Baldwin-Wallace College is located in Berea, Ohio, a suburb lying on the outer edge of the Cleveland metropolitan area. It was founded in 1845 in affiliation with the Methodist Church. The institution currently enrolls just over 2400 full-time day students. It considers itself primarily a liberal arts institution although there are strong teacher-training and music units. Among the special programs of the college are a Middle Eastern Studies department and a Humanities Institute which provides material, programs, and other services to public schools seeking to develop their humanities programs.
The Conservatory of Music is a professional school within the college. It was founded in 1898 under the direction of Dr. Albert Riemenschneider, who served as Director until 1947. Succeeding Dr. Riemenschneider as Director was Mr. Harold Baltz, who served from 1947 to 1951. He was followed by Mr. Cecil Munk, who served as Director until 1967, when he was succeeded by Dr. Warren A. Scharf, who came to the post from the Executive Secretaryship of the National Association of Schools of Music. The Conservatory currently enrolls approximately 250 candidates for the degrees Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Music Education. There are 25 full-time and 11 part-time faculty members. It is housed in Kulas Musical Art Building (1912), and an adjacent annex.
Among the distinguished professors of the Conservatory have been Dr. Carleton Bullis, head of the Theory Department until 1952, and Mr. Burton Garlinghouse, head of the Voice Department until 1962. Among Dr. Bullis's innovations was the creation of a theory laboratory utilizing sixteen individual keyboards controlled by a master console and using a two-rank organ as a sound source. This installation was built in 1938 and is still in use.
Perhaps the best-known activity of the Conservatory is its annual Bach Festival, which has just completed its thirty-seventh year. The festival was founded by Albert Riemenschneider. After his death, musical directorship passed to Professor George Poinar, head of the String Department of the Conservatory. The festivals center around presentation of the St. Matthew and St. John Passions, the Christmas Oratorio, and the B-minor Mass, on a four-year cycle.
During the past two years, a number of new developments have taken place in the Conservatory program. One of the most important is the founding of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute, with Dr. Elinore L. Barber as Director. The Institute will be engaged in a program of expansion of the Riemenschneider Bach Library, as well as a program of colloquia, workshops, and publications relating to the music of Bach.
Effective September 1969, the Conservatory has instituted completely new curricula. Among the features of these curricula are a two-year sequence of correlated and historically-oriented theory and history-literature for all freshmen and sophomores. Course work in the two areas will be taught separately, but parallel periods of music will be studied in parallel quarters. Another new development is the requirement that all vocal music education majors take at least one quarter of instruction in guitar; it is felt that this will better equip them for today's classroom. Small and specialized upper division classes have generally been dropped in favor of seminars for seniors, giving students an opportunity to pursue areas of interest especially related to their own needs and plans. Such seminars are available in the fields of theory, music literature, and performance.
The Conservatory sponsors an annual concert series and the November 7 concert by Ralph Kirkpatrick (during the CMS meeting) is one of the events for 1969-70. In addition, a continuing visiting artist faculty program brings to the Conservatory a number of distinguished musicians on a regular basis.