HIGHLIGHT: STUDENT MAJOR IN CHURCH MUSIC

KATIE HIRV, KNIGHT WIRE SOCIAL MEDIA & PROMOTIONS MANAGER

The Wartburg Music Department has a 100% job or graduate school placement for all graduates, according to wartburg.edu. Within the music department, there are several tracks students can choose from including a church music track, which combines course work from both music and religion.

“I felt like I was being called more toward church music,” Amanda Ferry, a third-year music major with a concentration in church music, said. “It [the program] really allows you to focus in on the religion aspect, which is awesome. I’ve enjoyed taking the religion classes I’ve been in. It has been a very growing experience for me.”

As part of the church music concentration, students must complete the courses required for a music major, along with seven additional course credits that incorporate theology and knowledge of the Old and New Testaments in the Bible.

Students in the church music program must also complete an internship with a church as part of their required courses. Most students intern with a Christian church, but one completed an internship at the Bach House in Eisenach, Germany.

“The students get practical experience and a way to really delve into a usually fairly large music program within a church,” Dr. Karen Black, professor of music and Rudi Inselmann endowed professor in organ at Wartburg College, said. “I like to place people in a fairly large church so they can experience a big program. They can see the busy work that a full-time musician working in a church looks like.”

Within the music department, students are required to choose an instrument to specialize in and the church music program is also open to any instrument, including voice.

“The ones who have graduated with this [program] have done a variety of things. Some have gone onto graduate school in church music and work full-time as church musicians,” Black said. “A couple of them have received doctorates and now have full-time church jobs. Several have gone on to seminary.”

For more information about the church music concentration, go to wartburg.edu/music.