Initiative Category: Music
According to Missy Strong, host of the “Music Ed Amplified” podcast and general and vocal teacher at Fleetwood Elementary School in Mount Laurel, N.J., hearing the phrase “music history professor” often conjures up a picture of a “middle aged, CIS gender Christian white guy” for her.
And as she told her audience on a recent episode, that’s described her guest, Trinity’s Professor of Music and Department Chair Mark Peters, Ph.D. So why was she interviewing him, particularly for a podcast generally focused on elementary school educators?
“When I heard about the transformation Dr. Peters is doing in his classes, I wanted to know more, and I wanted to ask him questions, and I wanted to feel some hope for what is happening in undergraduate music education when it comes to music history,” she said. “Because I haven’t felt much hope in the last couple of years.”
She added, “I’m happy to say that my talk with Mark inspired me by encouraging me that there are programs where professors are making real change, and that there are intentional efforts to see more diversity in the field.”
Over the course of the hour-long podcast, Strong and Peters talked about a range of topics, including how he has moved on from the story that has most often been told to undergrad students in music history, which is that of European white men. Instead, he strives to tell the story of all human persons. Peters also shared his thoughts about how history is not a record of what happened in the past—rather it’s the stories we decide to tell about the past; why he doesn’t use textbooks in his music appreciation courses; and how he wants students in his general music courses to think differently about music in their lives, rather than focus on technical and classical terms.
“We must learn to give a voice to those who have not had it in the past,” said Peters.
Click here to hear the entire episode, “Telling a Different Story: A New Approach to Music History.”
Continuing a years – long tradition of excellence and recognition, Trinity Christian College has been named among the “Best Colleges” by U.S. News & World Report for 2021. Trinity was ranked 21st among Midwestern regional colleges in this year’s survey. Trinity was also named a “Best Value” college and a “Top Performer on Social Mobility.”
“At Trinity Christian College, our community is focused on providing a rigorous, life-changing education, and our graduates go on to find success in their careers and vocations,” said Trinity’s President Kurt D. Dykstra. “We are pleased that U.S. News & World Report has once again recognized how Trinity prepares our students to change the world.”
Said Provost Aaron J. Kuecker, Ph.D., “We are proud of the excellent academic programs that are supported by Trinity’s world class faculty. Rankings like these are a recognition of the top quality, whole-person vision of education that we pursue at Trinity.”
Trinity is frequently recognized for its high academic standards. The College’s honors include being named a “College of Distinction,” a “Best BSN Program in Illinois,” and a “National Strength and Conditioning Association Education Recognition Program,” among others. Trinity, which is a university partner with 1871, the world’s top university-affiliated startup incubator located in downtown Chicago, also has a world-class business department that recently led the State of Illinois with both the highest pass rates and average scores on the most recent certified public accounting (CPA) exam. The Trinity Athletics Department was also recently listed among the Champions of Character Five-Star institutions by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).
The U.S. News rankings are based on qualitative and quantitative information in several categories, including peer assessments, graduation rates, social mobility, and faculty information. The “Best Value” ranking is determined by a school’s academic quality and the net cost of attendance for a student who received the average level of need-based financial aid. The “Social Mobility” ranking is based on how successful a college is at advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students awarded with Pell Grants.
Congratulations to Nicole Saint-Victor ‘12, Trinity’s Music Performance Faculty, Director of Gospel Choir, and Director of Multicultural Engagement, for being named a commissioner on the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities’ (CCCU) Commission on Diversity and Inclusion.
“We welcome your participation, your wise feedback and we look forward to collaborating with you in the months to come,” said CCCU President Shirley V. Hoogstra, in a letter announcing the appointment. “Thank you again for your willingness to share your time and your talents with us.”
Trinity is a proud member of CCCU, a higher education association of more than 180 Christian institutions around the world. The Commission on Diversity and Inclusion consists of a group of volunteer leaders in key administrative positions on member campuses that advises the CCCU, assists with planning content and securing speakers for conferences, and works to connect and serve as a resource for colleagues in peer positions at CCCU institutions across the country.
At the May 2020 commencement, Trinity announced the retirement of two beloved, long-time professors, Professor of Music Helen Van Wyck, D.M.A., and Professor of Education Liz Rudenga, Ph.D. Both professors were awarded emeriti status by Trinity’s Board of Trustees.
Dr. Helen Van Wyck
Since 1987, Van Wyck has taught Trinity students how to make a joyful noise to the Lord through music classes, Christmastide, choral concerts, Honors Choir, and in so many other ways.
She came to Trinity after teaching at the K-12 level for 10 years. “It was kind of love at first sight—I got to Trinity and thought, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.” When Van Wyck joined Trinity, she was the only full-time music department professor and one of the few female faculty members outside of the Nursing Department. Among her many accomplishments, she helped to launch the Honors Ensemble, created Christmastide, and impacted countless lives.
She said she has been blessed as well. “One reason I’ve been so happy over the years at Trinity is the caring atmosphere, a willingness to try things, an incredible ‘We’re pulling for each other’ attitude on campus,” she said. “It comes from the top, it’s true of our faculty and staff, and it’s true of our students.”
Three of Trinity’s professors participated in the eighth biennial conference hosted by the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning, “Shaping Christian Learning,” earlier this month at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Mich. For the first time, the Kuyers Institute co-hosted the conference with INCHE (the International Network for Christian Higher Education).
