The Trumpet Faculty
After the arrival of John Haynie at the University of North Texas in the summer of 1950, the number of trumpet students began to grow, necessitating the use of Teaching Assistants. The mid-1950s was the beginning of having these fine young players add a new dimension to their education; indeed it is possible that there will always be a need for their services. During the tenur
e of John Haynie more than one hundred Teaching Assistants were employed and this was highly successful only because of the quality of the TAs and the cooperation of the students they taught. It was not a tenure track position but offered an excellent learning experience for Douglas Smith who had, himself, been a teaching assistant. Doug Smith was replaced by Keith Amstutz when Smith went on to Michigan where he completed the DMA. Amstutz completed his doctorate at Oklahoma University while on the faculty at UNT. With the trumpet enrollment soaring well past one hundred students a third full-time trumpet teacher was employed. James Lark had been a doctoral student ten years prior to being invited to join the UNT brass faculty. The department was growing and the trumpet faculty was also. Next to leave was Keith Amstutz and his position was not a budgeted line item; therefore he was not replaced. So again it was necessary to add more teaching assistants than ever before. When James Lark retired in the mid-1970s Dean Cuthbert could see that it was necessary to hire a full-time person to teach trumpet and the position would be tenure track with the rank of Assistant Professor. It would be the first music faculty position to be selected by a search committee. Leonard Candelaria, while still a TA working on his Masters degree, applied and was selected by the search committee. With this combination of Haynie and Candelaria, along with the help of the TAs, the trumpet department prospered, and in the 1970s the total trumpet enrollment was more than one hundred forty students. In 1985 Haynie decided to retire and yet teach in a program of modified service, and so a search was initiated for the Haynie position. After a two-year search another Haynie student and former TA at UNT was hired. As an indication of the high expectation of his appointment, Keith Johnson joined the UNT faculty as a full professor with tenure. Years later, Regents Professor Leonard Candelaria retired from his long tenure at the University of North Texas and Professor John Holt was hired to replace him. In 2015, Professor Johnson retired leaving a great legacy behind. Following Professor Johnson’s retirement, Dr. Jason Bergman was hired as his replacement and begins in the Fall 2015 semester. Now, Professors Holt and Bergman, Adam Gordon, and four Teaching Fellows continue the legacy of the faculty before them. It is time for the next generation of UNT artistry to reach new heights. The Trumpet Library
Having no idea of the impact that the UNT library of trumpet music would have in future years, Haynie embarked upon a venture of obtaining every piece of trumpet music that was available. Many publishers upon request would give complimentary copies of their entire holdings of trumpet music to either Haynie or the university library. As funding became available the university library would systematically purchase whatever the trumpet faculty recommended. John Haynie’s personal trumpet music and recordings are now catalogued in the university music library stamped The John Haynie Collection. At the time of Haynie’s retirement and in appreciation of the Haynie commitment to the use of their publications, Leduc (Paris) along with R.D. King Publishers gave fresh copies of any of their holdings that Haynie requested. In addition to the sizeable UNT trumpet library, the gifts of Mellon, Haynie and numerous publishers have made the UNT Trumpet Music Library one of the very best in the world.
