For a hundred years, our lives at Eastern Mennonite School have flowed together in endless songs of praise and adoration toward God. Through music, which lifts us above earth’s lamentations, we catch the sweet though far off hymn that hails a new creation. When we sing or create stirring instrumental harmonies, storms cannot shake our inmost calm while to that Rock we cling. Since love is Lord of heaven and earth, how can we keep from singing?
Through all the tumult and the strife of a century, we hear the music ringing. It finds an echo in our souls, though we grew up in the Shenandoah Valley or came to the dorm from another state, or transferred in more recently from East Asia. In My life flows on, a classic and oft sung hymn, Robert Lowry wrote that though the darkness gathers round, songs in the night He giveth. Whether during community singing in chapel, Touring Choir programs, or a skillfully performed orchestral piece, we cannot help but make music, for from it our lives flow on in endless song to our Maker, Redeemer, and Savior, who is Jesus Christ the Lord.
Grace Brega ’17
Senior Grace Brega decided to attend EMHS when she heard great harmo- nies on a Touring Choir CD. Grace has flourished in EMS musicals, choirs, and the fine arts program. If you enjoyed the EMS Brigadoon musical in spring 2016 or The Pirates of Penzance operetta last fall, you were likely wowed by Grace’s lilting soprano solos and infectious stage presence. At EMS, Grace has learned music theory and sight reading in her music classes, and at her music teacher Jared Stutzman’s request, she learned a German piece to perform in Class Voice. Grace prepared a variety of compositions in Italian, French, and English for auditions this spring at some of the finest music conservatories in the U.S. including: Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Boston Conservatory, the Manhattan School of Music, Baldwin Wallace, and Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University. “EMS,” Grace says, “has provided me so many oppor- tunities in music that I feel I have an edge to get into a top music conser- vatory.” She will receive acceptances from colleges soon and will then decide where she will take her musical gifts for further training.
David the Shepherd Boy
In 1921 music teacher Henry B. Keener directed the first performance of David the Shepherd Boy. This cantata became a favorite at EMS and students performed it annually for fifty-two years, until 1973. Former music teacher Marvin Miller led the popular cantata at the 2015 Homecoming, with many EMS graduates involved in a grand reunion performance.
Early music teachers at EMS included Noah D. Showalter, Elizabeth Horsch, and Chester K. Lehman. Lehman liked The Holy City, a Victorian religious ballad dating from 1892, and choirs under his direction sang it for many years. Chester K. Lehman led the first tour in the school’s history in 1937, when a mixed choir traveled to sing in churches in Maryland and Pennsylvania.1
Choral Music Foundations
During his music teaching years at EMS, John Mark Stauffer emphasized quality a cappella music for his choirs. Stauffer taught both high school and college music classes from 1938-1976. Under Stauffer’s 38 years of music leadership, the choirs and vocal performance quality of EMS choirs flourished.
Stauffer led high school performances of David the Shepherd Boy, but his passion was classical music by master composers. Stauffer used traditional hymns with his choirs, rather than the increasingly popular gospel songs, as he believed hymns had long-lasting value that stood the test of time. 2
During J. Mark Stauffer’s years of directing, the high school choir program became increasingly differentiated from the college. The Junior Chorus was the high school ensemble, though some high school seniors sang in the Collegiate Chorus. J. Mark Stauffer had a very positive influence on the vocal music heritage at EMS.
Mid-Century Transitions
During a series of five music teachers at the high school, the music curriculum came to include instrumental music, and Touring Choir became the premier vocal group on campus. Music teachers Earl M. Maust and Audrey B. Shank continued to lead high school a cappella groups and choirs in the 1950s and early ‘60s. Music teacher Jay B. Landis created a variety of new choir options, especially to include younger students. Landis and new music teacher Annetta Wenger Miller helped to broaden the music program, with numerous choirs and ensembles, as well as an organized instrumental program by the late 1960s.
With a new EMHS building in 1964, the high school music program prospered under Marvin L. Miller’s leadership from 1966-1981. An outstanding musician, Miller believed that music helped people express their faith in God, enabled them to share the gospel with others, and helped to unite people in praise and worship. Miller’s Touring Choirs participated in annual Mennonite High School Music Festivals, and they went on yearly tours, singing in many churches. Miller’s musical leadership at EMHS helped establish a premier musical arts program that laid the groundwork for the arrival of music teacher Jay Hartzler in 1981.
When Braden Brunk ’18 enrolled at EMS in 2014 and sang in Junior Choir, he was unaware that it would be Jay Hartzler’s last year teaching music at the school. For thirty-four years, from 1981-2015, Hartzler directed the EMS music program, and Braden Brunk sang for him in 9th grade.
We Keep On Singing
When Braden Brunk ’18 enrolled at EMS in 2014 and sang in Junior Choir, he was unaware that it would be Jay Hartzler’s last year teaching music at the school. For thirty-four years, from 1981-2015, Hartzler directed the EMS music program, and Braden Brunk sang for him in 9th grade.
Braden learned to sing well in the Harrisonburg Mennonite Church Youth Choir and the Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir. Braden carries the history of music at EMS with him as he sings bass in the current Touring Choir, under the leadership of Jared Stutzman. Brunk’s great-great-grand- father George R. Brunk was vice-chair of the Board of Directors when the school opened in 1917; his great-grandfather George R. Brunk II was a professor at EMS for years; his grandfather, Gerald R. Brunk, taught history at the school; and his father Benjamin Brunk graduated from EMHS in 1991, singing in Touring Choir under Jay Hartzler.
In 2017 we keep on singing and playing our instruments, under the leadership of music teachers Joy Anderson (elementary music, HS musical directing), Maria Lorcas (strings), Brian Buchanan (band, digital recording, guitar), and Jared Stutzman (choir, music theory, sight reading and orchestra). Whether singing as an entire school in Middle/High Chapel or EMES Gathering, giving national and international performances by the select EMS Touring Choir, or hosting packed-house audiences for the acclaimed British ensemble VOCES8, we keep singing. How can we not do so, how can we help but give praise to God through the musical arts, and how can we not give glory to God who has gifted us with the wonder of musical enjoyment?
––– 1 For the early history of choirs and music at Eastern Mennonite School, the Editor is indebted to a research paper by Dwight Cornell Basham, written for his Thesis in a Master of Arts program at Virginia Polytech Institute and State University, 1999. 2 Basham, Dwight Cornell. The History of the Eastern Mennonite High School Touring Choir: 1917-1981. Master’s thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1999. Accessed February 9, 2017. https://theses.lib.vt.edu/theses/ available/etd-081799-174859/unrestricted/DwightBasham.pdf: 15.
