With an enrollment of just seventeen students and limited offerings, the first session of what is known today as Canadian University College started in January 1907. Although in reality it was a three-month training session for colporteurs, its success led to the purchase of a farm near Leduc, Alberta, that summer and the opening of Alberta Industrial Academy that November.¹

In the midst of these primitive beginnings, music was an important part of social and religious life at the school. AIA Announcements for at least the first three years listed drills in sight singing and chorus singing as part of the program.²

In 1909, two years after it opened, the academy was moved to a new location on a hilltop near Lacombe, Alberta, where the plan was to consolidate it with a sanitarium (hospital) the church had started in Edmonton. When construction of the facilities started, the academy was considered a priority and the building of the sanitarium was delayed. That decision, coupled with ongoing financial challenges, led to a vote in the 1912 camp meeting not to build the sanitarium.

The new location, although devoid of trees on the hilltop,³ afforded a breath-taking panoramic view of the surrounding countryside and numerous lakes. Additionally, it was located midway between Edmonton and Calgary, near automobile and Canadian Pacific Railway links between the two cities.

While the view was inspiring, living conditions in the first year at the new site were initially more challenging than they had been at the former location. Classes, teachers, and boys were housed in a partially renovated old barn. Although a women's dormitory had been started in the summer preceding the opening of school, it was not finished until February. In the interim, the women lived in tents that provided little protection from the subzero temperatures and snow. As winter worsened, a little over half of the women were moved temporarily into a building constructed to house a laundry, while the others remained in the tents until the dormitory was completed enough for occupancy in December.

Adams taught Bible and voice and led a chorus while his wife taught hymn playing on a pump organ and piano. While in Calgary, enroute to the school, the Adamses purchased and brought with them a piano, which became the first at the academy. Students were charged 50c per 45-minute lesson or 25 lessons for $10. Students were also charged monthly rental fees of 75c and a dollar for an hour's use each day on the organ and piano, respectively.⁴

For the next seven years the Adamses led out in music, overseeing a program that grew to include two additional teachers. During that time the school was renamed Alberta Academy, enrollment increased from 61 to 223, and, as they left in 1917, a change from an American to a Canadian- based education program was being planned.⁵

She taught music with Johnson for the next three years at the college and following that again worked with her brother as a musical director in his evangelistic efforts in Canada and the U.S., before returning to WWC to complete a diploma in music.⁶

For the next three years, Fred Jerome directed a band and orchestra, the latter having been planned since 1917 "if a sufficient number of instruments are available."⁷ Jerome, who was the printing teacher, had been associated with CJA since 1909.

David Robert Edwards assumed leadership of the orchestra and the department in 1926. Edwards was the first teacher at the school with a diploma in music. A native of Chicago, he was a violinist and organist who had grown up in a musical home, his mother having been one of the first music graduates from and a teacher at Battle Creek College in Michigan.

When both Edwards and Ledington left in 1928, Arthur J. Skeels, a violinist who was teaching science and manual arts assumed direction of the orchestra. William Wood replaced Ledington as choir director, and a year later Georgia Neithercut joined him to assist in teaching voice. In his two years at the college, Wood wrote the music for the first school song and Neithercut led out in introducing it to the students.⁸ She would teach for eight years, the longest stay of any music teacher in the first half century of the school.

Starting at this time, it was possible for music students to take instruction that would prepare them for examinations in Canada's Toronto Conservatory of Music program. Students were able to earn up to three credits for passing TCM exams.⁹

In May 1930, a calamitous fire set by an arsonist destroyed the administration building, the men's dormitory, and the industrial building. Although no loss of life occurred, several men were injured and six were hospitalized.

Miraculously, two students had been able pull the new Chickering grand piano out of the administration building at the time of the fire. One of these, Ben Glanzer, a tenor, would become well known for his work as a singing evangelist and member of the Voice of Prophecy King's Heralds quartet.¹⁰ Also, the women's dormitory, which had recently been renovated and contained a music practice room, was spared

Verne Kelsey joined Neithercut that fall to teach piano and music theory. In spite of daunting challenges during a time when the school was struggling to recover, Kelsey had a successful experience during his two years there and was a frequent performer on and off campus. While in Canada, he earned an associate diploma from the Toronto Conservatory of Music (ATCM).

