A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Mr. Scott Hedgecock  Southern Section President

News from the Southern Section

State Conference in Ontario:

The Southern Section was proud to once again be the host section for our State Professional Development Conference: Music Counts, held at the Ontario Convention Center in March.   Our section leadership worked hard to help bring many local southern California offerings to the event: quality performing ensembles; relevant sessions and presenters; and a wonderful General Assembly performance by the Mount San Antonio College Chamber Singers, directed by Bruce Rogers who also served as the Choral Music Clinician for the conference.   

 In addition, several members of the Southern Section Board led the committee to bring the first ever CMEA Middle School/Junior High Honor Choir to our conference. A big thank you goes to Dr. Chris Peterson from California State University, Fullerton, for his assistance with me in this event.  We worked closely with Merryl Nelson, Southern Border Section President, and Jeff Jenkins, State President, on this event.  Special thanks to these two wonderful Music Educators from the San Diego area for their partnership and support. The biggest thank you goes to our Honor Choir Coordinator, Elena Benefield from Los Flores Middle School, who put the personal touch on the entire event and worked tirelessly to make sure that this event was a success for all of the students and their parents.  Thank you Elena!  And of course, the event was made possible through the fantastic musical vision and leadership of Dr. Anna Hamre, from California State University, Fresno, who served as our Honor Choir Conductor 

The return of the CMEA/CBDA All State Honor Band was also a high point to the conference.  This ensemble, along with the All State Honor Orchestra and the All State Jazz Choir helped to showcase some of the top talent among our students.  Bravo to all who participated in these honor groups, as well as the many groups who came to perform in concert and/or interest sessions.  Once again, the CMEA Conference left me energized, renewed, and enlightened about by own career as a Music Educator.   

In helping to promote the conference to our membership, the Southern Section offered a rebate to all section members who attended the conference.  Special thanks to our treasurer, Dr. Kent Gregory, for meeting with me on the night before the conference and bringing with him all of the signed checks that were placed into each member’s conference pre-registration packet. 

The Southern Section was also very proud of the many award recipients from our area at the annual Awards Dinner.   David Miller, from Pasadena High School, was our Southern Section Outstanding Music Educator of the Year recipient.  Paulette Miller, from the LAUSD, was the State Elementary Music Educator of the Year recipient.  David and Paulette might be the first husband and wife team from our section to be honored in the same year.  Jill DeWeese, from Fullerton Union High School, was the State Jazz Educator of the Year. 

The Southern Section also hosted a reception at the Double Tree Hotel following the awards dinner for all of our members in attendance at the conference.  We hope that everyone in the Southern Section received benefit from all of our efforts to make the state Conference more accessible, relevant, and enjoyable for our membership.

Looking Ahead:

The Southern Section will hold elections for our Executive Board soon.  Watch our website and your emails for information about how you can become part of our leadership and also how to cast your vote for our leadership of the future.

NOTE:  If you, as a Southern Section member, did not receive our emails prior to the State Conference, please contact me with your updated email address.  There are always some emails that come back to us, and we’d like to be able to reach everyone with all of our important information.  You can send updated email info to Scott Hedgecock, SS CMEA President, at Scotchdir@aol.com.  Please put “CMEA EMAIL UPDATE” in the subject area.

CMEA is currently in the process of asking all members to fill out a survey.  Please take the time to do so, as your feedback is vitally important to the organization, both at the state and section levels.  You will find the survey online at www.calmusiced.com.  There are several ways in which you can take the survey. 

Our Southern Section leadership is looking to our own future with plans for brining back our Section Conference next year.  We are currently securing a site and will have more information about the event on our website prior to the end of the traditional school year in June.  If you have any suggestions regarding our Section Conference, please send them to Scott Hedgecock, Southern Section President, at Scotchdir@aol.com. Your ideas and input are important to us.

Thank you once again to everyone who helped to make the recent State Conference in Ontario a success.  Everyone who attended knows how valuable the event was to all of us as Music Educators in California.  Best wishes to everyone.

New from the CMEA Choral Representative

Christopher Peterson,

California State University, Fullerton

Dear Colleagues,

            I hope you have had a fun and relaxing summer season, and that you are already enjoying this exciting (yet busy) fall season. I am pleased to announce that the California Association for Music Education will once again sponsor an honor choir for middle-level choral musicians: The 2010 CMEA All-State Middle School Honor Choir. The honor choir will be held in conjunction with CMEA’s Professional Development Conference (“Music: One Goal, One Voice!”) in Sacramento, California on March 11–13, 2010. Last year’s honor choir was a great success, and we believe that these kinds of offerings help to strengthen middle-level music programs all over the state. We hope you will encourage your students to submit a recorded audition for the choir this year. More information regarding student eligibility, audition requirements, and singer expectations can be found at the CMEA website: http://www.calmusiced.com/honorgrps.htm

            Our Co-chairpersons for the choir are Marc R. McAlexander and Stephanie Grogg. Immediate questions can be directed to Mr. McAlexander by email at: marcmcalexander@cusd.com. Be well, and may this be your best teaching year to date!  Chris

Middle School Honor Choir Timeline

October 23, 2009: Postmarked deadline for audition materials to be sent to the Honor Choir Chairperson, Marc McAlexander.

November 13, 2009: Notification via mail and or e-mail.  

December 18, 2009: Postmarked deadline for paperwork and fees to be returned to CMEA.

January 15, 2010: Music packets, practice CD’s and related materials mailed to singer’s schools.

March 11-13, 2010: All-State Middle School Honor Choir Rehearsals at the Professional Development Conference in Sacramento.  Times will vary and additional information will be provided in the music packets.

March 13, 2010: Performance at Convention Center, 4 pm.

 Southern Section Executive Board

If you would like to join us on the Executive Board as a Representative you are more than welcome to do so.  Please contact any board member and we will welcome you to our next meeting.  The Executive Board meets six times per year, and our biggest events are planning the Mid-Winter Conference and assisting with the State Conference.  We are looking at other ways in which we might also help to better serve our membership.  Please join us!

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CMEA  SOUTHERN SECTION and MENC MEMBERSHIP

Often many of us belong to musical organizations specific to our teaching expertise and forget about the importance of a national association of music educators. ACDA, SCSBOA, SCVA, Orff and Kodaly Organizations, ASTA, NATS, CBDA are all important and help us get through the daily logistics of our various arts. When you join MENC (the National Association for Music Education) you are connected to a nationwide network of music educators all helping to elevate the importance of music in our nation's schools. And, you receive invaluable information via two national journals, Music Educator's Journal and Teaching Music.

To become a member of MENC/CMEA, go directly to www.MENC.org. 

Music and Art Block Grants  AB 1811

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§  Music and Art Block Grants -AB 1811. Share your Stories!

§  Southern Section Executive Board –Please join us.

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