John Cooper - President, Alabama Bandmasters Association
It was a pleasure to see and speak to so many during the Alabama Music Educators Association Conference. I want to express my thanks to each for your participation in our concerts, clinics and meetings. The AMEA Board of Directors values your input and suggestions. All the comments you make concerning our conference are read carefully.
This year, an unusually high number of bands applied to perform. If your band was not selected, please apply again. It does not mean that you were not good enough! An effort is made to try to include bands of different levels, from different areas of the state, and from different school sizes and situations. This year that was made more difficult because of the addition of the Intercollegiate Band and the Alabama Symphony to the schedule. Apply again! One of the suggestions was to not schedule events the ABA members would enjoy at the same time. Actually, at any point in the schedule, there is only one ABA event. However, many times a division will schedule a clinic that would be beneficial and would be enjoyed by more than one division. This is a wonderful problem!
Hopefully we can schedule those clinics again in the near future.
Clinics are selected based upon clinic proposals that are sent to the AMEA Executive Secretary.
Sometimes
comments indicate that there were too few woodwind clinics, and too many brass clinics. Again, an effort is made to balance and include many different areas, but a clinic cannot be scheduled if there is no proposal. I thought the clinics this year were especially good. They were full of practical information and I heard so many good comments from clinics that I was unable to attend.
I would also like to thank all the exhibitors. Without a doubt, even with the outstanding clinics and concerts, strolling through the exhibits, visiting with friends, and doing a little shopping is one of the best parts of the conference.
Is there an exhibitor you
especially enjoy? Thank them for being there! Is there one you miss? Tell them! This year’s conference posed a conflict with the Florida conference, but that should not be a problem in the coming years.
Finally, thanks to all the ensembles
that
performed – the Shades Valley HS Percussion Ensemble (Greg Gumina), the Pelham HS Wind Ensemble (Jeff Burnside), the Auburn HS Honors Band (Rusty Logan), the Homewood City Schools Percussion Ensembles (Chris Cooper), the Jacksonville State University Winds (Kenneth Bodiford), and the Alabama Symphonic Band (Randall Coleman). Those ensembles and their directors are the ones who really had to work to get ready for the conference. This year, maybe more than most, they all did a great job.
All-State Band Festival will be moving to Huntsville this year. We want to thank the University of Alabama in Huntsville for hosting our State Solo Festival and First Baptist Huntsville for hosting our chair tryouts. If you have not made your room reservations yet, please make sure you do so by using the ABA Housing Form on the website. I hope to see everyone at All- State!
16
February/March 2013
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