president’s
during the “Blizzard of 2016”. Twenty years ago, I was doing the same thing, but it was when the South Jersey Orchestra Concert was supposed to be happening. I learned a long time ago that there are certain things that you cannot control, one of which is the weather. As a march- ing band director, this concept is difficult to understand, but I take a deep breath and make decisions based on the information that is available at the time. This happened with our All-State Band Auditions, as you will see below.
A Also, at the time of this writing,
we are quickly approaching our an- nual NJMEA Conference and our February All-State activities. These events come at a perfect time to re- vitalize our minds for that push to the end of the year. We eagerly an- ticipate the annual Music in Our Schools Month and the activities that occur in each of our schools to celebrate the fact that music has been taught in public schools since Lowell Mason introduced the sub- ject in Boston in 1838! We are also preparing to host the 2017 Eastern Division Conference and All-East-
TEMPO
t the time of this writ- ing, I am sitting at home watching the snow fall
message
WILLIAM McDEVITT 856-794-6800 x2539
billnjmea@aol.com
Website:
http://www.njmea.org
ern Ensembles. There is so much happening that it is difficult to know where to begin.
FEBRUARY CONFERENCE
I would like to thank Marie Ma- lara and her staff for putting together another excellent conference. Over the years, Marie and her committee have noticed the trends and changed to fit those trends. The planning for next year’s conference always begins on the last evening of the current year’s conference. After the All-State concert, a dozen people get together and discuss what problems were en- countered and what worked flaw- lessly and begin to map out the plans for the next year. Thanks go out to Debbie Sfraga and Nancy Clasen for their work putting together the exhibits. I would also like to thank Debbie for her work registering this year’s attendees. By now, everyone knows that we have implemented a new registration process. Regis- trations for everything will now go through NAfME. At the time of this writing, we are expecting a slight learning curve at the check-in desk at the conference, but it will become a procedure that we will follow for the future.
2 I would also like to thank Tom
Mosher for preparing the confer- ence booklet. This smaller booklet along with Guidebook, is bringing our NJMEA Conference up-to-date. There are so many people that come together to make the conference a success. I truly appreciate the work of every volunteer on this project.
FEBRUARY ALL-STATE
Despite some weather-related changes, 2016 All-State Wind En- semble, Symphonic Band, and Tre- ble Chorus was another successful February endeavor. Under the lead- ership of Band Performance Chair Al Bazzel and Choral Performance Chair Kathy Spadafino, nearly 400 students rehearsed at Rutgers Uni- versity and performed at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. Once again, the weekend experience was well coordinated by Donna Cardaneo, who scheduled housing, buses, meals and rehearsals. I would like to thank both commit- tees for making sure that the students had both an educationally and musi- cally rewarding experience. It’s also important to thank the music teach- ers that prepared the students, par- ticipated in auditions and rehears- als, and chaperoned the students in New Brunswick.
MARCH 2016
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68