Welch College Choir Tour “One of the Best in Years”

The forty-member Welch College Choir, under the direction of Dr. James Stevens, completed a three-state tour during spring break covering 1700 miles and ministering in ten locations over seven days, according to according to Todd Parrish, Director of Church Relations.

“Church members in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia worshiped joyfully as the choir sang through the O Praise the Name program,” Parrish said. “The choir did a variety of music, which included anthems, hymn arrangements, spirituals, and contemporary worship songs. Alumni and former choir members stated that this was one of the best Welch choirs in years.”

Choir members spent time with residents at the Governor’s Bend Assisted Living Center in Erwin, TN, as well as with students at Gateway Christian Academy (VA) and Bethel Christian Academy (NC). “One teacher expressed how grateful she was that the college students went out of their way to make her fifth graders feel important,” Parrish said. Over 300 academy students signed up to receive more information about Welch College. From these student information cards, Andrea Sosa (VA) was selected to win a free Apple watch.

Welch College Music Chairman Wins Award at Sheet Music Plus

Welch College Music Chairman Wins Award at Sheet Music Plus

Dr. James M. Stevens, chairman of the Music Department at Welch College, recently received the New Year’s Selling Contest Award at Sheet Music Plus for his bestselling Prelude to a Wedding book in the piano solo category. This collection contains 28 original songs drawn from his highly successful Relaxing and Romantic Piano books, Volumes I – IV.

Sheet Music Plus is the world’s largest sheet music dealer representing over one million print and digital titles and over one thousand music publishers. This is Stevens’s third award in the last year at Sheet Music Plus. He also won the Steinway Music Composition Contest in December 2015.

Stevens is one of the most prolific composers for Sheet Music Plus. He currently has more piano solo compositions published there than any living composer and is only surpassed in numbers by Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Chopin, and Liszt.

His The Sacred Flute book for solo flute and piano is currently the number-one bestselling flute solo book in both the print and digital categories. His compositions can be found at Sheet Music Plus under his publishing company, James M. Stevens Music ASCAP.

Dr. Stevens is a graduate of Samford University and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and has a doctorate in Music Composition from the University of Kentucky. He is beginning his thirteenth year as the Music Department chairman at Welch College.