File photoRoland M. CarterDuring today's memorial service for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the pastor killed in the church shooting in Charleston, S.C., a bit of Chattanooga will be heard.
The family of Pinckney, who served as a state senator in South Carolina, has selected an old spiritual in an arrangement by retired University of Tennessee at Chattanooga music professor Roland Carter as part of the ceremony. The song, "In Bright Mansions Above," will be performed by the Low Country Voices, a choir that Carter has conducted several times over the years.
"In fact, I was just down there conducting them in March," Carter said. He will not be attending today's service.
President Barack Obama will give the eulogy at the service, which will also be attended by first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
Pinckney was one of nine people fatally shot June 24 during a Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal in Charleston. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. at TD Arena at the College of Charleston.
Carter said he has not been to the church where the shooting took place, nor has he met the Pinckney family, but he believes the song was chosen because of its uplifting tone and message.
"The song is just one of my pieces that's been rather popular with its theme of going to heaven," he said.
Carter's arrangement of "In Bright Mansions Above" has been used at many memorials and funeral services around the country over the years. It's actually a song he has been arranging and tweaking for more than 50 years, he said.
This is not the first time a Carter arrangement has garnered national attention. In 2006, his arrangement of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" was used to awaken astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.