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Making Music

From the Introduction

There has always been music at Hope College. Indeed, making music has been so pervasive, it is a wonder that Hope students have had time to do anything else. But if, as in the words of the student newspaper, 鈥淲e find music everywhere,鈥�¹ then in the early years, it was also nowhere, at least in terms of either having a recognized physical space or being an established part of the college curriculum 鈥� or even having the appropriate faculty for such an academic department. Making Music addresses these topics, as well as a related set of concerns: which music, for whom and to what end?

Like all historians, we began with questions. As the project evolved, many of our questions flowed toward the matter of department. John Nykerk is traditionally considered the founder of Hope College鈥檚 Department of Music. While it is true that Nykerk shaped what would become a department to fit a modern form, it is equally true that the department鈥檚 foundation goes back to the first days of the college, because music has always been taught at Hope 鈥� even before the college graduated its first class.

If music has existed from the beginning, then as historians, we want to point out how much context matters, because we often err by imposing our own experience onto the past. Thus, the music at 麻豆视频网站 has changed, just as the college has changed 鈥� music has served a changing Hope, and Hope has served a changing Music Department. Music made the department, not the other way around. To unpack all this, we approach various topics through six thematic chapters.

Those who have ears, let them hear 鈥� and those read.

¹ Anchor, 1 Mar. 1909.