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Point University will host its annual Christmas concert on Dec. 9 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and 8 to 9:30 p.m. For the first time, the performances will be held at First Baptist Church in West Point.

Both vocal and instrumental Point University ensembles will perform Christmas music during the concert. All of Point University’s ensemble bands will perform throughout the concert, which is approximately two dozen students.

“It’s all of our musical ensembles that’ll be performing. That includes our concert band, concert choir, percussion ensemble, handbells and string ensemble,” said Dr. Chapel McCullough, chair of the department.

The performance will also include a couple of pieces performed by the music faculty, McCullough said.

With the football season coming to an end, most of the Point students have spent no more than a couple of months practicing these pieces. McCullough said that the Fine Arts department tries to find opportunities to challenge students and help them grow.

“We look for opportunities for our students to have learning opportunities. They’ve spent a couple of months working on this music, and we consider it to be challenging and worthwhile to do,” McCullough said. “So putting on a performance is always a great opportunity for students as they grow as musicians.”

McCullough said that some of the songs will be played together but every ensemble will get to perform on their own. The music selection will come from a variety of Christmas genres.

“It’ll be a good variety of different styles of music and different instruments,” McCullough said. “Some of the music will be sacred Christian Christmas music from church, and some of it will be more like holiday music.”

The Christmas concert is free of the charge and open to the public. McCullough said that they try to use the concert as a way of giving back to the community.

“We see this as a performance for the community. Especially at Christmas time, people are just really in the mood for things like this,” McCullough said. “We see it as one of the ways that we like to give back to the community. So we put on this free concert for them to get them in the Christmas spirit and just have a good time together.”

Though the concert is free, Point’s Department of Fine Arts will be accepting donations.