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PRESIDENT’S REPORT 10/06
It has been an active 6 weeks since the Executive Board last met. Most issues will be discussed as agenda items at our next
Board meeting on October 15th, but here are some additional tidbits:
* There is discussion at the Eastern Division level regarding upcoming decisions to be made by the National Executive Board.
These decisions may have an impact on dues fees, services provided and/or special projects. While we still do not know how
this will all pan out or how
we will be effected (if at all), I have been impressed by the level of correspondence between state presidents and our Eastern
Division leadership. There is no doubt in my mind that decisions made at the national level are done so after formal input
of Eastern Division and that, moreover, Eastern Division recommendations are a direct reflection of the input provided by
the state presidents. Even after
two years as president elect, this is certainly still an enlightening process. I’m really proud of what I see up here
in the northeast and I’m eagerly looking forward to our next Eastern Division meeting on October 21st and 22nd in Hartford.
* The statewide database is coming together (slowly but surely) thanks to the efforts of the District Chairs. After consulting
with Barbara Packales, I am leaning toward having this finished product available through District Chairs, President, President
Elect, State Director and
Web Master. While a list of MMEA members per se could be posted online as a link, the corresponding contact info that may
inadvertently spawn spamming or bulk mailing by being posted publicly may be better served as an “as needed” basis,
such as last August when we needed to contact membership when Jazz information was made available online. This should prove
to be invaluable when completed and would be a snap to update each fall as a responsibility of our District Chairs. It continues
to be worked on and the goal is to have it completed and available by
January/February. A reminder as well that the goal of the database is to include every single music teacher in Maine, not
just MMEA membership.
* Sam Moore-Young, Barb Packales and I met with Louie Hall, music professor at the University of Maine, at his request to
brainstorm ways to better connect between the Collegiate level and MMEA. This was intentionally made a small, informal meeting,
but the ideas we discussed were exciting. The ideas hatched could lead very naturally to
a larger open ended discussion between collegiate interests in the state: students, professors and first year classroom teachers.
In the meantime, we are working to increase opportunities for existing connections and I eagerly look forward to seeing what
progress we can make together.
* The latest approved Maine Learning Results revision was recently posted online (and may be found and downloaded on the mainemmea.org
web site for October 3rd!) and I would encourage everyone to take a peek at and even start “test adapting” it
to their curriculum. I know of one elementary school colleague in the York school district who has already done this with
great success in her classroom and it’s exciting to see the document used as a working and relevant tool.
* My overwhelming gratitude to folks such as Barbara with the Web site, Mike Davis and Steve Schran for leading the way with
the National Anthem project last week, Sam Moore Young who has already represented MMEA in her new capacity at meetings I
was unable to attend this past month, and District II Chair Jim Horwich who represented us at a
meeting of the state Arts organizations just a few days ago. Clearly this IS a working Board... the work you are ALL doing
is making a difference, and it is not going unappreciated.
Rob Westerberg
President, MMEA
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PRESIDENT-ELECT REPORT
The new school year got off to a quick start with visits to the Distrcit II & IV fall meetings. I must say D IV was short,
sweet and to the point, adjourning after 40 minutes. The D II meeting was very well attended. I haven’t seen that
many teachers at a district meeting since I don’t know when. Thanks to both districts for the welcome. Distrcit III
was fortunate to have the new DOE VPA rep, Argy Nestor, stop by. She happens to live in Union where we were meeting.
BROADCAST PROGRESS
I spoke with Dick Durost, Executive Director of the Maine Principals Association about how the broadcast of the basketball
tournaments is funded. It was a very enlightening conversation.
MPBN approached the MPA about broadcasting the events. The station picks up the cost of broadcasting which is recouped from
using the tournaments as one, and most successful, of their pledge drives. The station lines up the corporate sponsors and
also pays MPA per site for the rights to broadcast. Dick said that over the years sponsors have dropped out and others recruited.
Grocery chains and banks have apparently been cutting back on their support of these events.
The grants are on hold until the MMEA accountant sends treasurer, Mark Ranger, needed information. Each grant requires a
different combination of financial information. One grantor wants 10 copies of everything. That will be a very big envelope.
Teachers from Districts III, IV, and VII have agreed to help on the local level.
Joan Hamann and I attended the Arts are Basic Coalition, ABC, meeting Sept. 29th. All the participants were very friendly
and welcoming. See notes of the meeting below. Next meeting is Nov. 30th in Augusta at 3:30 pm.
ABC Notes from Caroline Budney
One item of concern is in the Commissioner’s proposal for graduation requirements. In redesigning Maine’s schools
for the 21st century, the Commissioner has listed the arts as extra curricular. (Since the ABC meeting Argy has convinced
the powers that be to remove the extra curricular designation.)
