John Cooper - President, Alabama Bandmasters Association


As we begin a new year, I believe it is helpful to reflect on our goal as music educators. So often our primary mission is obscured by our


smaller goals (recruiting a new class of beginners, superiors at contest or festival, that big trip, etc.) or by our daily objectives (booster meetings, collecting fundraising money, paperwork, paperwork, paperwork, etc.).


Our primary mission is to increase the understanding of music in our students. Our smaller goals should all align to that mission. Our daily objectives should also align to that mission, or we should work to organize and minimize daily objectives that do not directly feed our mission.


A new resource is available on the website (www.alabamamea.org/bandmasters) for all directors, but especially for new directors. The Phi Beta Mu Band Director


Alabama Jazz Chair Randall Key


I hope each of you had an outstanding summer break and feel reenergized as you embark upon a new school year. I would like to extend my gratitude to each and every band director who has encouraged students to submit auditions for the All-State Jazz Bands. Last year over 130 students submitted auditions for the All-State Jazz Bands and 60 were selected. Almost half of the students who submitted auditions were selected to participate in the All-State Jazz experience. I would also like to extend a special invitation to each director to encourage student participation in the auditions. We hope to sustain three bands for years to come which means audition participation must continue to grow.


All-State Jazz audition material will be available in August. Please check the AMEA/ABA website for all information concerning auditions. The deadline for registration and audition recordings will be November 2nd.


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Planning Guide provides directors with a month-by-month list of important items. It includes reminders – like the need to begin discussing


All-State auditions months before the registration deadline – and suggestions to avoid pitfalls – like checking the date for Prom before scheduling your spring trip! I would encourage all new directors to print out a copy, and start making notes.


I believe that our Summer Convention was a success. I would like to thank the District Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen for their work, as well as the members of the Music Selection Committee. These groups work both before and after our Summer Convention to complete their responsibilities. Our clinicians reminded me that, even after 24 years as a band director, I still have so much that I can learn. Susan Smith, Nathan Garner, Ken Ozzello, Randall Coleman, and Larry Marchese all did a great job. Our Wednesday evening social was provided by Frank Godfrey and Jeff


Thurber at Dear Band Directors,


Demoulin Uniforms, Ron Mallory at Art’s Music, Wayne Broom at AWB Apparel, and Roland Mouchette at Mouchette Enterprises. This group of supports, as well as Carl Major and the Foley HS Steel Band, provided us with a wonderful evening and we wish to thank them all. Finally, Scott Thompson and Stanbury Uniforms provided our Coffee Service each morning. While I’m not a coffee drinker, I noticed than many of you were very appreciative of this contribution. If you were unable to attend this year, I hope that you will make plans to attend next summer.


Finally I would encourage you to be involved in your district meetings and district decisions. Support your district chairmen by returning registration and paperwork materials on time. In other places in this publication you will read of the plans that are already being made for the Alabama Music Educators Association Conference in January.


Don’t miss the


opportunities that this conference provides to learn, to listen, and to build friendships.


A Note to Band Directors from AOA President Clay McKinney: I am pleased to announce an exciting change to our All-State Festival in 2013. For as long as


we have had All-State Orchestra our top group has been a full symphony orchestra and the collaboration between AOA and ABA has been wonderful. For the first time ever, Sinfonietta, our middle group, will include winds and percussion. The new name of this orchestra will be Sinfonia. We recognize the need to expand the opportunities available to your students and increase the experience of symphonic orchestral playing in the state. What I am most proud of is that our students have been the catalyst for this change. Because of the growth you helped create and continue to be a part of, this exciting opportunity is now a reality. Your students will not want to miss this. The conductor for this program will be Maestro Brandon Keith Brown. Please read about him under the conductors tab on our web site www.alabamaorchestra association.org. He has selected wonderful music including Dance of the Tumblers by Rimsky Korsakov, arranged by David Stone, Two South American Tangos, arranged by Merle J. Isaac, Scherzo Movement III from Symphony Number 7 by Anton Bruckner, arranged by Vernon Leidig, Sheep May Safely Graze by J.S. Bach, arranged by Lucien Cailliet and Russian Sailors Dance by Gliere, arranged by Belisario Errante. We are excited to increase the presence of your wonderful talents at the festival through this new ensemble. We will need your students more than ever as we are doubling the number of winds and percussion at AOA All-State. The program for the Festival Orchestra will also be something your students will not want to miss. The Festival Orchestra will be performing The Russlan and Ludmilla Overture by Mikhail Glinka, Finlandia by Jean Sibelius, the world premiere of the winning piece from our 2013 composition contest and the final movement to Symphony No. 9 “From The New World” by Antonin Dvorak. For those who may be unfamiliar, I want to explain our audition process. All band students age 10 and up are invited to audition for All-State Orchestra for placement in either the Festival Orchestra or the Sinfonia Orchestra. Students audition in their district but there are no district quotas. Students are accepted based on ability compared to their peers from around the state. Just as in the past, there will be one audition and one audition fee for band students. The bulk of the audition material will consist of excerpts from the Festival Orchestra program. The one slight change from previous years is the addition of scales and arpeggios to the audition. Students will be ranked according to their ability and placed in either the Festival Orchestra or the Sinfonia Orchestra, respectively. Thank you for all your great musicianship and dedication. If you have any questions please do


not hesitate to contact me. We look forward to seeing you and your students at the 2013 All-State Orchestra Festival!!


August/September 2012


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