“Glorify,” an album of original worship music written by students at Grove City College, is being released on all major music streaming platforms this month.
The first two singles from the record – “Glory! Glory!(Psalm 19)” and “Your Glory Reigns (Psalm 57” – have already “dropped,” with another on the way Friday, Jan 23. The full album comes out Jan. 30 with a release party and concert in Breen Student Union on campus.
Credited to Grove City College Worship, the record is the product of a songwriting course introduced in fall 2024 as part of the College’s new Worship Arts minor taught by Chapel Worship Coordinator Daniel Snoke.
“The students have done an excellent job, beyond my expectations when I started the class. I hope that these songs are not only beautiful but are also helpful to the church in worship and chapel,” Snoke said. “The students wrote most of the songs, under my direction and guidance. So, the writing credits are majority students, with my work infusing theirs.”
The songs are primarily designed for congregational worship and singing and have a more contemporary sound that Snoke likened to CityAlight or Sovereign Grace music. The class focused on songs from the Psalms, he said.
“I emphasize poetic interpretation of biblical texts, and the students really latched onto that idea. The songs are biblically rich and yet have an earnest and sincere quality to them,” Snoke said.
The Worship Arts minor is designed to prepare any student interested in ministry and the songwriting course is open to all majors, though most in the inaugural class were Biblical and Theological Studies majors “The collaboration between these students, coming from different cultures of worship expressions – Reformed, Pentecostal, Anglican, Catholic, etc. – produced a really unique and beautiful result,” Snoke said.
The album was recorded at Red Caiman Studios in Pittsburgh. Snoke called in professional musicians from his worship band to record the music with Grove City College students, who provided vocals and guitar and piano accompaniment. The combination raised the quality of the recording and provided a “more live feel,” Snoke said.
Brooke Garrett, a sophomore from Hillsborough, N.C. in the College’s B.A./M.A. program in Biblical and Theological Studies and Theology and Ministry, wrote two songs on the record and helped with the recording. An aspiring songwriter who hopes to pursue worship ministry after she graduates, Garrett said the experience was one of the most rewarding of her college career.
“It felt like the culmination of the worship spirit of the whole College,” she said. “Being in the actual studio in May was the highlight of the semester for me! I loved the communal format of our recording, with a heavenly chorus of voices united behind every song.”
Snoke, who interned at the studio when he was a music student at Duquesne, said the whole experience was a blessing. “I have a vivid memory of working late one night in the studio, cleaning up after a session, and wondering how I could find my way in the music/arts world and still have a community of Christians around me. Fast forward almost 20 years to the same studio and I had around 20 students singing and playing songs they had written. It’s been fun to give students the kind of community and opportunity I was looking for myself in college,” he said.
In addition to Garrett, current students who performed on the record or wrote the music include: senior Sarah (Sassman) Herrmann, Grove City; junior Jasmine Hoagland, Pittsburgh; junior Jenna Miller, Ellicott City, Md.; and senior John Remaniak, Cordova, Md.
Recent alumni in the credits include: Jenna (Knepper) Bennett ’25, Luke Bennett ’25, Lydia Dyk ’25, Sam Hougue ’25, Haley Miller ’25, Meredith Reed ’25, and Anna Tomasetti ’25.
There are no current plans to release the record as physical media. Pre-save the record on Spotify here.