Some of Argy’s upcoming priorities and actions include sending a letter out asking arts teachers to complete an online
survey. This survey is aimed at finding the major concerns that arts teachers are currently having, as well as collecting
arts teachers email addresses to facilitate easier communication in the future. She will continue to visit schools and ask
in person what the challenges and accomplishments have been in each school’s arts department. Argy’s goal is
to pass along upcoming information through the professional arts educator organizations, so be ready for updates this fall.
She also encouraged people to think about arts teachers to nominate for Teacher of the Year.
Creative Economy Update
Carol shared her recent experiences and updates from the Creative Economy Council. The Governor’s Creative Economy Report
has been published, and there is a section describing the importance of arts education, which is great. However, there is
still a disconnect between the Governor’s Creative Economy Report, which includes arts education as an important element
and the MDOE curriculum proposals, which propose the arts as extra curricular. Carol shared news from other states, such
as California, where schools will receive ongoing funding of $105 Million for arts education, and a one time allocation of
$500 million for arts, music and physical education equipment. See Carol’s handout for other great examples of arts
education funding across the country which could be used as a model for Maine.
Planning advocacy for this year: issues and strategies for 2006-2008
Issues
-NCLB’s impact on arts education
-Graduation requirements
-TABOR
-MLR Revisions
-Assessment
-Timeline
-Creative economy
-Need for data
WRAP UP
There will be much, much more news after the Eastern Division meeting Oct. 21st & 22nd.
Start planning now to go to the Conference in March.
Sam Moore-Young
President-Elect
yeomoore1954@yahoo.com
P.S. I am looking for a recording of the 1971 Western Maine Music Festival held at the UMPG
campus (USM to you youngsters). That’s the one festival recording that, for whatever reason, I didn’t buy.
Lee Quimby recorded it._
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Treasurer's Report
The Assistant Treas. reports that 135 Institutional Numbers have been processed as of Oct. 4, 2006.
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State Director’s Report
Communication
I’ve been thinking about all the different ways we communicate with our friends, family, acquaintances, students, co-workers,
even enemies. There’s face to face, telephone, a quick note, email, letters, tone of voice, body language, facial expressions,
meetings and hearings, newspaper, magazines, TV and movies. And you can probably think of a dozen more. Communication is
so important to our interaction in our society.
In our fast-paced world email has become a favored tool of communication. We sit down, type out a note and send it to a clutch
of recipients who may or may not read it. Then we sit back to await the responses. How do I know this? I do it myself and
I am the recipient of many such missives. An article or event notice comes to me and, if I think our members could use the
information and the source is valid, I send it to the Board with “spread the word.” Some of our districts have
a web-master, in others, the Chair maintains the district’s email list. Either way, it is a fast means of informing
members and has become one of the special services of membership. THANK YOU, DISTRICT CHAIRS, for keeping your members informed.
And thank you for adding EsharpV@att.net to your communications list. Once is a while I find something that you have sent
which could be of value to teachers in other districts. We’re all in this together.
In face-to-face or telephone communications tone of voice can have unexpected results. Being rushed may cause your voice
to sound angry, abrupt or impatient. Think before you speak. Remember, “Let a smile be you umbrella.” Save
the angry voice for those few times when you truly are upset.
I went to a school board meeting once when a teacher was presenting, at the board’s request, a synopsis of her special
subject. Most of the board members appeared interested but one woman’s body language screamed “Get on with it!
I’m bored!” Next time you have a conference with a difficult parent, when you use all the “correct”
pacifying words, make sure you body is presenting the same message – “I’m a teacher. I hear what you are
saying, I really care about your child and I’ll do all within my power to solve this dilemma to your student’s
best advantage.”. You know and I know that the student’s best advantage may not be what the parent wants. But
at this point you don’t have to speak in the negative and you certainly don’t want to “body language”
telegraph a negative image. Communicate and, in this case, placate.
Just one more comment about communication – LISTEN. Communication is a reciprocating process. Each member of a dialogue
needs to hear what the other is saying. Slow down a bit and really listen, then formulate your response instead of just waiting
for a break so you can inset your opinion. You may find that your proposed question has already been answered.
Let’s work together to better communicate with our members and prospective members. We all need to work together for
the betterment of Music Education in Maine.
Faith Varney, MMEA State Director
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State Editor and Webmaster Report
Webmaster Report -
The start of the school year has brought the usual problems with a massive amount of information needing to be updated on
the website in a rapid fashion. Unfortunately, between the domain name problem that was experienced and then the blocked site
issues from the library services, many things did not get posted on time. My apologies.
Many thanks to Arnie Poland for his handling of the block through the Library Services. He has gotten us unblocked and we
are set for the moment. I will be looking into whether we can host our site somewhere else, and I am will be working on the
conversion of the site to an iWeb format, but that is time intensive, and I will not be able to do so anytime soon.
