THE NEW JERSEY MUSIC EDUCATORS ASSOCIATION a federated state association of NATIONAL ASSOCIATION for MUSIC EDUCATION News From Our Division Chairs
Past President William McDevitt
billnjmea@aol.com
Non-Random Thoughts As I begin my final term as NJMEA Past-President, I would like to begin by discussing the 2017 NAfME Eastern Division Conference.
This project was 4 years of hard work that culminated in an AMAZING Professional Development opportunity for music educators through- out the east coast and the US. I would like to, once again, thank Debbie Sfraga for all the work that she did behind the scenes. Very few people know the amount of time that she put into this project. For almost a year before the conference, she was putting in 5 days a week – full time – dealing with hotels, vendors, conductors, food services, performance venues, AV providers, managers, and the housing and feeding of 800 All-Eastern students and their parents! During the last two months, it became a 7 day a week job. This event would not have possible without her dedication. I have to say that this event was the highlight of all of my years on the NJMEA Board of Directors. We wanted to make it a unique New
Jersey happening and I think that we succeeded. From the opening Organ Concert and New Jersey Reception to the All-Eastern Concerts we showed the attendees what New Jersey had to offer. With only a few glitches (most of which were dealt with very quickly) the entire 5 days went off with critical acclaim. I think that we’ll have it perfect again in 6 years! As we have done with our own conference for the past decade, we finished the discussion with a survey. There were 480 respondents
which, if you have ever conducted a survey you know, is an amazing response. For the remainder of my space, I would like to discuss the results and some of the concerns that were raised. The great thing about the survey is that almost 60% of the respondents were from New Jersey. While the comments from other states were great to have, the ones from New Jersey are the ones that we can use to compare to our past and look to our future. As many of you deduced by our questions, we were discussing the possibility of permanently moving to Atlantic City for our February
Conference. On the positive side, respondents viewed it as larger and better for our purposes, more hotel options, more food options, more parking, more opportunity for performances. On the negative side, respondents saw it a larger distance to travel, more expensive in some areas, more difficult to get to, a difficult area during a questionable weather month, and too big! We had to look at many factors before making any decision, but the main deciding factor for us was the economical one. This was a VERY expensive conference for us to run. Between the All- Eastern ensembles and the Conference, we funneled almost a million dollars though our financial accounts. We know that there are problems in East Brunswick that we will never be able to fix. We also know from the survey that a move to Atlantic City would cause a large number of our members to not come to the conference. So – we will continue to work on improving the experience in East Brunswick with the hope that you will continue to participate in the Conference. Some interesting things that we discovered from the survey:
• When asked if you preferred guidebook or the printed guide, it was almost an even split. I still prefer the printed program. I like to dog- ear the pages and see everything in front of me.
• There were some concerns about the number of sessions that were “advertising” products. The clinicians are supposed to be up front in their application and we try to limit the number of sessions that are pushing products. If they are sponsored, it says so in the guide. Unfortunately, some clinicians aren’t up front and slip through the cracks.
• For every person that loved Rita Moreno, there was a person that didn’t understand why she was there. I thought that her story of how she progressed thorough the entertainment business facing discrimination was especially relevant to the message of the conference. Sometimes our keynotes have messages that are indirectly related to the topic of music education.
• Exhibits are always a mixed bag of comments. Respondents were pleased with the size of the hall. Some liked what was there – some didn’t. Some offered suggestions of who should have been there. We tried to get all the major vendors there. We sent out info to about 1000 vendors. Even though it was a major Eastern US Convention, many of them still save their $$$ for specific conventions or the ones that they go to annually. We can’t force them to come!
• There were mixed reviews for the performing ensembles also. Many were pleased with the number and quality of TEMPO 6 continued on page 8 OCTOBER 2017
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