Preparing to worship

Hours of rehearsal lead up to the ninth annual Night of Worship April 17

Every year, after hours of work go into the rehearsals and preparation, Liberty University’s School of Music gives the gift of musical worship to the community.

Night of Worship is an annual event where students in the School of Music worship God through speeches, spoken praises, singing, and instrumental music, according to Dr. Stephen Müller and the Liberty University School of Music’s video of the ninth Annual Night of Worship.

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“Night of Worship is the Liberty University School of Music … joining together … to offer ourselves in praise and worship to the Lord,” Müller, the vocal coordinator for Night of Worship and an assistant professor of music education said. “It’s one of our two yearly opportunities for the … whole School of Music to do something together.”

According to Müller, six different choirs and one orchestra, as well as the LU School of Music House Band, participate in this performance. The choirs involved are the Chamber Singers, the University Choral, Concert Choir, Worship Choir I and II, LU Praise and LU Shine.

The preparation for Night of Worship started in January, according to Professor Paul Randlett, the acting chairman of the department of Music and Worship Studies. The people in charge of the event have this night on their minds throughout the whole year. Randlett said this will be the ninth annual year for the Night of Worship event and it will be held April 17.

The rehearsal process is conducted by Müller, who is also largely in charge of the logistics behind the event. He gives creative input, and at some events in the past he has conducted certain segments of the performance.

In addition to rehearsals for Night of Worship, the School of Music is also busy preparing and rehearsing for their normal concerts. February through April has a total of about five rehearsals, including the dress rehearsals the week prior to the performance.

“There are probably five … rehearsals, adding up to between 15 and 20 hours total,” Müller said.

The preparation for Night of Worship involves the help of the Graduate Student Assistants, the School of Music faculty, the Thomas Road Baptist Church (TRBC) personnel, and the Red Tie Music company, according to Müller.

“…We have to get the music once it’s selected and that requires working with different publishers,” Müller said.

Red Tie Music supplies some of the music for the event. The music is also written by former Liberty students. Randlett chooses the songs and determines what videos to include in the performance as well.

TRBC is the venue each year for Night of Worship, and because it has a choir loft and microphones in place, the set up on the performance night only takes about two hours, according to Müller. The sound check is at 4 p.m. and the performance is at 6 p.m. There are about 300 students in the performance and they attend the church service at TRBC that Sunday morning and in the evening they perform, Müller said.

According to Müller, Night of Worship is the School of Music’s gift to the community. Randlett said it was started before the School of Music was founded. According to Randlett, what sets Night of Worship apart from other worship events at Liberty University is that at this event, students from all over the School of Music participate in a night of pure praise and worship and encourage one another.

“These are the people who are gonna make a generation … and will be making a difference in the world through Christ and through the arts,” Randlett said.

Ramey is a feature reporter.

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