I believe that the consensus of the Board is that we should post some of our back articles on the website. I would like to
have further discussion on this issue and have the Board consider whether we would rather:
- offer articles as reprints and/or
- just have an overview with titles offered
and one would need to either 1). pay a fee to have a reprint made or emailed OR 2). enter their membership number to access
the articles.
Posting the entire Bulletin defeats the purpose of doing a Bulletin, in my opinion. Also, we run the risk of infringing on
the copyright of articles and graduate papers.
The issue of advertising on the website came up due to a request from Jazz At Lincoln Center. I still have not had an opportunity
to research this topic, and would appreciate any and all help surrounding this. I am not sure what the By-Laws state and whether
we can accept advertising as long as it pays for the website but doesn't make us money. This might be an accountant issue,
but I am open to discussion.
State Editor Report -
The deadline of October 1 for the November Bulletin has seen very few articles from within our ranks. Please begin preparing
your insightful articles for the next issue (deadline is January 1). I have plenty of material, it just isn't from too many
of us! I would be happy to once again feature columns from those that wish to provide information, but I don't want too much
of what is in our Bulletin to be redundant on the website.
Nancy Cash-Cobb, our bulk mailing goddess, has informed me that the cost for bulk mailing will be increasing due to the advertising
in our magazine. It should not be a significant increase per piece, but it will change our mailing costs. I believe that the
number of advertisers that we now have will easily compensate for the increase, however.
If you know of an organization or university that is not being represented in the Bulletin and you would like me to contact
them, please let me know.
Tracy Wright, as publicity person, will be assisting me with the Bulletin. It always helps to have another set of eyes to
proof the work - especially when printing it out is so time and ink intensive.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara Packales
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District I Report
District 1 held its annual fall meeting at the Back Street Grill in Sanford on September 26th. We reviewed the sites for
each of the auditions and festivals we will be holding this year. Managers gave brief reports pertaining to conductors and
programming for each of the festival groups. We also made a few refinements to the auditions policy for the high school honors
festival. The auditions will be held at Thornton Academy on October 25th. The festival will be hosted by Gorham on January
26 & 27. The treble choir will be conducted by Sarah Howard and the Mixed Choir will be conducted by Chris Peterson. The
concert band will be conducted by Chip Farnum, the jazz ensemble by Anthony Marro and the orchestra by Joanne Pajak.
The York County Jr. High Festival will be held at Biddeford Middle School on February 2 and 3. The Southern Maine Middle
School Honors Festival will hold auditions on November 1st at Wescott Jr. High and the festival will be at Scarborough High
School. The Sixth Grade festival is tentatively at South Portland this year. We are currently looking for a host for the
district jazz festival.
We also have decided to revive the original district one webpage at:
www.sad55.org/district1 http://www.sad55.org/district1
in an effort to provide as much information as possible to our members. The page with the high school festival information
will also continue to be maintained and both sites will have links to the other.
A concern was voiced over the lack of information coming out about TABOR and a suggestion was made that perhaps MMEA should
be working to discuss the impact it would have on our programs should it pass.
Respectfully submitted,
Matt Doiron,
District 1 rep.
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District II Report
District 2 music teachers held our first meeting of the year on September 6. Auditions and Festival information were the
main topic of this meeting. Auditions for our Middle School and High School Instrumental and Vocal Festivals will be on Monday,
October 16 at Greely Middle School. New middle school audition music and information is now posted at http://rowe.yarmouth.k12.me.us/Pages/YSD_WHRTeachers/YSD_WHRErTr/d2audition.
There was a discussion of updating our high school audition music for next year. We are in the process of getting all of
the information to the Festival coordinators and managers for each festival. Conductors for the Vocal Festival are Dennis
Cox, Ludlow Hallman, and Matt Poletto. Conductors for the Instrumental Festival are Nancy Rowe Laite, Graybert Beachem, and
Colin Britt. We discussed the details of our Elementary Instrumental and Vocal Festival, as well as the Jazz and Honors Jazz
Festivals. Information about the new Central Maine Children’s Choir was also given out. We are in the process of phasing
out our old website and would like someone to take over a new one. We would like to investigate the possibility of having
our more of our information on the MMEA site. There was a discussion of the costs of the video production for the All State
Concerts and the possibility of raising funds for that production within each district. TABOR was a topic of much discussion
and the possible impact of that upcoming vote on our programs.
Respectfully submitted,
Jim Horwich
District 2 Chair
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District III Report
Our Fall Meeting was held Tuesday Sept. 19th, at the Masonic Hall in Union Maine. We thank Aaron Clark and Sybil Wentworth
for organizing this! The meeting included vital information to get the fall events off to a good start as well as door prizes
and a special guest appearance by Argy Nestor, our new VPA rep to the Commissioner. We awarded the Outstanding Service Award
to Ed Judd for his outstanding service to the district and MMEA. Congratulations Ed!