For the rest of the 1930s, continuing low enrollments and ongoing financial distress dramatically affected all aspects of the academic program, including music. The financial problems on campus, however, were only part of larger challenges in the Adventist school system in North America and the work in Canada because of the Great Depression.

Even though the 1940s started with a world war which led to a drop in male students, the increase in women offset that decline so that enrollment, while uneven, was not down dramatically during the first half of that decade. By the time the war ended in 1945, the school was in a strong position financially, having in 1944 paid off the debt arising from construction expenses following the 1930 fire. In that same year it also purchased several properties adjoining the campus, thereby increasing school acreage to eight times that owned when it first started.

Roy Hampton, a pianist, gave lessons in voice and directed the choir from 1941 to 1946, the longest tenure of any music teacher in the 1940s. Margaret Moline (later Young) succeeded him as voice teacher and choir director. Both she and Arvida Fisher, who assisted in voice, taught for three years.

While Haynes was able to stabilize the program and enjoyed a level of success that led to an invitation for him to teach music at Union College, Gibson's many gifts and tenure of eight years created a renaissance for the music program at CaUC. A popular teacher, he became known as CaUC's "Music Man," a name likely inspired by the title of a popular 1962 film.

When Gibson left at the end of 1964, the school had enjoyed its largest enrollment yet, with 534 students, 200 being college level students. The yearbook for that year was dedicated to him with an inscription that praised him for his friendliness, unselfish spirit, and the encouragement he had provided to students. It described him as "a man whose music puts songs into the hearts of others, whose versatility makes him a part of all the lives around him." Gibson left for a position as an editor at the Christian Record Braille Foundation and later served as an ordained minister.¹¹

Although Gibson was alone in his first year, he had been joined in 1957, his second year, by four new teachers, violinist Curtis Wolfe and three pianists: Kari Hestdalen (a student teacher), Edna LeMarquand, and Gem O'Brien. Wolfe, who had been hired to teach as he graduated from Pacific Union College with a music degree, completed a master's degree at Indiana University during his seven years at CaUC. He would later teach again at the college.

Following Fitch's departure, she taught piano at Walla Walla and Whitman colleges and served as a church musician. A composer, she has written a number of works, some of which celebrate special events and anniversaries, the most recent being Centennial Hymn, for CaUC's centennial celebration in 2007.¹²

In that pivotal decade for the music department, the college undertook extensive campus-wide changes that affected both the quality of the academic program and life on campus. In 1958, a General Conference Survey Commission had examined all aspects of the college and then made recommendations to help it achieve senior college status.

Although CaUC attempted to affiliate with Walla Walla College, Andrews University, and Loma Linda University during that decade, it was unable to complete needed arrangements. An attempt to work with the University of Alberta for possible accreditation also failed.¹³

In 1968, a General Conference Study Commission was appointed to review Adventist higher education in Canada, to look specifically at the post-secondary situation where two colleges, CaUC and Kingsway College, were operating and having financial difficulties as well as affiliation and accrediting problems.¹⁴

In 1903, four years before the founding of Alberta Industrial Academy, Lornedale Academy had been started in eastern Canada. In 1916, it had became Eastern Canadian Missionary Seminary and offered the first Adventist college level classes in Canada. Four years later, it became known as Oshawa Missionary College and over a period of years eventually offered two years of post-secondary classes in many areas, including music.¹⁵

The 1968 GC Commission found that limited financial resources and lack of accreditation by Canadian entities or a validating affiliation in the U.S. made it unwise to try to maintain two colleges in Canada. They recommended that a new college be built in Ontario by the 1970-71 school year and that within its first two years of operation a full post-secondary program of four years be established. Both CaUC and KC would then revert to academy status.

Aside from an unrealistic timetable, the recommendation, which was met with outrage and defiance, particularly at CaUC,¹⁶ failed because of the debt at both schools and the improbability of raising the more than six million dollars needed to build a new school.

