Events

Summer Church Music Workshop
Sunday, July 11 to Friday, July 16, 2010
Florida Southern College, Lakeland, FL
All are invited!

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Workshop Description. One of the “best kept secrets in Florida,” our annual Church Music Workshop begins with Check-In on the Florida Southern College campus 2:00 to 5:00pm Sunday, July 11, 2010.  After dinner in the College Dining Room, we have a brief Orientation session to answer all your questions about the schedule and the other materials you received at check-in.  Following Orientation, our main Sunday evening activity is usually a concert.  After the concert, there is a reception where the first-timers are introduced and all are treated to some refreshments and fellowship.

On Monday morning, our daily routine (Monday through Thursday) begins with Morning Worship.  Our preacher is the Rev. Andy Oliver, Associate Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Lakeland.  His theme for the week is “Upside-Down Living.”  Singing, liturgy, sacred dance, communion, choral music, and praise music are among a variety of worship elements used sometime during the week.

Following Worship, youth and adults each go to Choral Rehearsal, led by the guest clinicians for the week.  Youth Clinician is Dr. Cara Tasher, Director of Choral Activities at the University of North Florida, and Adult Clinician is Dr. Terry Price, Minister of Music at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas.  The entire morning is devoted to Worship and Choral Rehearsal.

Following lunch, Advanced Handbells class begins with the clinician, Michael Helman.  And there are three (3) afternoon Seminar periods, when classes in several different subjects are offered.  Just pick the classes that interest you the most.  The Youth have a wide range of classes in the afternoons, that are tailored just for them.  After dinner, there are Reading Sessions by several different publishers and genres, and fellowship opportunities.  Youth have a special Vespers service that they put together themselves, and another choral rehearsal.  The last evening of the Workshop is the Talent Show.  Both comic and serious acts are performed by adults and youth.  Be sure to bring whatever props you need to participate in the show.  The evening is climaxed by a series of skits by the Youth Team that celebrate all the fun we’ve had all week.

Friday morning is reserved for warm-up and culmination of the week with a huge Festival Concert that is open to the public.  All of the major groups participate, and demonstrate some of the skills and techniques learned during the week.  Parents, friends, and relatives usually attend this event, since the workshop is over following lunch.  We hug our friends–both new and old–and begin to anticipate doing it all over again next year.  We go back to our homes and churches renewed, refreshed, and determined to use our gifts in new and better ways for God’s glory in the year ahead.