November offers plenty of holiday options to hear Lipscomb vocalists
Janel Shoun-Smith |
The Lipscomb Academy Concert Choir performing at the Ryman Auditorium at the Nov. 20 Tokens show.
Celebrate Thanksgiving with Tokens, the Lipscomb Jazz Vocal Ensemble and all the Lipscomb choruses
You don’t have to wait until December to start celebrating the holidays along with Lipscomb's student vocalists.
November offers three opportunities to hear Lipscomb students ringing in the holidays along with some of Nashville’s top musical artists.
Tokens on WSM
On Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24, tune in at noon or at 7 p.m. to WSM 650 AM to hear the 2016 Tokens Thanksgiving show held live at the Ryman Auditorium on Nov. 20. It will also stream live on www.wsmonline.com.
Tokens, established by Lipscomb University theology and ethics professor Lee Camp in 2007, is a live radio show that blends music, humor and issues of social justice. Tokens was launched in February 2008 as a quarterly event held on the Lipscomb campus.
This year’s Thanksgiving show, with the theme of “Hallelujah as Gratitude,” hosted not only singer-songwriter Audrey Assad, local vocalist Odessa Settles, songwriter and musician Gordon Kennedy; and Drew Holcomb of Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, but also the Lipscomb Academy concert choir performed several songs.
Lipscomb’s high schoolers can be heard singing Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” along with accompaniment by the Music City Strings, and Susan La Barr’s “God of Every Sense.” The students also backed-up Settles on a moving version of the late Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and several of the other performers on various hymns and songs.
Music City Strings, an educational string-performance ensemble for students, performed a rip-roaring version of Pachobel’s “Canon” along with the house band, the Most Outstanding Horeb Mountain Boys, that brought the crowd in the Mother Church of Country Music to its feet.
The broadcast will also feature several songs sung by host Camp, including the Nobel Prize-winning Bob Dylan’s “Slow Train Coming” and an original tune about why Thanksgiving is the best holiday of the year.
Christmas at the Capitol
If that’s not enough to get you excited about the holidays, then check out the Governor's Christmas at the Capitol on Monday, Nov. 28, where Lipscomb’s Vocal Jazz Ensemble will perform.
Musical performances will be held from 5 to 5:30 p.m. and from 6 to 6:30 p.m. on the steps outside the Tennessee State Capitol building. The ensemble, made up of students Savannah Swanson, Sarah Wood, Savannah Turpin, Tate Burns and Ethan Bennett, will perform a cappella Christmas carols.
At 5:30 p.m. a ceremony will be held inside on the first floor of the capitol building, and the Christmas tree will be lit at 6 p.m.
The Vocal Jazz Ensemble performs jazz standards, arrangements in a jazz style and jazz originals, covering pieces by The Real Group, New York Voices and Manhattan Transfer among others. They perform several times a year on campus and with Lipscomb’s touring music groups.
Lighting of the Green
And if you miss out on both of those events, then catch Lipscomb’s Lighting of the Green on Tuesday, Nov. 29 in the Allen Arena Mall. The university’s annual outdoor Christmas concert at 5:30 p.m. features hostess Amy Grant who this year will perform selections from her newest Christmas album Tennessee Christmas.
Also each year, members of Lipscomb Academy’s choruses and Lipscomb University’s A cappella Singers and University Singers perform carols and back-up the multiple guest artists featured each year. This year, the students will perform “While by my Sheep,” “Deck the Halls,” “Carol of the Bells” and “Alleluia” (by composer Fredrik Sixten) and sing along with Grant on her Christmas classic, “Tender Tennessee Christmas,” among other tunes.
In addition, Lipscomb students and siblings Delaney, Zachary and Erika Daves will perform as Daves Highway, a Southern roots trio with a musical style similar to Needtobreathe, The Lumineers and The Civil Wars.
The siblings are currently studying in Lipscomb’s contemporary music program and have been seen all over campus performing songs from their three full-length albums and an EP. To read more about Daves Highway click here.
To read more about Lighting of the Green, a free event that also includes free photos with Santa, a tree-lighting and the Merry Marketplace, click here.