Ninety-five years ago in 1905, Brewton-Parker opened its doors for the first time as Union Baptist Institute, a private boarding school. There were 160 students and seven teachers. Music was an integral part of the curriculum from the beginning. There was a course offered much like our Music Appreciation course and also one year of Music Harmony. This was for the preparation of students to enter a junior college upon graduation. Remember that the school only went through high school for the first 19 years. More impressive than the music courses offered is the fact that there were 48 students enrolled in piano and 21 in voice. These numbers continued to grow through the years. That first year there was only one music teacher, Margaret Brewton, who was the wife of the college's first President. In the second year an additional music teacher was employed and the school continued with two music teachers until it became a junior college in 1923.

In 1912 the name of the school was changed to Brewton-Parker Institute and also significant that year was the addition of strings, woodwinds and guitar to the curriculum. This provided a core of students to form an orchestra for the first time. By 1914, the teaching of brass instruments was added and there were 14 students in the orchestra.

By 1919 there were 22 students in the orchestra and 14 students enrolled in what was called "The Hawaiian Orchestra".

The year 1923 was significant for a number of reasons. Brewton-Parker Institute became a junior college and offered its first freshmen level curriculum. By this time there were 20 students studying violin so a third music teacher was hired, a Miss Charlie Will Salter, who taught strings and woodwind instruments for eleven years. Miss Salter married Albert Sidney Johnson, the Athletic Director who came to Brewton-Parker the following year. Mrs. Johnson quit teaching to have a son, Albert Sidney Johnson, who presently serves as our Vice-President Emeritus, Professor of Political Science and General Counsel. When little Sid was five years old, Mrs. Johnson returned to Brewton-Parker to serve as dietician for three years.

The music teacher with the longest tenure during these early years was Miss Elizabeth Lee who began in 1915 and stayed for 20 years. She taught piano, harmony and in 1927 was named the "Director of Music". She started a Glee Club, which was the beginning of our present day choral program. This was also the first year a music major was offered because Brewton-Parker added the sophomore class and became Brewton-Parker Junior College

Up until 1936, the music program continued to grow with three music teachers, adding ensembles such as sextets, quartets, and double quartets in addition to the Glee Club. Sadly, however, the instrumental program was eliminated. In my research, I could not find the reasons why. Also, after 1936 the music faculty dropped from three instructors to one, and occasionally two for private instruction in voice and piano. From 1950 until after I came in 1966, the department had only one full-time instructor to teach all the music courses.

Of the music instructors who taught during the first 40 years of our history, two are still living! Ruth Owings who taught from 1934 to 1944 lives in Greenville, S.C. and Edith Gates Smith who lives in Statesboro and taught from 1937 - 1942, the years her father, Dr. A.M. Gates was President of the College.

In the early 50's Robert Brewer, former Chair of the Humanities Division who retired in 2000 and who taught at Brewton-Parker for 36 years, attended Brewton-Parker and sang in the choir. During the 50's the choir enrollment averaged in the 20's. In 1956, the college Catalog lists, for the first time, the AA degree in music leading to a BA.

In 1957 the Alma Mater makes it's first appearance in the college Catalog, origin unknown! Also during 1957, Dr. Ted Phillips became president at a time enrollment had declined to the point that the Georgia Baptist Convention considered moving the college to a more populated area of Georgia. Dr. Phillips turned the declining trend around and the college started growing again.

In 1958, two notables arrived on campus as students, Dr. Y. Lynn Holmes, Brewton-Parker's past President of 13 years and Al Rahn, our retired campus minister. Both sang in the Glee Club, Al Rahn was tenor soloist, and both sang in a quartet.

In 1962, the college was accredited by SACS as a junior college. With enrollment up, the college began construction of four buildings: Cook Science Building, Jim Parker Gymnasium, Terry Parker Library and the President's home. Of musical significance, we find the re-birth of instrumental music, abandoned in 1936. At the suggestion of the coach, a group of 6 students formed a pep band called "Hot Peppers" to play at basketball games. They were part of the Athletic Department and were awarded varsity letters. This was a volunteer ensemble until the Fall of 1964 when Neil Edwards, my immediate predecessor was hired. Having an instrumental educational background, Mr. Edwards organized an Instrumental Ensemble of 8 students and the "Baron Hot Peppers" became the Dixieland Band. 1964 was also the first year for the Baron Singers ensemble and in 1965 Mr. Edwards started the Handbell Choir.

I must go back to January, 1963 when Mr. Ralph Cooper became the one-man music department, a position he held for a year and a half. He moved to the English faculty in the fall of 1964, but graciously agreed to teach our piano majors for a couple of years in the early '70's. He recently retired from the University of South Carolina system and returned to Mt. Vernon where he has his private piano studio and presently serves Brewton-Parker as an adjunct piano instructor.

This completes that portion of Brewton-Parker's heritage before Hildegard Stanley which brings me to the Fall of 1966.

