Andrews University had its beginnings in Battle Creek College, located in the Michigan city it was named for. Founded in 1874, it was the Seventh-day Adventist church's first attempt to establish a training school for its workers. From the first, however, there was disagreement over whether the school should offer a classical education or a training that would prepare workers for the newly formed church. ¹

Despite disagreement over the overall program, there was agreement about the importance of music. Voice lessons were offered from the first year in classes that met daily. Goodloe H. Bell, who had been a prime mover in founding BCC and was now also teaching English and botany, taught voice classes which also included basic music theory.² Three years later, in 1877, lessons in piano and organ were added, taught by Maria Haws, a teacher who had been educated at a Chicago music conservatory.

Because of internal dissension between teachers and administration, on the advice of Ellen White the school was closed for the 1882-83 school year. When it reopened in the fall of 1883, Edwin E. Barnes was listed as teacher of both vocal and instrumental music.

Barnes, an accomplished organist, had come from England in 1882 at the age of 18, in response to an invitation from John Harvey Kellogg at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. By the time BCC had reopened, he had established a reputation through his service as minister of music at the Battle Creek SDA church, known as the "Dime Tabernacle," a building that could seat 3,000 and had a pipe organ.³

After the college had reopened in 1883, disagreements over which programs should be offered continued as an unsettling influence for the next fourteen years. This ongoing uneasiness, along with the death of his wife in January 1893, led Barnes to accept a position that spring as minister of music in the largest church in Evanston, Illinois.

Both preparatory and college students were informed that, "Vocal music is required work, and is taken by all students, unless excused for special reasons after an examination by an instructor." Four choirs existed, each numbering between 50 and 100 students. All four were combined to create a chorus for special performances of significant choral works, such as the Gloria from Mozart's Twelfth Mass and Unfold Ye Portals from Gounod's Redemption.⁴

The approach to and support for music changed dramatically, however, with the appointment in 1897 of Edward A. Sutherland, who believed that the college should provide a practical education and prepare workers for the church. While music was still given prominence, a course in sacred music became the focus of a program that had previously included generous amounts of secular classical music. Sutherland believed:

By now, Sutherland had fully implemented his vision of a practical vocational and evangelism-oriented program. While he was pleased with the results, increasing financial pressures at the school, problems with the state over the validity of BCC's programs as college level offerings, and disenchantment with the school's location led to a decision to close the college and move it to the country, away from the "temptations existing in the city" and "peculiar experiences which must be met in Battle Creek . . . ." ⁶

Barnes, who years earlier had remarried and left the church to become a member of the Congregational Church yet had continued as the mainstay in music at BCC, stayed in Battle Creek, where he established a highly successful conservatory of music in 1906.

In the summer of 1901, the school was relocated to Berrien Springs, Michigan, and renamed Emmanuel Missionary College. The move to rural Michigan inevitably changed the character of the school. While it removed the Battle Creek influence and temptations, it also ended the contact with Edwin Barnes and access to that city's musical resources.⁷

Additionally, during its first decade in the new location, turmoil over what the school's purpose should be and problems in leadership led to a desperate situation when, in the fall of 1908, only 40 students enrolled and the school began to be aware of the fact that it was deeply in debt. Fortuitously, that fall was also the beginning of the decade-long tenure of a new president, Otto J. Graf. Under his leadership during the next ten years the school cleared its debt and became a valid degree-granting institution.⁸

Although the same three- to five- year keyboard courses of study that had been offered at BCC continued at the new school, and five pianos, a two-manual pipe organ, and a reed organ were available, few students seriously pursued keyboard study. Also as at BCC under Sutherland's tenure as president, during the first three years at the new school only sacred music was taught, by Orwin A. Morse.

In those first years, with only one person teaching all aspects of music, class instruction was limited, and choruses singing sacred music were the only ensemble offerings. Even so, in its second year the school for some reason felt it could claim that "No school nor conservatory of music in the country offers a more complete course, while tuition elsewhere would be three or four times more."⁹

By the time the second decade at Berrien Springs started, president Graf's leadership had stabilized the school. Music was also emerging as a settled program on campus after a succession of seven music teachers in the same number of years. Mabel L. Huffman, who had been hired to teach piano in 1910, became the primary music teacher in 1911. She would continue in that position during the next five years while also serving as dormitory matron [dean].

