& News From Our Division Chairs
Honor Choirs: Both NAfME and ACDA have Honor Choirs that are open to your students. As stated earlier in this article, you should belong to both organizations to afford both opportunities for your students. ACDA: in 2015, ACDA will hold a National Conference in Salt Lake City on February 25th-28th. The audition process was online
September 1 – 30, 2014. The NAfME Eastern Conference will be held April 9-12, 2015 in Providence, RI. Students were eligible to apply based on their ranking within their 2014 All-State choruses. All students and teachers were notified of their acceptance in September. The NAfME National Conference will be held in Nashville on October 26-29, 2014. These students were chosen based on their ranking in All- State Chorus and were notified in August. Please go to the ACDA and NAfME websites for more information about these honor choirs. If you missed any deadlines, there’s always
next year! I know that being a Choral Director is an exhausting job! I also know that every year there is a growing number of new young directors
in New Jersey who are ready to participate in our many activities. Please get to know these “newbies,” welcome them, and help them navigate the ins and outs of these auditions. I invite all of you, seasoned professionals and excited new colleagues, to become involved with NJMEA and all our opportunities offered for you and your students. Also get to know your Choral Procedures Committee – fantastic and dedicated individuals that I am honored to call my friends: Tom Voorhis, Steven Bell and Jamie Bunce from Region I; Hillary Colton, Wayne Mallette and Judy Verrilli from Region II; and Helen Stanley and Cheryl Breitzman from Region III. They will be at the Region auditions, All-State auditions, and most of the rehearsals and concerts. Please go there, meet them, get involved! And you can always email me – Kathy Spadafino, Chairperson, at
KSpadEB@aol.com. Here’s to your best year ever!
Guitar Education Thomas Amoriello
tom@tomamoriello.com 908-342-7795
The 2014-15 school year is currently underway and I wanted to share a few dates that will require your support in order to advance guitar
education in New Jersey. I will be presenting a “Ukulele in the Music Classroom: Four Strings of Joy!” At the NJEA Convention in Atlantic City on Friday, No-
vember 7th from 3:00-4:30 pm in Room 421. Attendees will receive a free ukulele method book. Though there will be your typical power point and uke basics discussed, I would like this workshop to be very informal, so please bring a ukulele and we can share what works in our classrooms with each other.
We are planning more guitar activities for the NJMEA State Conference in February than in the past so
Festival co-director Keith Calmes, Joe Jacobs, and Thomas Amoriello
OCTOBER 2014
hopefully you will be available to attend. We will host these events on the Saturday of the conference in East Brunswick which is February 21, 2015. There will be an education lecture by GRAMMY nominated Glen Mc- Carthy who is the Guitar Education Chairperson for NAfME. Rowan University Professor of Guitar, Joseph Mayes will also present a workshop that all musicians will enjoy entitled, “The Ten Steps.” I will host a guitar en- semble workshop for educators as well as a guitar education meeting. We are also coordinating a guitar ensemble showcase in the atrium lobby so any high school and college level guitar ensembles interested in performing can contact me to sign up. You will find more details in the January issue of TEMPO. Back in April 2014 the first NJMEA Guitar Festival included high-level performances by conservatory grads, college and high school students as well as instruction by college level educators. To be honest with read- ers, we were barely able to “break even” with ticket sales and master class fees as this event could have been much better attended. In order for these events to exist, flourish and have the support of the NJMEA executive board and festival organizers your support is encouraged. Otherwise these events cannot be justified.
continued on page 14 13 TEMPO
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