Please allow me to share my personal testimony to answer the question asked of me so often, "How did you get out here in Georgia?" I was fortunate to be raised in a Christian home and taken to church. Both my parents were musical, sang in the church choir and sacrificed so that I could be musically trained beginning at age 4. My profession of faith as an eight year old was also my call to the ministry. In my early years, I thought I had to do medical missions because back then that's all a woman in the ministry could do. One summer working in a hospital was all I needed to know that wasn't for me. I continued to pursue my musical training at Oklahoma Baptist University and Southwestern Seminary. My conducting degree at seminary was for those who wanted to teach at the college level but upon graduation, I found no job opportunities in the field of higher education. The Lord opened a door for me to become a Minister of Music in North Carolina. I had to come to the East coast to serve because a woman being a Minister of Music in Oklahoma and Texas was not even a possibility. We even had segregated swimming at our Baptist camps in Oklahoma! This means that boys and girls could not swim at the same time. After two months in the church position, I received a telephone call from Dr. Ted Phillips, the President of Brewton-Parker, offering me a college teaching position. This was December 1962. Of course my reply was that I had just started my work at the church and at that time could not consider his offer. I did tell him that if at another time the position became available, I would be interested. After two years as a Minister of Music, circumstances took me to Houston, Texas where I taught public school music for a year and a half. Even though my undergraduate degree was in music education, I never thought I'd ever teach in the public schools. I literally hated that year and a half teaching music to sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. I was in a school that was experimenting with the middle school concept. The sixth graders were wonderful, the seventh graders horrible, and the eighth graders resentful because they felt they should be in high school. I discovered many years later, in retrospect, that God was preparing me, without much positive help from me, for what I would be doing at Brewton-Parker. I needed experience in a church position and in public school teaching to prepare me to work with my students here.

In June of 1966, I had my second call from Dr. Ted Phillips, President of Brewton-Parker. This time it was for a one-year appointment, while Mr. Edwards took a year's leave of absence and the promise that after that year I would be retained as a choral person since Mr. Edwards was an instrumentalist. Mr. Edwards did not return after a year and so began my tenure. How often does one get two chances at the same position? I was not properly prepared for the first time I was offered the position. The second time was my confirmation that this was where God was calling me to minister. Only once in these 35 years have I questioned that calling.

Choir Week was begun by my predecessor so I was introduced to my first students during my first choir week, the week before I started teaching. You should have seen me that first year, a 28-year-old single woman coming as the only full-time music professor. Thankfully, a part-time piano instructor had been hired the year before and she taught piano, organ, and Music Appreciation. I taught everything else except private trumpet and that student was taught by the Band Director at Montgomery County High School. Fortunately I had played clarinet in junior high school and had some experience playing in a band because in addition to teaching music theory and voice, directing the 40 voice choir, 15 voice Baron Singers, I also had to direct the Wind Ensemble and the Pep Band. I even ended up playing clarinet in the Pep Band for the basketball games that first year.

My second year, in the Fall of 1967, a full-time instrumental professor was added which brought us to two full-time and one part-time professors. It was my fourth Choir Week, in the Fall of 1969, that I introduced the new choir members to their beanies, a tradition that has continued through the years until my retirement. In 1970, the college hired a full-time keyboard professor and two part-time instructors in voice and piano. 1970 was a big year for music. The Choral Society was formed and gave its first performance of Messiah. The choir had its first invitation to sing at the Southern Baptist Convention in New Orleans and we took our first overseas tour to Israel and Greece. In Greece we entertained our U. S. troupes aboard the USS Kennedy aircraft carrier. Both events were firsts of repeated experiences. The choir provided music at two other Southern Baptist Convention meetings held in Atlanta and that first overseas trip led to four others. In 1972 I received a telegram from King Hussein of Jordan for a command performance at the Cultural Palace in Amman. After the performance for King Hussein, the Bell choir and a folk group were invited to the Royal Palace for dinner and to provide entertainment for Crown Prince Hassan and his family, who could not attend the earlier performance. Dinner was a stand and eat affair and I was so afraid one of the students might drop a royal plate. That tour was to Israel and Jordan as were the tours in 1976 and 1984. On all four tours to the Holy Land, Brewton-Parker opened the Choir Festival in Bethlehem Square on Christmas Eve and was viewed on television around the world. On the 1984 trip the choir recorded a program for the BBC network.

In 1971 the college hired another full-time voice instructor bringing our full-time faculty to four, and Ralph Cooper continued to teach piano for us part-time. This same year, Mr. Perry Carroll came to teach instrumental music for two years. I mention Mr. Carroll because of his tie to the present. He left Brewton-Parker to pursue his doctorate and after completing his degree became the Chair of the Music Department at Anderson College, a Baptist institution in South Carolina. It was at Anderson College that Dr. Glenn Eernisse began his college years and studied trombone with Perry Carroll, both professor and student having now taught on our music faculty.

In 1974 our faculty was comprised of five full-time professors and in 1979 we added the sixth.