Huffman was assisted in that time by a number of persons who conducted ensembles, including an orchestra, band, and chorus, and gave lessons in voice, violin, cornet, mandolin and guitar.One assistant, Alma J. Graf, listed as a voice graduate in 1911, appears to have been the first to finish a music program at EMC. She was related to the president and had been teaching German since her and his arrival in 1908. ¹⁰

The program ended, however, on a more exciting note when the members of the band "came running up on the platform and almost before they were seated began playing the Little Giant." The audience erupted, calling them back twice.¹¹

An important acquisition for music at this time was the first grand piano on campus, purchased in 1916. ¹²

Eighteen years after the move to Berrien Springs, in March and April 1919, the students at EMC raised $6,000 ($150,000 in equivalent currency values at the end of the 20^th century¹³) for the construction of what would be the first music building at an SDA college campus. Given just thirty days to raise the money, they responded by having the money in hand a day ahead of schedule.¹⁴

That building, a large wooden, house-like structure, would be the home for music at the college for the next 35 years, not being replaced until 1954, when today's Hamel Hall was built. Its relocation to another site on campus one year after it was built proved to be a newsworthy event when one of the students and teachers in music, Louis Thorpe, jokingly played his violin while the building, which would affectionately become known as the "music box," was pulled across campus.¹⁵

Thorpe had come to EMC in the fall of 1919. An older student in his late 20s, he was an accomplished performer on violin, clarinet, and saxophone at a time when the latter was all the rage across the country. He had played professionally at Chautauqua, in a popular orchestra of that time, and under John Philip Sousa during World War I.¹⁶

Thorpe was asked to direct both the band and orchestra, as well as teach lessons. He enjoyed immediate success, wowing everyone with his solos, charismatic personality, and work with the ensembles.¹⁷ By the time he had completed a baccalaureate degree in 1925, he had established the first solid band and orchestra program at the school and played a major role in the beginning of the college's radio broadcasting, performing often as a soloist.

The establishment of the radio station, WEMC, and its development through most of the 20's put the school on the map and provided a stimulus for the music program since the efforts of EMC's musicians were literally broadcast coast to coast.¹⁸ While the quality of radio broadcasting may have been poor at that time and helped minimize the weakness of live music programs over the air, there was an expectation that couldn't help but raise the level of performance.

Select groups, identified as Radio Singers, Bands, and Orchestras were formed, one of which, the orchestra, rehearsed five days a week and performed on the air four times weekly during the 1927-28 school year.¹⁹ Additionally, some college recitals and ensemble concerts were broadcast live over the air.

Beginning in 1929, another gifted performer and student, Willard (Bill) Shadel, assumed direction of the orchestra and band. He, like Thorpe, created excitement with his concerts and played a major role in the college's radio broadcasts.²⁰ Following his graduation in 1933, he continued to direct the ensembles for a year before leaving to work at Washington Missionary College, now Columbia Union College, and a career that would lead to his being a nationally noted newscaster in radio and television.²¹

Birt Summers, an organist and choir director, had assumed leadership of the music program prior to construction of the music building. He had helped generate excitement for the fundraising campaign for the building and was highly regarded by everyone for his work with the chorus and for his performing and composing talents.

At the beginning of the 1923 school year, The Student Movement credited Summers and his wife for having "built up the School of Music from a small beginning until this year." During that school year he led a 125-member chorus, accompanied by orchestra, in the college's first performance of the Messiah, one broadcast live nationally.²²

The success of the radio station during the 1920's resulted in the installation of the first significant pipe organ on campus, a three-manual Moeller. Sold to the school at a discount since it would be identified every time it was played over the air, it was regarded by the maker as an invaluable advertisement and by EMC as an acknowledgment of the station's coverage and popularity.²³

Completely installed by the fall of 1927, the organ was initiated with a recital that included the premiere of a number written by Summers. The colorful work "depicted an EMC picnic at Indian Lake, including the joyous 'hurrahs' of the crowd, the College Song, and the honking of a truck."²⁴

A second recital, given the following January, concluded with a stirring organ arrangement of the William Tell Overture.²⁵ Aside from these crowd-pleasing presentations, the organ also quickly became an important and dignified part of worship at the college, a tradition that still continues.

Contrary to the impression created by his "picnic" composition, Summers enjoyed a good reputation in the Chicago area for his work as a composer and arranger. The Bush Conservatory of Music had awarded him the Doctor of Music degree in March 1923, in recognition of his work as a composer.²⁶

Following the stock market crash in the fall of 1929 and the panic that ensued, college enrollment, which had been about 500, dipped as the Great Depression ran its course.²⁷ The first year after the crash, William Osborn, a pianist, came to the campus as chair of the music department. For the next four years, he enjoyed what the school paper called "unqualified success."²⁸ In spite of the reduced enrollment campus-wide, both band and orchestra flourished under the leadership of Shadel, with the band cresting at 50 members in the 1933-34 school year.

