Baylor Center for Christian Music Studies Will Host Annual Festival of Youth Choirs

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Media contact: Terry Goodrich, (254) 710-3321
WACO, Texas (Feb. 19, 2014) - The Center for Christian Music Studies at Baylor University will host one of the five 2014 Festival of Youth Choirs Friday, Feb. 21, through Sunday, Feb. 23, sponsored by the organization YouthCUE.
YouthCUE's vision is "for every student in North America to have the opportunity to participate in a healthy, vibrant student choir program during his or her adolescence," according to its website.
During the annual festival, choirs from across North America and Christian denominations join to create a choir of 200 to 400 youth singers. Each singer learns the same songs and participates in mass rehearsals, activities and community missions projects.
"The Center for Christian Music Studies hosts a YouthCue Festival for two reasons," said David Music, D.M.A., professor of church music in Baylor's School of Music. "We want to celebrate and support the spiritual, musical and emotional benefits young people receive from participating in a youth choir experience; and the event brings musically talented young people to the Baylor campus where they are exposed to Baylor students, music faculty members and the facilities."
Last year's Baylor YouthCue Festival attracted 300 singers from Louisiana to California and was joined by Baylor Symphony Orchestra for the final concert.
"We are grateful for the participation of the Baylor Symphony Orchestra, which, despite a full rehearsal and performance schedule of its own, gives its time and expertise to help make this a spectacular event," Music said.
Participants spend the majority of the three days rehearsing, until the Festival Grand Concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 23. The culminating concert, in Jones Concert Hall in the Glennis McCrary Music Building, 110 Baylor Ave., is free and open to the public and will be professionally recorded.
"We hope that through their experiences some of these students will commit themselves to serving Christ through music and that they might choose Baylor as a place to receive education for their calling," Music said.

by Rachel Miller, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805
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Baylor University is a private Christian university and a nationally ranked research institution, characterized as having "high research activity" by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The university provides a vibrant campus community for approximately 15,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating university in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 11 nationally recognized academic divisions. Baylor sponsors 19 varsity athletic teams and is a founding member of the Big 12 Conference.