The late seventies were especially productive for the Music Division. The most relevant for the present is that in 1974 Pierce Dickens, as an eighth grader, began to travel from Hazlehurst to take private piano and organ lessons from Andre Lash, our keyboard professor. This led to him attending Brewton-Parker, accompanying the choir and graduating from Tift at Brewton-Parker in 1982. After completing his Master's degree from Georgia State University, he joined our music faculty in 1984, another example of professor and student both teaching at Brewton-Parker. After teaching here for nine years, Mr. Dickens left for three years to work toward his doctorate at the University of Alabama and returned to our faculty in 1996. His association with Brewton-Parker spans a period of 26 years minus five years away for getting his graduate degrees. He certainly is an example of a "home grown boy" and is a part of our musical heritage from various perspectives. I hope his tenure will continue for many years to come. Who knows? His association with Brewton-Parker has a possibility of being the longest in the history of the school.

You have heard me make reference to Tift at Brewton-Parker. In 1980, Brewton-Parker became a satellite campus for Tift College for the baccalaureate degree. This was particularly significant for the Music Division because it meant that we could keep our music majors all four years and they would receive their baccalaureate degree from Tift. Ray Criswell, who lives in Mount Vernon., and for many years was music director at Mt. Vernon Baptist Church, was the first music major to get a Tift degree in 1981. Brewton-Parker became a four-year institution in 1986, but in reality, the Music Division had functioned as a senior college since 1980, thanks to Tift College. In 1987 the Tift program ended and Brewton-Parker added the Bachelor of Music in Music Education and the Bachelor of Arts degree in Music to its academic programs.

There was one other recognition that occurred in 1978. The choir was issued an invitation to present a concert at the Southern Baptist Church Music Conference. The conference is an august body of Southern Baptist Musicians from across the United States and very few college choirs get such an opportunity. Since the first invitation the choir has been invited two other times, in 1984 and 1991.

During the seventies enrollment had increased to the point of not having enough classrooms and teaching studios. When I first arrived in 1966, rehearsals were held in Gates Auditorium and the music office and one classroom were behind the stage area. By1980, the Music Division was spread from one end of the campus: Cadle building, which is now the clinic, was converted into a band room/classroom combination, two teaching studios and six practice rooms - to the other end of the campus, trailers that were added next to McAllister for three teaching studios. Dr. Starr Miller, President of Brewton-Parker, realized the need for a music building. In the Fall of 1983 the Music Division moved into Miller Music Building, made possible, in large part, by contributions in memory of Sarah Miller, Dr. Miller's wife who passed away shortly after he became President.

The decade of the 90's was significant for the Music Division. In 1992, after just six years as a four-year institution, the Music Division was granted accreditation and membership in the National Association of Schools of Music.

In June of 1993, the choir took its last overseas tour to what was once East Germany. This was a part of the Georgia Baptist five-year Partnership with Germany. In the Spring of 1996, this magnificent Chapel with these wonderful instruments was completed and dedicated. I never dreamed this would come to pass in my lifetime.

I would be negligent if I did not mention other music faculty who have been instrumental in bringing recognition to Brewton-Parker. In 1973, Daniel Smelser came to Brewton-Parker as instrumental professor. At that time, I turned the Baron Singers over to him and he organized the Baron Road Show, comprised of the Baron Singers and Stage Band. For 21 years he traveled with the Road Show providing entertainment for schools and civic organizations, helping recruit students and put Brewton-Parker on the map.

In 1981, Dr. T.N. Retif joined our music faculty to teach voice. He also became the director of the Baron Ringers. For 17 years he led this group to a new level of excellence in the art of bell-ringing. The group always traveled with the choir, performing in every concert and toured extensively by itself. The tours were to the Bahamas, Canada, east and west coasts and across the Southern and Southeastern United States. The Baron Ringers were known as one of the finest in the land and they were always featured at festivals. After two years without a Handbell team, Dr. Retif resurrected the Handbell Choir in the Fall of 2001.

Since 1995, Dr. Glenn Eernisse has traveled with the Jazz Band, Wind Ensemble, Brass Ensemble and Baron Singers into schools, churches, and communities to make Brewton-Parker's music ensembles more visible to the public.

Through all the years, extraordinary music faculty and exceptionally talented students have made music at Brewton-Parker what it is today.

As Paul Harvey would say, "That's the rest of the story!" But only up to this moment.

The heritage of music at Brewton-Parker will continue for years to come through students, past, present and in the future, as they serve around the world. The fruits of my labor and greatest joy come from observing the accomplishments of my students. I thank God for Brewton-Parker and pray that he will continue to bless this institution that has had so great of an impact on so many lives.

As the words from one of our hymns, written by a Methodist minister, Fred Pratt Green in 1972:

"When in our music God is glorified, and adoration leaves no room for pride, it is as though the whole creation cried Alleluia!
How often, making music, we have found a new dimension in the world of sound. As worship moved us to a more profound Alleluia!
Let every instrument be tuned for praise! Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise! And may God give us faith to sing always----Alleluia!"