In a session on shaping curriculum, Trinity Professors of Music Helen Van Wyck, D.M.A., and Mark Peters, Ph.D., and Professor of Philosophy Aron Reppmann, Ph.D., led a session on “Creating a Mission-Specific Departmental Curriculum: A Case Study.” They spoke on how the College completed a significant revision of the music major curriculum in spring 2015. The discussion focused on how Christian faith and institutional mission shape curricular design and examined three courses in detail: Being a Musician, Reading and Writing about Music, and Aesthetics.
Peters participated in another session, “Shaping Culture Makers in Music: The Use of Igor Stravinsky’s Poetics of Music in Christian Higher Education,” with Associate Professor of Music John MacInnis of Dordt University.
Learn more about the Kuyers Institute Conference here.
–May 20, 2019
Eight Trinity students, along with Dr. Clay Carlson, Ph.D., associate professor of biology, took a road trip from Palos Heights to suburban Atlanta last month to present their research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR).
The NCUR 2019 conference, held at Kennesaw State University, brought together students and faculty from around the country in an event that supports and promotes high-quality undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research and scholarship.
The stellar caliber of work and dedication of Trinity students and faculty was clearly on display at the conference, Carlson said. Several of the Trinity presentations attracted so much interest that people were lined up to learn more. “Our student presentations looked great,” he said.
The students who presented were:
— Larissa Brumlow Music and National Identity in Ecuadorian Pasillo
–Casey Wiegers and Abigail Lammers: Bacteriophage and Their Prey in Chicagoland Area Waterways
–Marie Sonnenburg and Laura DeVries: Can Changes in Gut Microbiota Impact Function and Make Differences in Conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder?
–Marie Sonnenburg and Amber Shoberg: Transfer between Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Cardiac H9c2 Cells
–Jenna Van Der Pol, Olivia Otte, and Jessica Grevenstuk: The Effect of Perceived Mutability on Racial System Justification
Carlson also expressed his gratitude for the generous support of those in the Trinity community who have made attending the NCUR conference possible. “It’s an extraordinary accomplishment to be selected to present, and attending these types of conferences offers our students invaluable experiences,” he said. “We are grateful for all the encouragement our students receive that makes this possible.”
–Nov. 29, 2018
In honor of his mentor, Trinity’s professor of music and department chair Mark Peters, Ph.D., has co-edited a collection of essays on J. S. Bach’s sacred vocal music, as well as contributing a chapter.
Peters said he edited the book, Compositional Choices and Meaning in the Vocal Music of J. S. Bach, with his friend Reginald L. Sanders, professor of music at Kenyon College, as a way to honor his dissertation advisor, Don O. Franklin, emeritus professor of music at the University of Pittsburgh and a past president of the American Bach Society.
“It was fun to work with Reggie on this project,” Peters said, “and we’re thankful for the work each of the authors put into it.”
The 17 essays in the book explore Bach’s vocal compositions, including his Passions, Masses, Magnificat, and cantatas, with a particular emphasis on broader cultural, social, historical, theological, and musical trends at the time. Peters’s chapter is titled “Death to Life, Sorrow to Joy: Martin Luther’s Theology of the Cross and J. S. Bach’s Eastertide Cantata Ihr werdet weinen und heulen (BWV 103).” The book, published by Lexington, is part of the series “Contextual Bach Studies,” edited by Robin A. Leaver.
The process of getting the book published was a lengthy one that involved working with authors from around the globe, said Peters, who finished final edits during his sabbatical in Indonesia earlier this year. “It was a busy sabbatical,” said Peters with a laugh.
The book is divided into four parts: Bach’s Vocal Music in Theological Context; Analytical Perspectives; Bach’s Self Modeling: Parody as Compositional Impetus; and The Reception of Bach’s Vocal Works. “This helped to shape the book as a unifying volume,” he said.
Peters and Sanders divided editing duties, and each translated a chapter from German to English, as well as co-writing the preface.
While Bach is his primary area of study, Peters has a range of musical interests. Earlier this year, he authored the chapter “U2 and the Art of Being Human,” in U2 and the Religious Impulse: Take Me Higher, edited by Scott Calhoun.
Dr. Peters will be joining SAAT’s faculty for the semester as visiting professor in the undergraduate church music program and teach two music history survey courses, one on Medieval and Renaissance music and another on music in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He will also direct two choirs: the seminary choir, an 80-voice choir of students in the theology and music programs; and the Vocatus ensemble, a chamber ensemble of about 20 singers from the music program. In this blog, his goal is to communicate some of what he will learn during this semester of cross-cultural learning and teaching.
Our professors and adjuncts are talented and are excited to share their gifts with students. Learn more about our music department faculty.
Trinity was pleased to welcome world-renowned choral conductor Tim Brown to campus on Thursday, Feb. 16 as part of the College’s 2017 WorldView series.
Brown, conductor emeritus of the choir of Clare College at Cambridge University, worked with the choirs of Trinity Christian College (Helen Van Wyck, conductor) and Providence-St. Mel High School from Chicago (David Baar, conductor) throughout the day on Feb. 16. The choirs will rehearse together on music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Byrd, and Jake Runestad.
Brown served as featured clinician for the Trinity Choral Festival, an all-day event which culminated in a free, public performance at 7 p.m. at the Ozinga Chapel Auditorium.