Claremont Union College, founded in 1893 and forerunner of today's Helderberg College, was the first Seventh-day Adventist school established outside of North America. It initially offered all levels of schooling, from elementary through college. Its college offerings were patterned after the four-year classical curriculum offered at other schools of higher education at that time, which included languages, mathematics, sciences, logic, and moral science.

In the beginning, the faculty was required to live on campus and eat with the students. In 1894, one of the professors notified the board that he was no longer going to live on campus, given the food being served. Although members of the board were upset with his complaint, the principal asserted he also found the food totally inadequate. The board then set up a committee that would dictate a menu, one that the cook "must abide by."¹

At the beginning of the second decade of the 20^th century Nelly Schonken, piano teacher and primary music teacher, was thanked by action of the board for her work.² During her leadership, Barrow Dowling from nearby Cape Town, gave voice lessons and directed a chorus that presented programs periodically and a cantata in 1911. Lyda Eaton Patchett, a graduate of South Lancaster Academy, later Atlantic Union College, also taught music in the school's last year (1918) at this location.³

In 1914, Fred Stuckey, a nurse and trombonist, had organized a band of ten members that increased in size as it continued into the next year. ⁴ Beginning in the middle of the 1915 school year, William E. Straw was hired as headmaster. Although he was a talented cornet player who usually organized bands wherever he went, it is doubtful he had time for that given the financial challenges he faced during his time of leadership.

Although the school had been originally located in a rural area near Cape Town, the city's growth and other challenges at the school led to its closure in 1918 and the building of a new school in a remote rural area near Spion Kop. A year after the college closed, it reopened in 1919 as South African Training College. Patchett, who had taught for one year at CUC continued as music teacher at the new school.

In 1922, the year it had become a junior college, Coralie Willmore, a singer, was appointed head of the music department. Two new German-made pianos were also purchased at the beginning of that year, and Mrs. Philip Venter, a pianist and wife of the language teacher at the school, assisted in teaching piano and sight singing. Between the two music teachers they had 32 pupils: five in voice, one in organ, and the balance in piano. ⁵

Fees beyond regular tuition were charged for music lessons and use of the pianos. Although no diploma in music was offered, teachers assisted serious music students in preparing for the University of South Africa music examinations. ⁶

In the short time the school was located here, there were other teachers in both voice and piano. At the graduation service in the school's last year, a "Choral Society" under the direction of Mr. Hanson and accompanied by Ruth Lindup, presented a highly praised program that also featured a "Ladies Glee Club," "Mixed College Quartette," cello solos by Lindup, and readings by Win Shankel. ⁷

Because its isolation limited the school's potential for growth, it was closed at the end of 1927. A new school, African Missionary College, was scheduled to reopen a year later at Somerset West in a thriving farming area on the slopes of Helderberg Mountain. By the time the school opened in 1928, however, it had been named Helderberg College. ⁸ The move proved to be a wise one and the first year's enrollment was 100, the hoped for number of students. Within two years it increased to 154.

At the end of the first year, Lindup left and was replaced by Maggie Theunissen, a pianist. Maude Allan, a well-known South African singer, was hired to teach voice, and Shankel was hired to accompany the choir. In the following year, Eileen de Beer was the only music teacher listed in the official faculty roster, even though Win Shankel was still involved in the program. ⁹

The George Shankel family had come to South Africa near the end of Spion Kop College. While at first he taught English and history, he became increasingly important in the operation of the school after it moved and was renamed Helderberg College, first serving as registrar and then principal, starting with the 1934 school year. Like his wife, Win, he was also a musician and actually at one point taught a conducting class after he had become principal. ¹⁰

By 1934, the school, which had been built to accommodate 100 students, had more than 150. All of the facilities were inadequate, particularly in the music department, which, in addition to its choirs and orchestra, had thirty students, seven in violin, and the rest in piano. Because the music program was regularly being moved from one place to another on campus, it was referred to as the "wandering department," ¹¹ and there was talk about constructing a music building. It was during this time that a college song and hymn, Hail, Helderberg, was adopted. ¹²

As the decade ended, Leslie LeButt and Yvonne de Gourville were teaching piano. Yvonne, who had started assisting in music following graduation from HBC in 1931, married Arthur Davy, a teacher at the college, in 1939 and both would continue at the college until 1943. After serving 23 years as missionaries in Central and East Africa, they would move to the U.S. in 1966 where she authored twelve books about their life in Africa, wrote numerous articles for the church's primary publications, and became known as "The Camp Meeting Story Teller" in the Northwest.¹³

In 1941, even while Europe was engaged in a devastating war, over 200 students, the highest enrollment yet, arrived on campus. During that year, construction of a music building was started that included two teachers' studios, seven practice rooms, and a small recital hall. Music examination results for that year listed eleven students who had successfully passed various applied levels and four who had passed the preliminary theory test. ¹⁴

In 1942, enrollment increased again and spirits were high on campus as the school celebrated its 50^th anniversary. Music, now in its new facility, was having one of its best years yet, with one out three students in school taking piano, voice, or violin lessons. The three teachers, Yvonne Davy, Miss Kotze, and Nellie McClure, wife of the new principal Warner E. McClure, had full schedules, and the sounds of students' practicing and the choir and orchestra rehearsing could be heard across campus. In addition to the special music activities associated with the anniversary on alumni weekend in September, the Choral Society ended the year with a performance of the "Hallelujah" chorus from the Messiah at that year's graduation exercises. ¹⁵

Midway through the 1940s, Elsie Watt, was added to the music faculty. In 1948, Gwendoline (Gwen) Smith and Frances L. Brown, both singers and pianists, were hired, joining McClure, a pianist who had been teaching since 1942. Muriel Stockil (later Pike), a violinist, was hired in 1949.

