored with Katie Graber. 

2023. "Contemporary Worship Music as an Ecumenical Liturgical Movement." Worship 97: 204–229. Co-authored with Sarah Kathleen Johnson. 

2023. "Establishing Best Practices for Intercultural Contemporary Worship Music: A Case Study of "Way Maker" by Sinach." The Hymn 74(2): 15–22.

2022. "Boy's Club: A Gender Based Analysis of the CCLI Lists from 1988–2018." Journal of Contemporary Ministry 6: 65–89.

2021. ""My Chains are Gone": Language of Enslavement and Freedom in Contemporary Worship Music." The Hymn 72(3): 26–33.  Co-authored with Dave Bjorlin.

Book Reviews and Dictionary Entries

2024. Invited review of Worship and Power: Liturgical Authority in Free Church Traditions edited by Sarah Kathleen Johnson and Andrew Wymer. Conrad Grebel Review (In Preparation).

2022. Invited review of A History of Praise and Worship: Understanding the Ideas that Reshaped the Protestant Church by Lester Ruth and Swee-Hong Lim.  Homiletic 47(1): 69–70.  

2020. The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology, J.R. Watson, ed. Multiple entries: "See the Morning Sun Ascending," "Come, Join the Dance of the Trinity." 

Other Journal Articles

2022. "Discomfort and Gratitude: Learning New Songs in Worship." Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology 21(1): 70–74.

2021. "Examining Whiteness in the Royal Conservatory of Music  History Curricula," Canadian Music Teacher 73(2): 50–59.

Performance

2021. Lecture recitalist, "Still Singing: Women Composers and the Voices Together Hymnal." January 27, Conrad Grebel University College, Waterloo, ON.

2020. Lecture recitalist, "The Girl Gershwin: Dana Suesse and The Cocktail Suite." March 14, McGill University, Montreal QC. Cancelled due to COVID-19.

2020. Concert pianist, "She's Still Here: Music by Women." January 19, Music for a Sunday Afternoon Concert Series, St. John's Anglican Church, Kanata, ON.

2019. Concert pianist, "Graduate Pianists in Concert." December 11, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON.

Selected Musical Compositions

2023. "When I Can't Face Another Day" hymn tune and accompaniment on Unbound by GIA Publications. Text by Dave Bjorlin.

2022. "God Lights a Lamp" hymn tune and accompaniment on Unbound by GIA Publications. Text by Katie Graber.  Also published in the Then Let Us Sing Sampler, United Church of Canada 2023.

2021. "When There is Goodness" hymn tune on Unbound by GIA Publications. Text by Adam Tice. 

2020. "Human and Holy" hymn tune in The Mennonite. Text by Katie Graber. 

2020. Numerous hymn tunes included in Voices Together. Harrisonburg: MennoMedia.

Applied

Sample of Talks and Workshops

2024. Workshop leader, "Beyond Sunday: Worship in Crisis and Protest," Mennonite Church Manitoba conference: Voices Together in Worship, May 10-11, Winnipeg, MB.

2024. Roundtable talk, "Intergenerational Worship in Consumer Culture," In Every Generation Roundtable at Belmont University, Nashville, TN.

2023. Concert talk, "Women and Music," Kitchener Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, Kitchener, ON.

2023. Webinar panelist, "What Are the Songs We Need to be Writing?" webinar hosted by The Hymn Society of Canada and the United States, online.

2022. Chapel address, "The Upside-Down-Backwards Call of Jesus," Founder's Day Chapel at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate, Kitchener, ON.

2022. Workshop leader, "Using Picture Books as a Tool for Diverse Music Education," Ontario Music Educators Association annual conference, Blue Mountain, ON.

2022. Workshop leader, "Bringing Voices Together: Songs from Around the World," Mennonite World Conference, online. With Katie Graber and Benjamin Bergey. 

Community

Co-director, Anabaptist Worship Network (2020-present)

Conference committee, Christian Congregational Music Conference (2021-present)

Conference co-planner, The Hymn Society in Canada and the United States (2023 conference) 

Planning committee, Laurelville Music and Worship Leaders Retreat (2020-2022)

 

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