Conferences

God in Music City
January 12, 2008 – April 17, 2008

Is music a religion in Nashville?  Is religion a form of music?

God in Music City is a series of eventssponsored by the Center for the Study of Religion and Culture at Vanderbilt University.  Together, Nashville scholars, students, performers, religious leaders and community members will focus on the ways in which religious and musical practice in “Music City, USA” shape each other.  There are several events that Vanderbilt Divinity School faculty and students will participate in that highlight God’s presence in Music City.  For a complete listing of all God in Music City events, please visit: www.godinmusiccity.com

Saturday, January 12, 7:00 pm 
God in Music City CD Release Party
The Commons Center, Vanderbilt University
Co-sponsored by The Commons, Vanderbilt University
Hosts:  Greg Barz (Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology, Anthropology, and Music and Religion) and Julie Lee (Nashville-based singer-songwriter and Artist in Residence)

Come celebrate celebrate the variety of artifacts collected in the God in Music City CD.

Saturday, February 16, 9:30 am - 4:00 pm
Nashville Houses of Worship:  A Bus Tour
Co-Sponsored by American Studies Program, Vanderbilt University
Guide:Robin Jensen (Luce Chancellor's Professor of the History of Christian Art and Worship, Vanderbilt Divinity School)

Join Professor Robin Jensen and Friends from the Center for the Study of Religion and Culture for a tour of eight of Nashville's churches, temples, and synagogues. We will go by bus from inner city to the outer suburbs as we consider the relationship between architecture and religious practice, as well as the art and music of different faith traditions. Stops will include the Downtown Presbyterian Church, the Sri Ganesha Temple, the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church and Congregation Micah.

Thursday, March 13, 9:00 pm
Strange Bedfellows:  Gay Christian Music
The Basement
Co-sponsored by the Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender and Sexuality, Vanderbilt Divinity School
Moderators:  Jewly Hight (music critic, artist, Vanderbilt Divinity School degree candidate) and Ellen Armour (E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Chair in Feminist Theology and Director of the Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender, and Sexuality, Vanderbilt Divinity School)

Join God in Music City at the Basement listening room for an evening of songs and personal stories and perspectives from openly gay Christian performers.

Sunday, March 30, 7:00 pm
The Lord is My Shepherd: Variations on Psalm 23
Turner Recital Hall, Blair School of Music
Co-sponsored by the Blair School of Music, Vanderbilt University
Moderator: Michael Alec Rose, Associate Professor of Composition

Come hear performances of musical settings of this most beloved psalm by vocalists from various religious institutions in Nashville.
 
Wednesday, April 2, 4:00 pm 
God in Country Music Videos
Vanderbilt Divinity School Arts Room
Co-sponsored by the Vanderbilt Divinity School
James Hudnut-Beumler (Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School and the Anne Potter Wilson Distinguished Professor of American Religious History) and James Byrd (Associate Dean for Graduate Education and Research and Assistant Professor of American Religious History, Vanderbilt Divinity School) 

Professors James Hudnut-Beumler and James Byrd will analyze country music videos with special attention to religious content in the lyrics and religious imagery in video conception.

Thursday and Friday, April 17
God in Music City Capstone Conference
Co-sponsored by the Vanderbilt Divinity School

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
Vanderbilt Divinity School (411 21st Ave. S)

9:00 a.m. Keynote speaker: Dale Cockrell (Professor of Musicology, Blair School of Music) “This is My Story, This is My Song”

10:15 a.m. John McClure (Charles G. Finney Professor of Homiletics, Vanderbilt Divinity School) and Allison Pingree (Director, Vanderbilt Center for Teaching) “Using Music to Explore and Expand Religious Identity in Teaching and Preaching”

11:30 a.m. Lunch and Greg Barz (Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology, Blair School of Music) “Who are The People who Make God Music in Music City?”

1:00 p.m. Vanderbilt Student Research Presentations from God in Music City Undergraduate Seminar

2:30 p.m. Michael Rose (Associate Professor of Composition, Blair School of Music) “Provisional Conversion to Religious ‘Truth’ Through Music”

4:00 p.m. Panel discussion moderated by Robin Jensen
(Luce Chancellor's Professor of the History of Christian Art and Worship, Vanderbilt Divinity School) “Vanderbilt and the Popular Music Community in Nashville”

CAPSTONE CONCERT
Second Presbyterian Church (3511 Belmont Boulevard)

“Music, Religion, and the South: Where do Songs Come From?”
Tom Kimmel & Friends: Beth Nielsen Chapman, Marshall Chapman,
Danny Flowers, Odessa Settles, Kirby Shelstad, and Lisa Silver

7:00 p.m. Meet and greet the artists at Second Presbyterian Church Café

7:30 p.m. Concert – free and open to the public