In 1974, another GC study recommended the same step be taken, but with the option of locating the new school in either Ontario or British Columbia. The Canadian Union Conference Board of Education responded by recommending that CaUC, which had been able to establish an affiliation agreement with the University of Alberta in 1971 covering transfer of first-year classes, become the senior college and that Kingsway College revert to academy status. Final decisions were made and post-secondary offerings at KC ceased at the end of the 1976-1977 school year.¹⁷

During this pivotal and at times tumultuous decade of transition from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, nine new music teachers came to CaUC, the only constant being Gem Fitch, who was teaching piano and organ. While most served for one to three years, two, Leslie Mackett and Frank Kravig, had longer tenures that would continue beyond Fitch's departure in 1972.

Even though Kravig's installation of the organ in the church was a challenging and time-consuming task, it was completed in time for a dedication service in September 1972. While at the college he also found another, smaller pipe organ that he installed in the chapel.¹⁸

During Kravig's chairmanship, leadership of the band passed from Mackett to Loren Frost, a composer and versatile low brass performer who had just completed an M.Mus. degree at Andrews University. Even though his stay at the college was brief, the students dedicated the 1972 yearbook to him, noting his friendliness and ability to inspire his students.¹⁹

Bruce Kuist, a woodwind performer and experienced teacher who had a master's degree from the University of South Florida, followed Frost and directed the band for two years, leaving in 1975, the same year that Kravig left. He subsequently taught at several schools and was an adjunct instructor at Southern Adventist University before his retirement in 2008.²⁰

Lloyd Fisher, who had taught at CaUC in the previous decade, returned in the fall of 1975 to chair the music program and teach for three more years. Charles Pierce, a pianist and singer, who had taught at four academies and two colleges, also came to the campus that fall to direct the choir and teach piano.

Pierce had actually been under appointment since 1974 but had taken a year's study leave to complete class work towards a doctorate at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. He had most recently served in the Adventist school system as chair of music at Columbia Union College.²¹ Hiroka Kojima Sheppard taught piano during that interim school year (1974-1975) and then continued assisting in piano until 1981.

Since Pierce had just completed his doctorate when Wolfe arrived, both enjoyed the distinction of being the first music teachers with doctoral degrees at CaUC. Because of his prior administrative experience, Pierce became department chair in 1978. He exerted strong leadership and made a number of constructive changes in the program during the next eleven years, significantly expanding holdings in instruments, scores and records.²²

While serving as chair, Pierce gave annual piano recitals and sang in the Richard Eaton Singers in Edmonton, a large 150-member choral group that performed choral masterworks on tours and with the Edmonton Symphony. Additionally, he played organ and directed choirs in churches of different denominations in the area.

Wendolin Pazitka Munroe came to the campus in 1977, the year after Wolfe's return, to assume leadership of the choral program. From the start of her work at CaUC, she generated excitement and loyalty in her groups.

Both groups have been acclaimed for their singing in concerts and with noted instrumental ensembles in famous venues in Canada, the U.S., and abroad. In her years as director, the choirs have taken numerous tours in Canada and internationally.²³

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a number of changes occurred at the college, the result of the decision to make CaUC the senior college in Canada. The college completed an affiliation agreement with Union College in September 1979 that allowed CaUC students to complete UC degrees through extension programs in education, music, science, and business.

Four years later, the college became part of the Loma Linda Extended Campus Program. Through this arrangement, students were able to take graduate courses in the arts at the master's degree level.²⁴

The men were moved to the vacated women's dormitory in 1980 and their dormitory then became the home for the Division of Arts.²⁵ While this move created more space for music, it wasn't until 1986 that a major renovation made the facility more suitable for music.

In 1980, the same year music was moved to its new home, William Cemer was hired to direct the band program, an increase in the music faculty to four full-time teachers, the largest since the beginning of the college. An accomplished musician who played trumpet and violin, Cemer inspired the band to achieve at a professional level.