Our Senior High Honors Festival auditions will be held October 23 at Wiscasset HS. A big thanks goes to Allen Graffam and
Beth Preston for managing and Molly Winchenbach for hosting the high school auditions.
The Elementary Festival will be held November 4 at the new Lincolnville school, and is hosted by Emily mathieu. This
is a really fun festival for grades 3 through 5 and includes Orff Instruments and movement.
Junior High auditions will be held on November 9 at Woolwich Central School and is hosted by Beth Whitney. Jill Hodgdon
and Cindy Brown are the legendary managers of this festival. They have this event fine tuned to an unbelieveable art! Registrations
are on line again this year. District III is trying to eliminate paperwork by doing more registrations and paperwork on line.
Again kudos goes to Allen Graffam for setting up a very nice separate web site just for District III auditions. If you would
like to check it out, go to www.d3auditions.com .
District III Jazz Honors auditions will be held on November 16 by Beth Preston at Lincoln Academy in Newcastle. This audition
will select musicians for the two-day festival held in March and will be in it’s third year. This has been and will
continue to be a great opportunity for the jazz musicians in District III.
Respectfully submitted,
Roger Whitney, chair
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District IV Report
District IV had our first meeting on September 25th. We went over all the changes from last year including some lowering
in costs for the festivals. We also went over upcoming programs for the festivals this year. We seem to be in very good
shape for this early in the year. I am looking forward to this school year and working with the many teachers of district
IV.
Silvia Moore young came to visit our meeting to talk about the all Eastern Conference in March. There seemed to be a great
deal of interest from the members and I think it would be great to have a large showing from Maine.
I cannot be at the meeting due to a rehearsal that I have scheduled on that day but I will try to find a replacement for me
to represent district IV.
Daniel Labonte
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District V Report
District Five is off and running. We had a great dinner and meeting at Happy China Buffet. We have welcomed Milford into
our district and hope to be welcoming Lee soon. We covered all of our festivals that will be happening this year and have
a few updates for the state. At the present time, we do not have a date for our Large Group Festival, Ted Nokes is working
on this as he had offered to host and our Elementary Festival will be held in Milo on Saturday, April 28th.
A proposal that I would like to bring to the board, is Lee joining District V and leaving District VI. Their reasoning has
a lot to do with the distance that their students would be traveling for their festivals. District V has accepted Jodi Offeret
and Lee pending approval from District VI and the MMEA Executive Board. I have also sent this to be an agenda item.
We also welcome Kris Vigue as our new secretary and gave a BIG THANK YOU to Terry Henry for his service of over 10 years in
that position. We also welcomed a lot of few faces into our district, Ben Aldridge, Hampden Academy, Katie Plourde, SAD 4,
Heather Rogers, Sad 46, Katie Bryant Medway Middle School/Schenck HS, Lynn Rogers, Central Middle and High Schools, and Keri
Whitney, Union #90.
So far, I have not received any volunteers to help with fundraising for All State and would like some guidance on how to approach
this issue.
Respectfully Submitted,
Sarah Clark
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District VI Report
Dear Colleagues,
Greetings from District VI! It is a pleasure to be representing the fine teachers in Washington, Hancock and Penobscot counties
on our state board.
District VI has gotten off to a wonderful start this school year. Our fall membership meeting on September 20 was very well
attended and allowed us to discuss several important points. First, we elected a new secretary, Cassandra Large. She will
take over for Gina Provonsano, who has accepted a new job in another district. Nominations were collected for our upcoming
middle school honors festival on November 4. Robert Frazier updated us on behalf of the hosts, Ellsworth Middle School.
We also discussed the proposals from Milford and Lee schools to District V. After airing concerns about how this change (and
future changes in the schools in our district) would impact us, the group voted to allow both schools to leave our district
pending final approval from the MMEA executive board. However, the group did feel that it is important that we address any
changes proposed in the future on a case by case basis.
There were also productive discussions on several points mentioned at the previous state board meeting. The members of District
VI feels that the general music workshops offered each fall are a wonderful way for us to connect with elementary school teachers,
and suggests that perhaps more than one workshop could be offered each year. We are also eagerly awaiting information from
Washington Academy on their upcoming visit from Argy Nestor, which we felt would be an excellent forum for sharing our concerns
related to the DOE recommended state graduation requirements. Dan Granholm and Jan Dodge have offered to be contacts for the
all-state broadcast fundraising effort. Finally, we are pursuing more information on how we can build a more informative district
webpage that will include all of our forms, dates, and contact information for all of the teachers in the district.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jessica Hartman
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Society for Music Teacher Education Report
The University of Maine and the University of Southern Maine are currently preparing approximately 160 undergraduate students
to enter the exciting, challenging and rewarding field of music education.
