Posted by Mary Wimberley on 2008-09-22

Samford University will host its annual Hymn Sing featuring congregational singing of familiar songs of faith Sunday, Oct. 12, at 2 p.m. in Reid Chapel. The public is invited free of charge.

Dan Lawhon, organist/choirmaster at Birmingham's Baptist Church of the covenant, will direct the program. Barbara Bamberg, concert pianist and church musician from Houston, Texas, will accompany. Soprano Sharon Lawhon, Samford associate music professor, is guest soloist. Samford School of the Arts dean Joseph Hopkins and Samford president Andrew Westmoreland will also participate.

The popular event, which features audience participation in the selection and singing of familiar hymns and gospel music, is being held for the eighth time. In recent years it has become the traditional closing event of Samford's Family Weekend.

"These songs---gospel songs---are the songs of my childhood, and they are deeply engrained in my consciousness," said Dr. Westmoreland. "I'm grateful for those among us who preserve that heritage. I'm grateful that the music lives in our hearts."

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 5,791 students from 49 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.