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School Department News

Winters School of Music

Bivocational and Small Church Leadership Conference at WCU
Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - 10:35am

Hattiesburg, Miss., April 16, 2013 - William Carey University will host the Bivocational and Small Church Leadership Network (BSCLN) National Celebration April 18-20. The conference, titled “Networking with the Iron Men,” will include numerous meetings, lectures, music led by WCU’s School of Music, breakout sessions, a banquet, and other social events.

Program personalities include Dr. Philip Caples, professor of religion at Caskey Divinity School of Louisiana College, Pineville, La.; Bobby and Pennie Clark, Abbott Baptist Church of Mansfield, Ark.; Dr. Tim Dowdy, pastor of Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church, McDonough, Ga.; Don Dunavent, pastor of Clarksdale Baptist Church; Dr. Jim Futral, executive director of the Mississippi Baptist Convention; Dr. Sammy Gilbreath, director of evangelism for the Alabama Board of Missions; Ray Gilder, BSCLN National coordinator from McMinnville, Tenn.; Kenny Heath, associational missionary of Western Baptist Association of Cumberland, MD; Dr. Tommy King, president of WCU, and Joe Young, pastor and MRM coordinator from Charleston, Miss.

To register, interested persons can go to biovosmallchurch.net and click on “National Celebration April 18-20, 2013 Registration” or contact Ray Gilder at (931) 607-3146. The public can attend the general sessions.
 

Dr. Mark Malone Speaks on Blues in Mississippi for WCU Lecture Series
Thursday, March 21, 2013 - 8:25am

Hattiesburg, Miss., March 21, 2013 - Dr. Mark Malone, professor of music at William Carey University, presented a lecture titled, “The Mississippi Blues Trail and Beyond:  Combining Arts and Social Sciences for Elementary Presentation” on March 20 in the Lucile Parker Gallery.  

This lecture was a part of WCU’s University Lecture Series.
The presentation addressed the classroom unit that Dr. Malone co-authored and developed with Scott Barretta, host of the Highway 61 radio show for Mississippi Public Broadcasting and adjunct instructor of sociology at The University of Mississippi, through a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grant.  Consisting of six units (Music, the Meaning of the Blues, Cotton, Transportation, Politics/Civil Rights, Media and the Blues), and eighteen lesson plans, “The Mississippi Blues Trail and Beyond” aligns national standards for arts education with Common Core writing, speaking, and language standards for presentation in fourth grade classrooms. 
 

Clarence Dickinson Festival to be held at First Baptist Church in Madison April 5-6
Tuesday, March 19, 2013 - 9:35am

Hattiesburg, Miss., March 19, 2013 - The Clarence Dickinson Organ Festival, presented by William Carey University, will be held April 5-6 at First Baptist Church of Madison. The Clarence Dickinson Festival, named for the composer, arranger, author, educator, historian, and concert organist, was instituted about six years ago to encourage young students to study the organ and possibly pursue as a career choice. Walt Strony, a recitalist with Allen Organ Company, will be performing on Friday, April 5, at 7 p.m. at FBC of Madison. The competition will be held at the church Saturday morning, April 6, at 10 a.m., with several beginner organists competing, followed by two advanced students playing. 
The concert and competition are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Kathy Vail, associate professor of music at WCU, at (601) 318-6181 or kvail@wmcarey.edu. 
 

WCU School of Music to Present Worship Celebration
Tuesday, January 29, 2013 - 1:50pm

 Hattiesburg, Miss., January 29, 2013 - The William Carey University Winters School of Music, in collaboration with the choirs and orchestras from First Baptist Church of McComb and Midway Baptist Church, will present a concert titled “Declare His Glory” on Monday, February 11 at 7 p.m. in Smith Auditorium. The worship celebration will feature 110 singers with 60 in the orchestra.  The public is invited to attend, and admission is free.

WCU Professor Named Finalist for Mississippi Blues Project
Thursday, January 17, 2013 - 4:19pm

Hattiesburg, Miss., January 17, 2013 - Dr. Mark Malone, professor of music at William Carey University, recently presented an inter-disciplinary session entitled, “The Mississippi Blues Trail and Beyond” at the 2013 Hawaii University International Conference (HUIC) of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Convention in Honolulu.  Held January 6-8 in the Ala Moana Hotel, the conference featured professors and professionals sharing their expertise on varied topics. Dr. Malone was chosen as a finalist at the conference and will present his session at the National Association for Music Education (NAFME) Conference slated for Nashville, Tenn., October 27-30.

Dr. Malone’s invitation to present at the prestigious HUIC Convention followed a juried process in which a project description and an abstract were submitted to a committee of peers in a double-blind screening. The session he presented featured the history of the development of blues music in the Mississippi, within historical, sociological, political, and geographical contexts. Attendees to the session listened to recordings of blues musicians performing music at various points during the PowerPoint presentation and reviewed lesson-plans demonstrating how to teach the subject to 4th grade students. 

Dr. Malone currently serves as curriculum designer for the Mississippi Arts Commission’s Mississippi Blues Project.  The project, made possible by a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts, involves the production of six blues units geared to 4th grade students in Mississippi history courses. In an effort to preserve the heritage of the Magnolia State, the blues curriculum focuses on Understanding Blues Music, The Meaning of the Blues, Cotton’s Effect on the Blues, Transportation and the Blues, Politics/Civil Rights and the Blues, and Media and the Blues. All written materials and musical performances, as well as assistance for classroom teachers without music credentials, will soon be available online at www.msbluestrail.com.