At the School of Performing Arts at the University of Maine, juniors in the music education program are currently working
with students from the Stillwater Montessori School. Over a period of ten weeks, they will be teaching Spanish, French and
African songs, dances and musical games. Students in the woodwinds methods course have taught sessions with students from
the Asa Adams School in Orono. The Music Education Committee has been addressing many issues, including: the application
process for music education majors; assessment of student teachers; and the development of a Comprehensive Methods Profiency
Examination. Representatives from IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique) in Paris recently
presented two workshops on music education software on the Orono campus. On October 6, several students from the University
of Maine attended the MMEA General Music Conference in Augusta.
Regarding Teacher Education activities at the University of Southern Maine, Dr. Douglas T. Owens, Assistant Professor of Music
Education, reports: "Undergraduate students have a variety of field experiences through their methods courses, with
opportunities to observe and teach. Current issues being discussed include the revision of the Maine Learning Results and
the many expectations of them as teachers, the need for a comprehensive approach to teaching in all music courses, effective
lesson planning and assessment, building electronic portfolios, and Praxis I and II exam requirements for teacher licensing.
The USM student teachers continue to gain valuable field experience while completing their reflective journals and
portfolio projects." On October 30, Rodney Eichenberger, Professor of Choral Music at Florida State University, will offer
a workshop on the USM campus. On November 3, USM will welcome Dr. Peter Boonshaft, Professor of Music and Director of Bands
at Hofstra University, as part of the USM/MENC Guest Speaker Series.
A wide variety of graduate courses were offered by both campuses during the summer of 2006. Topics included: Instrumental
and Choral conducting, Research in Music Education, Methods and Materials for the K-8 General Music Classroom, and String
Education. Many of our music educators in the state of Maine availed themselves of these educational opportunities.
At the national level, the Society of Music Teacher Education recently formed eleven special action groups to address current
issues in Music Teacher Education, including:
-Teacher recruitment
-Admission, Assessment and Alignment
-Preservice Teachers
-Restructuring the Curriculum
-Cultural Diversity in Music Teacher Education
-School/University Partnerships
-Policy and Association Partnerships
-Professional Development for the Beginning Teacher
-Teacher Retention
-Preparing Music Teacher Educators/Supporting Current Music Teacher Educators
-Alternative Licensure
The next national symposium for the Society of Music Teacher Education will take place in the Fall of 2007 at the University
of North Carolina in Greensboro.
Respectfully submitted,
Laura Artesani
Society for Music Teacher Education
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MENC Collegiate Chapter Report
The UMaine Collegiate Chapter of MENC is working on the following projects:
-Raising funds and organizing the trip to the Eastern Division conference in Hartford in
March;
-Planning informal performances at Dirigo Pines, a retirement community in Orono
-Seniors in the chapter will do a presentation on the student teaching application process
for our music ed majors on Nov. 8
The officers of the UMaine Collegiate Chapter of MENC (#175) for 2006-2007 are:
Carly Schluter, President
Whitney Thurston, Vice President
Maria Talbot, Secretary
Nicole Zito, Treasurer
Ashley Drew, Fund Raising
The USM Collegiate Chapter of MENC is planning the November 3rd visit by Dr. Peter Boonshaft, Professor of Music and Director
of Bands at Hofstra University. Other projects include inviting music educators for weekly meetings to discuss music education
and classroom techniques, and the return of USM MUE Alumni for a discussion about their first-year teaching experiences. MENC
continues to fund raise for various events including a trip to the upcoming Eastern Division MENC Conference in March, 2007.
The officers of the USM Collegiate Chapter of MENC are:
Sarah Dresner, President
Erin Cashman, Vice President
Joseph LaFrance, Secretary
Tammy Dillon, Treasurer
Information about the BMI John Lennon Scholarship Program has been distributed to the USM and UMaine chapters.
Respectfully Submitted,
Doug Owens
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Tri-M Report
As we begin another school year it's a great time to think about organizing a Tri-M Music Honor Society in your school. As
always, application materials can be found at www.menc.org and I am happy to help with any questions you may have.
I have taken a new job as director of instrumental music at Woodland High School. As a result, this will be a busy year of
transitions for me, and although I do not currently have a Tri-M chapter, I am hoping to charter a chapter soon.
It is my plan to create an email list of all chapters in the state to facilitate communication this year. This will allow
me to forward materials from the national office to all active chapters in a quick and efficient way. I hope this will also
encourage chapters to keep me informed about chapter activities in their schools.
