Fundos 21.03 - Academic Faculties and Schools: Department of Music

On April 6, 2010, the School of the Arts, Media and Culture (SAMC) was launched in Freedom Hall, in the Robert N. Thompson Building.
Prior to that, the Department of Music at Trinity Western University belonged to the Faculty of Professional Studies and Performing Arts.
Prof. Linda Schwartz, Dean (ca. 2002 - 2006)
David Squires, Interim Dean (2006 - 2007)
David Squires, Dean (2007 - )

Purpose
The mission of the Faculty of Professional Studies
and Performing Arts is to produce competent and
compassionate servant leaders with thoroughly
Christian minds who will “act justly, love mercy,
and walk humbly with their God.” While graduates
from this Faculty are expected to enter many kinds
of professions and assume various positions of
leadership within society, they are also expected to
cherish the abilities which make humans unique in
God’s creation such as the capacities for speech and
written communication, artistic creativity and
performance, and the transmission of culture from
generation to generation.

Department of Music
Dr. Jon Thompson, Coordinator (Chair since ca. 2000)
The Department of Music offers a major in Music, leading to a B.A. degree, as well as a concentration and minor. Major in Music, B.A. Degree.

In addition to taking a required core of theory, history, and applied music courses, students must select one of three options:

1. General Music prepares students for advanced
   professional training or a variety of musical
   careers such as media work, library work, and
   journalism.
2. Music Education, especially when taken in
   conjunction with Education at Trinity Western
   University, helps to prepare students for careers
   in private or public school teaching.
3. Performance prepares students for careers in
   the performing arts and/or private music
   instruction. This option is normally available
   to students whose primary instrument is piano
   or voice, who demonstrate exceptional
   potential as performers during the first two
   years, and who are recommended to the
   Department coordinator by their instructor to
   pursue this option.
   Source: http://www.twu.ca/academics/calendar/2006-2007.aspx

Music Faculty at Trinity
According to the 1963 Pillar yearbook, the college choir and men's quartet were led by Benno and Marjorie Friesen. The Friesens served in a similar capacity in 1963/1964. The following year Donald Jenkins joined the faculty, taking primary responsibility for the school's choir and various ensembles. In 1969, Marge Friesen returned as an Instructor in Music, joining Don Jenkins, Assistant Professor of Music. Robert Snyder was added to the Music department in 1970, also as an Assistant Professor. In 1972, Mrs. Friesen's job title was changed to Lecturer in Music. It appears that while Jenkins continued to direct the school choir until ca. 1973, Snyder provided oversight for various instrumental groups, including a brass band.

In 1973 David Rushton came to Trinity, and assumed responsibility for the school choir. The 1975 yearbook lists only Rushton and Snyder as comprising the Music department. In 1976, the practice of hiring voice and instrumental instructors to teach private lessons began, with Gloria Doubleday and Frank Lacey joining the department. In 1979 Jenkins returned to Trinity, possibly to provide private music instruction to students. He left again in 1980 or 1981. Robert Snyder appears to have retired after 1980.
In 1980 Phil Jenion joined the department on a part-time basis, providing oversight to vocal ensembles. (Later he became head of Extension Ministries, reporting to Student Life.)
From 1980 to 1981, Kerry Grant served as department Chair; he left the school after serving one year.

David Squires and Wes Janzen joined Rushton in 1981 or 1982, with Squires overseeing the band program and Janzen the choral program.
In 1983 the first B.A. degress in music were granted to Trinity students.
Rushton served as department Chair for fourteen years, stepping down from that position ca. 2000.
In 1989 Jon Thompson, Trinity alumnus, joined the department as part-time Instructor in Music. He has served as department Chair since ca. 2000.
Source: University calendars, yearbooks, and interview with David Rushton (July 28, 2006)

Allan Thorpe was listed in the online faculty directory, in 2012, as Associate Professor of Music; Acting Director of Instrumental Activities; Coordinator of Private Music Lessons)

On December 5, 2013, it was announced that after 33 years, "Dr. Wes Janzen, Director of Choral Activities, has announced that he will be leaving TWU at the end of this academic year. Wes and his wife Kim are following God’s calling to full time service with Music Mission Kiev: Wes as President of Music Mission Kiev and Principal Conductor of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and Kim as Associate Director of Outreach Ministries."

In 2002, then TWU President Neil Snider assembled an external task force to examine and recommend a way forward for media, communications, and fine arts studies; broad recommendations included: 1) to adopt a strategy to establish a School with unique curriculum, strategic relationships and innovative, flexible and comprehensive facilities to offer such programs with the highest degree of ingenuity and market relevancy; 2) the core distinctive of the proposed new School should revolve around the art and process of “storytelling” with the end purpose in mind of creating godly storytellers who are effective leaders and “shapers of culture” through their chosen and modern mediums.

The School of the Arts + Media and Culture (SAMC) was officially launched on April 6, 2010, in Freedom Hall, in the Robert N. Thompson Building, with Dr. David Squires serving as SAMC Dean and Angela Konrad as Assistant Dean. In the words of Dr. Squires, SAMC was established to develop “storytellers who are not only creative but redemptive, who can shape a future of hope, one in which the wisdom of those who have come before us is applied to new problems and challenges in ways that are not only creative but redemptive.”

In 2010, two new professional degrees in Art and Music was added: the BFA in Visual Art and Design, and a Bachelor of Musical Arts (BMA). In addition, SAMC's first two professional programs launched in the fall of 2010, the Bachelor of Arts in Corporate Communications and the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting.

On May 6, 2011, the peer–reviewed online academic journal Verge: a journal of the arts and Christian faith was launched; the journal was hosted by the SAMC.

In 2019, the Bachelor of Arts degree in Game Development was launched under the direction of Dr. Kevin Schut.