Carl Hancock AMEA President
AMEA. Members of the Governing Board worked for months planning an excellent year of professional growth and learning for you and your students, and I can’t wait to share some of it with you.
Greetings and welcome back!
When the tolling of the Denny Chimes mixes with the resonating chords from the Million Dollar Band and youthful voices of new students, it is easy to recognize the beginning of the school year is well under way in Tuscaloosa. If you are like me, the summer break has faded into a distant yet pleasant memory, and you are now immersed in setting goals, planning lessons, teaching students, and preparing for an exciting new year of music-making and learning.
In June, the Governing Board met and welcomed our incoming board members and together we renewed our commitment to many of the initiatives we started in 2014. This year, we will attempt to complete the second phase of our strategic plan and ensure we pass as many milestones as possible. In essence, we will continue to connect with nationally recognized leaders, emphasize professional outreach, increase industry connections, fund special clinicians, and build our capacity for state-level advocacy by rebranding our organization and growing membership.
The 2015 AMEA Hill Day Delegation posting after meeting with staffers from Senator Richard Shelby’s (R) Washington DC office. From left to right, Sara Womack (AMEA Past- President, SD President-elect), Mai Yamane (Collegiate), Susan Smith (AMEA President-elect), Allison Glover (Collegiate); Carl Hancock (AMEA President), Madison Baldwin (Collegiate), Kelsey Manweiler (Senator Shelby Staff), and Hamilton Bloom (Senator Shelby Staff).
I am always amazed at how uplifting summertime can be. It truly reinvigorates my passion for teaching. For those of you who know me well, come mid-August, I begin to look forward to the first day of classes and overtly express the same excitement I felt when I was a schoolboy. However, this time, as I take stock of the summer and last year, I am feeling excited about what the future will bring and simultaneously, very proud about our past. I am amazed to count how much we accomplished as an Association, especially in just the last couple of months. This summer was extremely productive for the
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To achieve a substantial increase in membership, we pledged to seek out those music teachers who left the AMEA, restore their faith in our association, and encourage their return. As an example of our commitment to this goal, the AMEA will implement a concerted membership drive from now through January, which will be led by former AMEA President (2008-2010) and current Treasurer/Registrar, Pat Stegall. He will have the help of Peter Daugherty from the NAfME office and assistance from volunteers throughout the state. We encourage you to take a moment and reach out to colleagues and let them know, the AMEA and NAfME are focused on meeting the needs of Alabama music teachers and their students. At the same time, we will seek out new teachers, whether new to the profession or new to our great state, and encourage them to join not just for the resources we can provide, but for the camaraderie and support. We need to stand together for music education in our schools and communicate a consistent message about the importance of music in the lives of our students. The old adage popularized by Helen Keller, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” certainly rings true when it comes to advocating for music. So, we will continue to work at recruiting new members, retaining current members, and inviting former members to take a second look at our organization.
We will also continue to tinker with our in- service conference, so we learn what is
possible and needed to provide meaningful professional development for educators tasked with teaching music in the second decade of the 21st century. We are reaching out to the professional music community in a way that we’ve never attempted before by having the renowned professional brass quintet, The Boston Brass, headline our in- service conference. And we will try a few other experiments to inject more “professional” into the professional development we offer. As my colleague Skip Snead likes to say when good news is just around the corner, “stay tuned!
At the end of June, four members of our Governing Board and three of our Collegiates traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in NAfME's National Leadership Assembly, Collegiate Advocacy Summit, and Hill Day 2015 activities. Some of the many highlights from the trip include visiting the offices of both of our US Senators and four State Representatives on Capitol Hill. We shared a simple, yet profound message of advocacy for music education and discussed the importance of maintaining music and the arts as core academic subjects in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 2015. By all accounts, our message was well received.
Members of the 2015 AMEA Hill Day Delegation with Alabama Congressman, Robert Aderholt (R-District IV, center). Pictured are Carl Hancock (AMEA President), Sara Womack, (AMEA Past President, SD President-elect), Madison Baldwin (Collegiate), and Allison Glover (Collegiate).
Also, in June, we learned that five Alabama students were selected for the All-National Honor Ensembles to perform at the NAfME National Conference (October 25- 28) in the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee! These outstanding students were nominated by their directors and will join other fine musicians from
August/September 2015
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