From CMENC...
Robert Pendergraft, President, Collegiate MEglyph1197C
institutions. While having multiple schools another great idea that never came to
represented was a great opportunity, it also fruition. Both these professors were able to
taught me the difficulties of working with provide resources and alternative ideas to
people from multiple places and trying to make the event even more successful. I
coordinate multiple schedules; this skill I consider myself very fortunate to have had
Mastery of any and all tasks in life requires
found to be essential in planning for the the opportunity to work with these
both instruction and practice. That process
summit this fall. The final lesson learned individuals. They started with the ideas of
is true also for leadership on any level. This
during this opportunity was coming the students and helped us to think through
model is demonstrated clearly in the
together as different schools and working things in a way that allowed us to address
teacher education programs of our colleges
for the good of everyone. This at times many difficulties before they happened.
through the following paradigm: college
meant compromising and not always They also taught me personally that the
courses in music and education give the
keeping the good of any particular professors and educators are really very
knowledge you need to be a music teacher,
institution in the forefront but looking accessible and genuinely interested in the
but student teaching must also be
across the state and coming up with the best students and in investing in them.
completed under the care of a veteran
solution for all involved. All these qualities There is no concrete way to
teacher that can help translate head
are essential to effectively function as a measure the success of an event, but for the
knowledge to practice. The same structure
leader of any professional organization, and purposes of continued improvement in the
is present in the framework of CMENC, a
I count myself as fortunate to have learned years to come, it is important we look at the
student-led organization. Each chapter has
many of these lessons with this group of successes and shortcomings of every event
a slate of officers and each state has a
students. we host. This year’s summit involved 60
faculty advisor that serves as mentor and
During my term as president I students and four institutions; while those
gives guidance much as the cooperating
learned the most about leadership and the numbers are slightly higher than expected,
teacher would during student teaching.
support structure of others while planning the number of institutions involved were
This allows student leaders to implement
for the Fall Summit. Early on, the board less than we had hoped. The lesson I
new ideas and strategies under the guidance
made the Fall Summit a priority for this believe that can be learned from this for
of an experienced music educator. This is
year and we were met with support every application to future situations is that
particularly true on the state level where
step of the way. The AMEA board was communication must happen early and
students are allowed to plan both the
overwhelmingly supportive of the often in a variety of media. That lesson will
Summit and Winter In-Service with the full
increased funding to make this opportunity not only be applicable to me for future
support and assistance of the State Advisor
available to the students in our state. leadership positions in an organization but
and the Executive Director.
Samford was a gracious host and allowed also is significant to implement in my
I want to outline several of the key
us the use of their facilities. The classroom.
lessons learned while I served on the board
elementary division provided us the The AMEA In-Service also was a
as an encouragement to those who are
opportunity to begin our weekend with a tremendous success. Not only were we
thinking of running for any leadership
performance they hosted on Friday able to put out a quality product, more
position within any organization while in
evening. Even with all of this support I people than ever bought that product. I
college. My hope is that you will see the
discovered the difficulties of reestablishing never thought we would have had 149
benefits far outweigh the time commitment.
an event that had not been held in several collegiate members at the conference, but
During my term as vice president I had the
years. Planning an event around the that is a tribute to not only AMEA, but also
opportunity to chair a committee and assist
football schedules of all the schools in to the students and professors for realizing
in the planning of events which, I believe,
Alabama is a daunting task, but one that the importance of the opportunities
have prepared me for the challenges of the
must be overcome to have a successful presented at such an event. I am excited
past year. The most valuable lesson gained
event in the Fall semester. We were able to about the surge of momentum that I have
during this time was a functional
successfully have a Fall Summit and been a part of in this organization, and I am
understanding of how the organization
provide students from four institutions the confident the new board will continue to
works and what avenues must be taken to
opportunity of getting to know one another see growth in the state organization.
get things accomplished. I had the
while learning from Dr. Grunow, professor There have been so many
privilege of working with the chapter
and chair of music education at Eastman opportunities for growth in the areas of
reinstatement committee and finding
School of Music, on applications of Music leadership, planning, and management that
chapters that were inactive. Our purpose
Learning Theory in the classroom. I would never have had if CMENC had
was to reintroduce those chapters to
This experience made me value been set up differently. One such
CMENC and what it offered. This too was
my advisors tremendously. I realize that opportunity was having the Vice President
a learning experience, because on this
without both Dr. Nordlund and Dr. and I attend the MENC Bi-annual National
committee were students from two
Hancock wanting this event to be Convention in 2008, with the help of
successful, it easily could have been just Alabama CMENC. This provided an
10 February 2009
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