By the time he arrived at the college, he had a reputation for preparing superb bands noted for their polished and musical playing and for presenting concerts of well-chosen music. Cemer upheld that reputation as he led the college band, the Silverwinds, in concerts on campus and in numerous tours for the next 21 years, a record tenure in band leadership at CaUC. A thoughtful person with a sense of humor, Cemer enjoyed a wonderful camaraderie with his students and friends.²⁶

The 1980s was a stable period for the music department. Although Munroe took a one-year study leave for doctoral study, there was only one change within the full-time music faculty, which now numbered five. It was the longest period since the beginning of the college without unsettling changes in the primary music faculty.

After nearly five decades of trying, CaUC achieved provincial accreditation in 1991. The news that they were now able to award their own BA degrees was a cause for celebration on campus. While the accreditation initially was only for three-year degrees in English, music, and theology, by 1995 six other areas had been added. And in that same year, those first three areas, having been reviewed since the initial accreditation, were authorized to grant four-year BA degrees.²⁷

Improvements in facilities Campus-wide and other aspects of campus life throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s kept pace with these academic changes. Some of these included a major renovation of the cafeteria; completion of a new science center; implementation of computer usage and other classroom technologies across campus, including creation of a music computer lab; and a major ongoing renovation of the administration building that started in 2002.

Kenneth Logan, an organist with a doctorate in organ performance from the University of Michigan, was hired to teach in 1993. Most recently, he had served as interim organist at Walla Walla College, a school known for its comprehensive organ installation. He would later write:

After Logan accepted a position at Andrews University in 1996, he continued to serve as a liaison with the builder until installation of the organ, which was accompanied by a renovation of the church, was completed in 1997 and dedicated in 1998. A significant instrument, it was an important addition in a community where only two of the 200 churches had pipe organs.³⁰

Wendy Markosky, an organist and harpsichordist who was completing a doctorate in organ performance at Indiana University, succeeded Logan, coming to the campus in 1997, just as the new organ was being installed. While doing graduate study at IU, she had served as an associate instructor in theory for five years and as organist for a year at the IU campus chapel. She spent the summer of 1997 studying organ in Sweden.

When Curtis Wolfe retired in 1996, the same year that Logan left for AU, Munroe and Cemer were appointed co-chairs of the music program. When Cemer retired five years later, Munroe became chair.

Jacqueline Schafer (later Zuill), who had undergraduate and graduate degrees in both violin and piano, had succeeded Wolfe in 1996. An accomplished performer, she taught both instruments and music theory and oversaw string activities for more than a decade, until 2007.

In 2007, Naomi Burns Delafield, a violinist who had been concertmaster of and soloist with the New England Youth Ensemble under Virginia Gene Rittenhouse for seven years, was hired to teach violin and oversee string activities at the university. She had completed a master's degree in violin performance at the University of Calgary in 2005, was serving as concertmaster in the orchestra in nearby Red Deer, and had been involved with string activity at CaUC since 2005.

Debra Bakland (formerly Richter), a pianist and teacher with a distinguished record of service at Walla Walla University, was also hired in 2007. Bakland, a performer who soloed three times with the Walla Walla Symphony, enjoys a reputation as a gifted and inspiring teacher. Her students have won countless awards in regional contests, been soloists with Northwest orchestras, and were featured in a national convention in 1993.

Other projects since the turn of the century that have improved the music program have included the 2005 addition to the Casavant organ of three pedal ranks, the remainder of the swell manuals, and chamade trumpets. The latter in the original organ plan were intended to represent the proclamations of the three angels of Revelation 14.³¹

In April 2007, a French-style double (two-manual) harpsichord arrived on campus, the purchase made possible by a successful fundraising drive. A quality instrument by builder Robert Duffy of Boston, its light blue and cream color, painted soundboard, and exquisite sound make it an aesthetic delight and a wonderful addition to the department's keyboard resources.³²

More recently, an extensive renovation within the music facility, completed in 2006 and dedicated in 2007, created the Emily Schafer Music Room, a large band and orchestra rehearsal area which can also be used for chamber music events.³³

As the university begins its second century, the feeling on campus and in the music department is decidedly upbeat. As this academic year begins, over 350 university students have enrolled and the number of music majors has increased from a year ago. Improvements in music facilities and additions in keyboard resources combined with an energized music faculty and enthusiastic students place the university and its music program in a strong position as this century begins.

2008