by Colleen Casner | Jan 28, 2015 | News Slider
Sigma Alpha Iota, a national music fraternity, provides Lipscomb women with opportunities to serve others through music and form friendships outside of Lipscomb. SAI members are active in Lipscomb’s music department — many are involved in the University Wind Ensemble and A Cappella Singers. Although SAI is a music organization, members are not required to be music majors or minors. Majors in Lipscomb’s chapter range from elementary education to chemistry to pre-law. SAI is smaller than most Greek organizations on campus, with only nine collegiate members, but the chapter is growing, having more than doubled its membership in the past three years. This semester’s member-in-training class alone will increase the chapter’s size by more than fifty percent. The small chapter size is augmented by SAI’s status as a national organization. Lipscomb’s chapter frequently collaborates with chapters from other colleges in the Middle Tennessee area such as Vanderbilt, Belmont and MTSU. This experience of sisterhood outside the Lipscomb campus provides SAI members with a unique experience not offered by campus social clubs. Lipscomb’s chapter, Zeta Omicron, was established in 1974 and celebrated its fortieth anniversary last fall. SAI meets once a week to plan service projects, performances and formals. The club holds a musicale at least once each semester in which members demonstrate their musical talents. Different fundraisers held throughout the year benefit music-oriented philanthropies supported by SAI. The philanthropies are dedicated to meeting various musical needs such as providing musical instruments to children in developing countries and providing Braille and large print sheet music to visually impaired musicians. Photo courtesy of Kristin...
by Janice Ng | Feb 25, 2014 | News Slider
Lipscomb University’s Rush Hour Concerts are aptly named, as people can pop in for a one-hour concert to wait for traffic to clear up before heading home. Gary Wilson, director of vocal and choral activities, first came up with the idea that soon became a reality last spring. “The idea was born while looking for a creative way to handle our performance schedule toward the end of the year,” Wilson said. The department of music sponsors over 100 concerts every school year. These include individual students performing a solo recital as part of their degree requirements, groups of students performing as part of an ensemble such as A Cappella Singers or Wind Ensemble and faculty or guest artists presenting professional concerts. “At the end of the year, there are so many students needing to give recitals and ensembles wanting to perform that it’s difficult to get everything done,” Wilson said. “We do not schedule two concerts at the same time, so the Rush Hour Concerts were created to alleviate some of our scheduling issues.” The first Rush Hour Concert last spring featured the ChamberMen ensemble, Lipscomb’s male choral ensemble that began as a quintet in 2012 and has since expanded to include 11 singers. This month’s concert featured the AronBerkner Duo, with Jane Berkner and Stephen Aron. “Rush Hour Concerts have become a very popular part of our concert offerings,” Wilson said. “No one is in charge, but any music faculty member can schedule a performance at this time. Typically, these concerts are less than an hour, and have no intermission, so they’re over by 6 p.m.” Photo courtesy of...
by Julie Shrewsbury | Dec 9, 2010 | News Slider
Voices mixed with French horns, trumpets, symbols and other instruments resounded in Collins Alumni Auditorium on Monday night. Lipscomb’s A Cappella Singers, University Singers and University Wind Ensemble collaborated to kick off the Christmas season. Everything from traditional holiday carols to Russian Christmas songs were performed. “The student’s didn’t miss a beat, they played like professionals and they looked and sounded like they had been practicing this for years,” said sophomore Taylor Geen, an English major in attendance. “I don’t know how they do what they do, but it was an amazing show and I’m so glad I got the opportunity to go.” Dr. Steve Rhodes and Dr. Gary Wilson, directors, wanted to present a program of holiday favorites and music for the season. The concert was free, though most would agree it would have been worth it to pay for the performance. “My favorite part of the night was when we performed the song ‘This Little Babe,'” said Lindsay Latimer, a sophomore voice performance major. “The song is sung in rounds, so there are a lot of different parts going on at once. It also just featured the women, which was really great and different. “The Russian piece was the most difficult piece we preformed because I’ve never sung in, or spoke for that matter, in Russian. Having one of our student conductors conducting it made it that much more fun and entertaining.” If you didn’t get a chance to attend this outstanding show, check out a recap of the performance here. A Celebration Of Christmas “My favorite piece was ‘Ñe imamï inïya pómoschi’ by Pavel Chesnokov,” said...