Finally, I am hoping to present a workshop this year at all-state to provide teachers with some ideas about how to manage
a Tri-M chapter. If there are any active chapters or sponsors who would like to help with this please let me know. I can
be reached by email at acbsnow@yahoo.com or by phone at 460-5306.
Alice Sullivan
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Advocacy Chair Report
Hello everyone!
First of all, congratulations to all of the participants of the National Anthem Project’s stop in Portland on October
3rd! I’ve heard growing reviews of all of the performances, and the whole production seems to have been a resounding
success! Thank you to all who participated in this event to not only help teach one of the real staples of our country, but
also promote the goodness of a solid music education in students’ lives.
If you haven’t checked out the details on MENC’s new “Music In Our Schools Showcase”, check it out
today! You have the opportunity to have a video of your performing group appear online for the world to see, as well as the
chance to be specially recognized by MENC for your music program! For more details, go to www.menc.org and click on “Music
In Our Schools Month”.
Believe it or not, it will not be long before the budget process starts to take shape in a lot of school districts across
Maine. If you hear of a music position being cut in your school district or know of one elsewhere, PLEASE let me know as
soon as possible! I would rather hear from a lot of people than nobody, and I am here to help out if you find yourself on
the wrong end of the budgetary guillotine!
You can also let me know if you are experiencing any other problems with your position, such as scheduling, an administration
that doesn’t seem to want to cooperate, or anything else that you think MMEA can assist with. I am here for YOU, and
I want to help you in any way I can.
Respectfully submitted,
Jessica D. Newton, Advocacy/Music In Our Schools Month Chair
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K-5 General Music VP REPORT
Hello to all,
My name is Michael Davis and I’m the K-5 General Music VP, formerly the MMEA Treasurer. I’m very excited to be
able to help shape and strengthen the professional development of elementary music teachers throughout the state. Please
feel free to contact me at any time with ideas that you wish to see at the annual MMEA Fall General Music workshop or the
MMEA All State Conference. Not only am I here to help organize clinicians for the conferences and workshops I’d like
to open my doors to anyone who needs assistance or information about general music in the State. Let’s bring the General
music teachers in Maine to the forefront and create a strong support system for all of us to access and use.
First of all the MMEA Fall General Music workshop will be held on Friday October 6th at the Augusta Civic Center. The day’s
topic will feature a Kodály workshop presented by Jonathan Carsley and Emily Weed. We are very excited that with the help
of online registrations to date we have over 80 registrants. Among those in attendance will be Maine Department of Education’s
VPA Consultant, Argy Nester. She’ll be coming to introduce herself to the group and to give us updates in the Department
of Education happenings relevant to Music Education in Maine.
The National Anthem Project Road Show rolled into Portand this week. I was able to take a group to Portland to the WCSH6-TV
station for a LIVE Broadcast interview and performance to inform people about the event taking place in Monument Square on
Tuesday October 3rd, 2006. I thank MENC for arranging this for our state as it was a fantastic opportunity to reach people
state-wide. We also were invited to interview/perform at WBLM radio as well as Q97.9 Radio the same morning. We took a
group of 200 Elementary Chorus kids from the Auburn School Department to perform at the NAP this morning. What a great day!
Congressman Michael Michaud wrote a very nice letter supporting the NAP and congratulating Auburn and Lisbon Schools for attending.
Senator Collins and Senator Snow each had a representative there on hand to support this effort and music education. Mrs.
Maine was a HUGE hit to all of the children as she presented eaech of them with a NAP/MENC Ribbon for participating. And
of course she had her very own pictures with autographing to do as well :) The children had a chance to play with different
musical instruments that were on hand. They also had a chance to particiapte in a few activities from the History Channel
regarding the Anthem and its backgrond. Lots of great PR for music education in Maine. I was also pleased to hear the road
show director Cliff give comliments that the Auburn 200 member chorus was the largest group they've had yet :) I am however
a bit saddened by the fact that Maine has this fantastic opportunity to showcase students and their incredible talents and
we only have two groups scheduled to perform at the NAP. I understand that this date was a bit early in the year but I appreciate
that it gave me a kick in the pants to get my self more organized and on track for the year. When I hear how excited the
kids were about the interviews/performances it reminds me of why I became the teacher I am today. I encourage ALL of you
to showcase your students and take advantage of EVERY opportunity to do so. I thank the NAP for coming to Maine and making
a difference in the lives of my students.
Again, thanks for this opportunity to serve as YOUR General Music VP. REMEMBER, I’m here to serve YOU. Feel free to
call upon me at any time for any reason!
In the Spirit of Children & Making Music,
Michael Davis
MMEA General Music VP
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Government Relations Report
E. Scot Fuller, Chair
Below is a copy of the MENC Legislative Memo for September 2006. I have included the information from other states because
I thought that it would be of interest to some readers.