Brown, who had been teaching at La Sierra College, now University, was appointed head of the department. She organized an oratorio chorus as she arrived and by the end of the school year presented the oratorio the Holy City at graduation, with a choir of over 100 voices.¹⁶

At the end of that year, the Messiah was performed for the first time at HBC during graduation weekend. This presentation by the choral groups of the college and other assisting students and faculty, directed by Brown, included guest soloists from the region. In that same year she organized an A Cappella choir, a select ensemble. ¹⁷

In 1950, Brown took an extended tour in South Africa with the A Cappella Choir which created a sensation wherever it sang. In one stroke, the college and its choir emerged from relative obscurity to become nationally known.

An article by Pieter H. Coetzee about the trip was published in the Adventist church's primary publication for the young, The Youth's Instructor. The tour was regarded as one the most successful outreach programs ever conducted in South Africa. ¹⁸

By the end of the 1930s, several three-year normal programs in theology, domestic science, and commercial had been developed at the college and by the mid-1940s, three three-year courses in these areas and a two-year Bible instructor's program were available.

When Brown returned to the U.S. at the end of the 1952 school year for a furlough, Timothy Farrell assumed leadership of the choir on an interim and part-time basis. When she was unable to return, he directed the choir through 1956. In those four years, even though there were fewer teachers, one third of the student body was taking music, creating teaching overloads and very little performing off campus. ¹⁹

In 1957, Robert McManaman and his wife June, a pianist, both of whom had been teaching at Southwestern Junior College, now Southwestern Adventist University, in Texas for the last three years, began teaching at Helderberg. For the next nine years, McManaman served as head of the department and annually took national tours with the A Cappella Choir, performing extensively throughout that country in important venues in major cities.

McManaman also revived the band program. Only three instruments survived from earlier purchases by the school, and an appeal was made near the end of his first year for unused instruments. An article by him in the union paper two years later reported HBC now had a band of 38. This would facilitate the school's hosting accomplished groups such as Salvation Army brass bands and similar groups from nearby Stellenbosch University.

The department flourished under McManaman's leadership. Gwen Smith and Leila van der Molen taught piano and his wife assisted in piano and organ. In a report about the college written by the principal in February 1963, he observed, "Of particular interest in the field of music are the A Cappella Choir tours, the creation of a college band, and the strong department with its four full-time teachers." ²¹

Wilhelmina (Wil) Müller Dunbar assumed leadership of the department and choir in 1969, when the Ungers left to continue his education. Dunbar, who had been a member of the choirs led by Frances Brown and had traveled on the 1952 tour, would conduct the A Cappella Choir, apart from periodic leaves, for over 25 years years, until her retirement in 1995.

Dunbar continued the tradition in touring with the A Cappella Choir that had started with Brown in the 1950s, touring annually starting in 1969; a record, From the Heart of Youth, was made of the 1970 tour. Additionally, the choir gave two performances of both the Messiah and Elijah, the latter with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. The choir and many of Dunbar's students regularly achieved highest honors in Cape Town and at Stellenbosch Eistedddfodds.

Several conductors assisted or filled in for Dunbar when she had leaves of absence. Jerry Joubert and Escorcia led the male chorus in 1970 and 1972, respectively. In 1973 and 1974, Elton and Evelyn Wallace directed choirs which were highly praised at festivals. Brian Stevenson directed in 1979, and Franklin L. Lusk led the department and choral program from 1984 to 1989. Leadership alternated between Dunbar and John Livingston in 1988 and then Darren Postema in 1992. Jerry Joubert and Escorcia led the male chorus during tours of the full choir in the early 1970s.

The academic arrangements that HBC had initiated with the University of South Africa in 1951 continued until 1986. In the 35 years of that relationship, many changes occurred in the school's offerings. Affiliations were also established with Andrews University in theology and business in 1976 and in 1997 with Southern Adventist University in accounting and business management. The AU affiliation led to the offering of BA degrees in other areas and a graduate degree in religion in 1981.

Sweeping changes in South Africa at many levels in society and education occurred in the 1990s with the ending of apartheid, a segregation system that had been enforced since 1948. The first democratic election, in 1994, in which all the country's citizens participated ended 46 years of what had been a totally segregated society.

Jannie Kritzinger, a pianist and organist, succeeded Dunbar as head of the department in 1996. He, like Dunbar, had been born in South Africa. He had studied music in grades 8-12 in a high school in Joubertina and taken piano and theory exams through the University of South Africa Music Exam program (UNISA), completing grade seven in piano and Junior Musicianship (theory) by the time he graduated in 1977.

The three-year music teaching diploma program designed by McManaman had attracted few students and by the 1990s had been forgotten. In 1993, when Andrew Waugh fulfilled the requirements for the diploma, the first student since 1966 to do so, it was granted by special concession and then dropped.

In his years at HBC, Kritzinger has taken numerous tours with the choir and produced fifteen CD's. Of particular note is a Millennium four-CD set he prepared at the turn of the century and released in 2000 that features recordings of the choirs from the time of Frances Brown to the present.