News

Brenton Stacey
Public relations officer

The journal of the International Adventist Musicians Association has published what an Avondale lecturer considers the longest, most comprehensive history of music at the college.

Twelve of the 32 pages in the winter/spring 2008 edition of Notes feature information about Avondale. A nine-page article co-authored by Dr Robb Dennis (pictured), a senior lecturer in music, constitutes the bulk of the spread. A two-page article about Alan Thrift, a former senior music lecturer who served as chair of the then Music Department for 34 years, a column by Dr Howard Fisher, dean of the Faculty of Arts, and a back page photograph of music staff members at Avondale, make up the rest.

Robb wrote the article to document the roots of music at Avondale but also "to show we are now firmly established as a credentialed and qualified music department." He describes the depth of music education at Avondale and the care the college took to employ qualified teachers, including the mentoring of musicians from the Melbourne, Newcastle and Sydney Conservatoriums, as "astonishing" but "pleasing." "There's been a healthy interplay between these institutions and Avondale," he says.

The research is also important, says Robb, because of the level of collaboration between Australians and Americans. "Music transcends barriers, which is just as well because the sharing of musical knowledge between the two countries at Avondale has been pretty consistent."

Editor Dan Schultz commissioned the articles as part of a continuing series about the music programs at all Seventh-day Adventist higher education institutions.

Read Robb's article at www.iamaonline.com.