If anyone has some specific Maine news that I don't catch, please send it to me directly to include in a report rather then
send it to the entire mailing list--that is unless you think that it is pressing enough for all members to have immediately.
In addition, I can then report that to MENC directly so that it can be included in the Legislative Memo.
This months topics include:
Federal News
* End of Federal Fiscal Year -- Update
* No Child Left Behind -- MENC Update
State News
* Oklahoma Stakeholders Indicate High Interest in Arts Education
You Should Know
* Authorizing and Appropriating
Take Action
* Voice Your Opinion on No Child Left Behind (Your last chance to do so!!!!)
Congressional Corner
* Representative Christopher Shays (R-CT)
Federal News
End of Federal Fiscal Year -- Update
While the fiscal year for most businesses end on December 31, the federal fiscal year concludes each year on September 30.
With that deadline looming, Congress must pass and finalize all thirteen appropriations bills. Although the bills have been
debated since early this year, there haven't been any that have been signed into law. It actually is not unusual for Congress
to have a few remaining appropriations bills at the September 30 deadline. When this happens, Congress must pass a "Continuing
Resolution" to provide for funding for the federal government so that it can continue to run.
This year Congress is expected to recess at the end of September and pass a continuing resolution that will last until after
the November elections. After they return, we expect that they will then take up all the appropriations bills and either complete
them individually, or combine them into a single omnibus appropriations bill that will cover all thirteen bills. In the meantime,
Congress must come up with a continuing resolution that is acceptable to both the House and the Senate as well as to both
parties. This will likely mean that they will continue last year's funding until they pass new bills, as that will be noncontroversial
and will not risk a government shutdown as in to 1995.
No Child Left Behind
MENC Update
In conjunction with other national arts education groups, MENC has been working on a unified statement of joint goals for
No Child Left Behind reauthorization. This statement is intended to not only unify the arts education community, but the education
community as well. Therefore we have also been seeking national supporting organizations to sign on to the statement--both
arts and education organizations.
The Unified Statement addresses four issues of concern for the arts community. It looks at strengthening the achievement of
students through the arts, equity for the arts as a core academic subject, teacher recruitment and retention, and arts research
and data collection. If you would like to read the Unified Statement, please visit this web site.
State News
Oklahoma Stakeholders Indicate a High Interest in Arts Education
Oklahoma Center for Arts Education recently completed a unique research to determine stakeholders (parents, educators, legislators,
business leaders and school administrators) perception of what arts education is and how it impacts children in the public
elementary school system. The study included individuals associated with 120 randomly selected schools and resulted in the
return of 9,753 surveys.
Overwhelmingly, stakeholders' indicated that arts education is traditional and performance based. Survey respondents held
a strong belief that arts education had a positive impact on a child's creativity, grades, academic motivation, life learning
and social behavior. There was a strong feeling that it should be part of the core curriculum and equal to other core subjects.
However, stakeholders from rural and urban communities differed in their level of agreement. Although rural stakeholders believed
arts education had a positive impact, they were more likely to believe it should only be offered as an elective or if the
child had interest. When comparisons were made between stakeholders, it was learned that those involved in the day-to-day
activities of children (teachers and parents) were more likely than policy makers (legislators, school administrators, and
school board members) to believe arts education had a positive impact on other core subjects (math, English, etc.) and social
behavior (decreasing violence and substance abuse).
When asked whose responsibility it was to teach arts education, everyone agreed it was the school's responsibility and that
it should only be taught by a certified arts educator. No one believed (including legislative stakeholders) that legislators
valued arts education.
For questions or comments, please contact Dr. John Clinton at 405-974-3772 or Linda Garrett at 405-974-3781, lgarrett4@ucok.edu.
You Should Know...
...about authorizing and appropriating!
What is the difference between authorizing and appropriating? Many times you will hear federal legislators talk about "authorizing"
or "reauthorizing" a particular program. Conversely, you might hear talk about someone getting an "appropriation" for a certain
amount of money. These two terms are often confused and quite similar in meaning.
According to both House and Senate rules, before a program can be allotted any federal funding, it must be "authorized," or
allowed, by the committee in charge for a set amount of time. A good example of this is No Child Left Behind, a bill that
sets out funding and policy for elementary and secondary education. After that time period has expired, the program is reassessed
and reauthorized at that point in time.
After a program is authorized, the money is then appropriated, or allocated, to particular programs, like the Arts in Education
grants administered by the U.S. Department of Education. It is up to the powerful Appropriations Committees in the House and
Senate to decide those exact amounts. On occasion, it is possible for money to be appropriated, but not authorized; however,
this is not allowed byHouse and Senate rules. For more information on authorizing and appropriating, please visit this web
site.