Harold B. Hannum, a pianist and organist who had been teaching at WMC, was invited to chair the music department. A quiet and thoughtful person, he was a fine performer who held high standards and had excellent credentials for that time, having completed a master's degree at Peabody Conservatory of Music.

In the next ten years he would provide strong leadership of the program and become known for his artistry on the organ. When he left in 1944, the yearbook paid tribute to his contribution, observing that "he has been long esteemed for his cultural influence on religious programs and in the department. . . he is remembered by those who know him best for a genial disposition, a sense of humor that overflows in an exchange of gay repartee . . .."²⁹ He and his wife were particularly appreciated for their vesper programs of readings and organ music.

The Messiah continued as an annual event that featuring the College Chorus and the 40-member Battle Creek Tabernacle Choir and drew visitors from all over the region and as far away as Chicago.³⁰ While in the first year's performance he sang the bass solos in both oratorios as Beltz conducted, Metzgar conducted the remaining Messiah performances during his nine years at EMC.

Shadel's successor as conductor of the band and orchestra stepped aside after one year. Hannum picked up the baton and gamely led the groups for a year, before hiring John J. Hafner, a violinist, to rebuild the program. Hafner's musicianship as a sensitive, emotive soloist and colorful conductor, combined with his showmanship and infectious good humor, quickly endeared him to the students and the campus at large.

In the transition following Hannum's departure, Thompson served as chair for two years and Hafner for a year, before Verne Kelsey, who had followed Hannum as organist, assumed leadership of the department in the fall of 1947. This transition occurred during the immediate post-World War II years when EMC's enrollment more than doubled. Over 600 students were enrolled in music during the 1945-46 school year³¹ and several new music faculty were hired, bringing the total number of teachers to eight, a record high.

Thompson also left in 1947 to pursue graduate study. Perry W. Beach, a talented pianist and composer who had joined the faculty in 1945, taught piano and theory until he left for graduate study at Eastman School of Music in 1951. Alice Davis, Astrid Wendth-King, Margarete Hayes Vandevere, and Estelle Kiehnhoff assisted in piano instruction at this time. Kiehnhoff taught both piano and voice lessons.

When Metzger had left in 1943 to accept a position at Southwesten Junior College, now Southwestern Adventist University, Earl High succeeded him as choir director. When he was drafted for war service in December, Hafner directed the choir for the rest of the year. High returned in 1947 and conducted the choirs for two more years.

A new music building was constructed in 1953 to replace the hastily built one for which students had so quickly raised money 30 years earlier. Although it was a dramatic improvement and the largest music building in Adventist colleges at the time, within a decade it proved to be too small because of developments at the college.

The 1950's decade proved to be as pivotal a time in the school's history as the move from Battle Creek to Berrien Springs had been a half-century earlier. At the end of the decade, leadership of the church moved the church's seminary from Washington, D.C., to the EMC campus.³² This move would transform EMC from being just another small college within a network of similar institutions run by the Adventist church into its primary university, an international focal point for its educational system.

When Hamel had become music chair he had inherited a large department and program that offered only one degree. Under his leadership, undergraduate degree offerings were expanded and by 1963 a graduate music program was in place, changes which required a larger full-time faculty.

Verne Kelsy, a beloved multi-talented teacher and colleague, left in 1962, having served as organist for 14 of his 17 years at EMC. Besides being a diligent keyboard performer who could often be found practicing piano in the music building at 5 a.m., he was a voracious reader who had an avid interest in languages and delighted in working as an artist with a paintbrush or camera.

With the departure of pianists Dietel and Beach in 1956 and 1957, respectively, Hamel hired Hans-Jorgen Holman, a pianist and musicologist. Holman had distinguished himself while completing a Ph.D. in music at Indiana University and was an artist on the piano, often playing as often as 200 times a year.

Morris and Elaine Myers Taylor joined the faculty in 1971 to teach piano, assist in classroom teaching, and perform. In his years at AU, Morris kept a prodigious schedule, presenting hundreds of recitals and giving numerous workshops and clinics. Elaine also played frequently and traveled widely with their four children, who were precocious string players famed for their performing as a string quartet and as soloists.

