January 10, 2018
The Wheaton College Conservatory of Music and the Center for Congregational Song will co-sponsor “Centered in Song,” a conference on congregational singing, February 1 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The conference will take place in Wheaton College’s newly completed Armerding Center for Music and the Arts. It will focus on the future of congregational song and will be led by some of the nation’s leading voices on the subject.
“With the advent of new music facilities, we envision collaborations that promote Wheaton as a singing campus that in turn, energizes congregations wherever in the world our graduates serve local churches. This collaboration with the Center for Congregational Song provides us just such an opportunity and we’re honored to co-sponsor this special one-day conference,” says Wheaton College associate professor of music Dr. Tony Payne.
Sessions will include panel discussions hosted by Brian Hehn, director of The Center for Congregational Song, and Dr. Tony Payne. The conference will also include a collaborative plenary address presented by Dr. Alisha Lola Jones, assistant professor of ethnomusicology at Indiana University and Wheaton College Chaplain Rev. Timothy Blackmon, as well as a presentation by Chuck Fromm, founder and publisher of Worship Leader magazine. It will close with a hymn festival led by Wheaton College Associate Professor of Music Dr. John Trotter.
"The Center for Congregational Song, having just launched in October 2017, is on a nationwide tour to celebrate the beginning of its work to encourage, promote, and enliven congregational song," Hehn says. "Partnering with a prestigious and faithful institution such as the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music for an event is the kind of collaborative energy that can truly make a difference in our world by growing faith and renewing peace."
A conference schedule, more information, and a link to register are available at The Center for Congregational Song's website. The registration fee of $35 includes lunch.
The Center for Congregational Song is the resource and outreach arm of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, a non-profit organization that seeks to encourage, promote, and enliven congregational singing. More information is available at thehymnsociety.org.
The Wheaton College Conservatory of Music provides students with comprehensive instruction that cultivates creativity, proficiency, and achievement in a Christ-centered environment. For more information, please visit wheaton.edu/conservatory.