Take Action
Voice your opinion on No Child Left Behind
Time is almost up! In the next month The Commission on No Child Left Behind will finalize its recommendations to Congress
to improve No Child Left Behind (NCLB). So far hundreds of music teachers and supporters have submitted their comments to
the Commission to let them know how NCLB has affected their programs and their students.
Take action NOW and submit your comments about NCLB and the importance of the arts in every child's education. With five easy
steps and specially developed talking points, you can submit your comments on behalf of music educators and students around
the country. Thank you for your support!
Congressional Corner
Representative Christopher Shays (R-CT)
Representative Christopher Shays serves Connecticut's fourth district. It includes the southwest corner of Connecticut and
the area closest to New York City. Representative Shays is an avid supporter of the arts and serves as Co-Chair of the nonpartisan
Congressional Arts Caucus alongside Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY).
As an arts advocate, it is no surprise that he plays the piano and regularly attends musical performances. He also has introduced
several pieces of legislation to help the arts and the arts community and has been an arts supporter all his life.
Representative Shays says, "I grew up in an arts family. My Mom and Dad, both performing actors, met in the theater and I
remember falling asleep at night to the sound of my father playing the piano. I know the arts make a significant contribution
to our lives. Federal funding helps symphonies, theaters, musical productions, ballet, and educational programs."
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Maine Music Education Association
Jazz Activities
October 2006 Executive Board Report
October brings the busy time of All-State Jazz Auditions. A big thank you to four people in particular for helping auditions
run smoothly.
Instrumental Jazz Chair, Shianne Wheeler of Old Town Schools
Auditions Chair, Lance Schanck of Waterville Schools
Vocal Jazz Chair, John Reeves of Skowhegan Schools
Host, Brady Harris and the great folks of the Bangor Army National Guard Band!
We had over 300 students audition for All-State Jazz and it was a successful day.
Results will be made available to all directors and students during the week of October 16th.
A few issues worth noting as we look to improve for next year.
Get the audition materials posted in June
Have all necessary documents included in the August Bulletin
Continue posting recordings online (many positive comments about these)
Clarify inconsistencies between several audition documents
Consider online audition registration and look at perhaps delaying deadline
Look at pay for musicians and recording engineer for AS-Jazz recordings
We had a new vocal audition this year, which is very similar to the new vocal audition for ³regular² All-State. So far, all
reaction seems positive to the new format. We had a record number of vocalists audition this year, which is one positive indicator
for sure.
Next up on the Jazz calendar...All-State Jazz in January and District jazz festivals.....
Chris Humphrey
VP for Jazz Activities, MMEA
humphrey@cheverus.org
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ORCHESTRA and ASTA REP report from Margaret Hopkins October 15, 2006
MAINE ASTA www.measta.org and if that doesn’t work, try http://home.gwi.net/~katehunt/me_asta/page7.htm
National office urged all ASTA organizations to incorporate and become a 501C3. We are presently in the process of incorporating.
Ardith Keefe of USM is checking out legal matters on that topic. We should complete the incorporation process before the
new year.
Each year Maine ASTA runs a statewide string festival. This year it will be in Orono and hosted by Waldo Caballero. Date
is not definite yet, but it will be either May 5 or 12, 2007, depending on availability of the required facilities.
Maine ASTA will also be running a fiddle festival this year (date TBA) at Thornton Academy. Lauren Rioux and Anne Wilkinson
are collaborating.
National Conference will be in Detroit in March 2007 and Maine ASTA has an “assistance” budget to help sponsor
some of the persons who wish to attend.
MAINE SUZUKI ASSOCIATION (MSA) www.msamusic.org
Workshop for students is Oct.
28th at Orion Performing Arts Center at Mount Ararat Middle School in Topsham. Teachers can come and observe the workshop
and also attend teacher enrichment workshop on 10/29 at Portland Conservatory from 9-1pm. Scholarships for students are offered.
Guest clinicians are: Ed Sprunger - group classes, parent talk and on Sunday 10/29 at Portland Conservatory for teacher enrichment.
Carl Dimow – jazz
Julia Langham - drama and Alexander Techinque Malgosia
Lis, Chiharu Naruse, Patricia Stowell – piano Doug and
Susan Locke - from
Columbus, Ohio will do violin master classes plus are bringing their own Capital University Suzuki Tour Group of 8-16 year
olds. Kirsten Marshall - orchestra conductor and violin master class teacher
Rachel Schott and Terry - Music Mind Games
Harmon Steiner – cello
Gendoline Thornblade - violin and viola
ORCHESTRA FOR ALL STATE 2007
Our original conductor Mei-Ann Chen
withdrew due to schedule complications with her residency in Japan. This year's conductor will be Allen McMurray from Univ.
of Colorado. Program is not yet available but Linda Vaillancourt is working on it.
The excerpt for this year is dropped but we will be doing sight reading.
Margaret Hopkins
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