When Hamel had started his work as chair, the university had quickly recognized his organizational and administrative gifts. Besides his responsibilities in music, he served from 1960 to 1964 as Director of Admissions for AU's rapidly developing summer program.

When Uthe left in 1975, Patricia Silver was hired to teach brass and lead the band. She made such an impact on the students and the campus during her first year that, at year's end, she received the Outstanding Teacher Award. During the next six years, she traveled with the band to Romania and toured extensively with her brass ensembles in Europe and Central and South America.

Charles Davis, a violinist, became director of the string program and orchestra in 1962. He conducted the group for most of the next 30 years, leaving in 1991 because of an ongoing illness.

Leroy Peterson joined the faculty to assist with the string program in 1968. A soloist with the National Symphony in Washington, D.C., at the age of 17, he had since developed a reputation as a consummate performing artist. He would teach at AU until 1983, when he left for a position at Pacific Union College.

In the choral area, the Collegians, renamed the Andrews University Singers when the school's identity changed in 1963, continued as an elite choral group, known for its excellence in singing. After Melvin Davis had left in 1956, Minnie Iverson Wood, who had previously taught at Washington Missionary College, now Columbia Union College, led the choirs for three years. Gerald Ferguson, her successor, was the first in a series of choral directors who would enjoy lengthy tenures. This group would include Rudolf Strukoff, James Hanson, Franklin Lusk, and Zvonimir Hacko.

When the graduate music program had been introduced in the 1960's, music student enrollment soared, the zenith occurring from 1967 to 1976 when a yearly average of 11 undergraduate and 14 graduate students completed degrees. In the first two decades of the master's programs (1964-1983) 222 completed graduate degrees, most being Adventist musicians.³³

Paul Hamel, architect for the expanded music program at the university, retired in 1981. He had made a remarkable contribution in music and at the university, one that was recognized in 1963 when he received an AU Presidential Citation, in 1964 when the AU yearbook was dedicated to him, and in 1981, when he was awarded the John Nevins Andrews Medallion. In 1995, the music building, which had been renovated in 1989 and in 1994-95, was named for him, a singular honor. Hamel was named an honored AU alumnus in 2000.

Blythe Owen, composer in residence and composition and piano teacher, also retired in 1981 at the age of 83, after teaching at AU for 16 years. She had enjoyed a remarkable career, performing here and abroad, winning many awards for her numerous published compositions, and breaking ground for women in the music profession. She was named Composer of the Year in 1980 by the Michigan Music Teachers Association and awarded an honorary doctorate by AU.

While the teaching of some aspect of music theory is a given for most college teachers, for several AU faculty it was and continues to be, as it was for Owen, an important part of their identity and contribution to the university. Charles Hall was hired to teach theory and composition after he completed his Ph.D. in that area in 1970.

Sandra Camp was hired to fill the vacancy in piano created by the untimely death of Elaine Taylor. A graduate of AU, she had been the primary piano teacher at Walla Walla College for the previous six years. She would teach at AU until her retirement.

In its role of presenting special programs for musicians of all ages and teachers, the music department began presenting a summer music festival in 1986. Specialists from across the country joined with the AU music faculty for a week-long multi-faceted experience offering lessons, performing groups, classes, children's music theater, and other programs. Registrants and family members for this event, which continued until 1994, numbered about 300 each summer, with many families returning for several years in succession.

Improvements in facilities and music resources have been continuous at the school since its move to Berrien Springs. Beginning with the five pianos and two organs provided in the opening years and continuing with the subsequent acquisition of the first grand piano in 1916 and installation of a three manual Moller pipe organ 13 years later, the school has upgraded its keyboard instruments.

Music library resources were greatly expanded when the graduate music program started. There has been an ongoing expansion in this area incorporating the many advances in technology and internet access that have occurred in recent years. The library which is a branch of the James White Library was established by Elaine Waller and Elfriedo Raunio. Waller ran the library until 1993, when Linda Mack, a musician with master's degrees in music and library and information sciences, was transferred from the main library to oversee its operation.

Through the years, the lack of an adequate auditorium lessened the impact of the department in the community and on the campus. While in earlier times the gymnasium had seemed an appropriate place to showcase music ensembles, as the rest of the campus was upgraded, it became a less than ideal setting for the department's increasingly sophisticated programs.

Alumni from both the AU undergraduate and graduate programs have had a profound effect on all aspects of Adventist music education. Today, they and/or their students can be found at all levels of music instruction, both inside and outside of Adventist schools.