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08-09 Jr. High County Band Info from Denise Bilott of Norwin
It will be held at Norwin High School on January 16-17, 2009 (although everyone will mail their stuff to Denise at the middle school). The guest conductor is Brian Balmages. Denise will mail out the initial letter to the directors so they have it the first week of school and they will be due November 3rd 2008 so she can get the band selected by Thanksgiving and music out right after Thanksgiving. You can create a link to Denise's web site at www.norwinmsband.com. She will put constant updates under the Junior High County Band tab.
The 08-09 WCMEA Annual Dinner Meeting was held on Oct. 16, 2008 at Mt. View Inn. It was a great meal and a chance to catch up with colleagues. Rita Feals, after having done a fabulous job as WCMEA president for 2 years, passed on the torch to Carla DellaPenna of Jeannette. Melanie Callas was elected our new Vice-President and Sue Ann Herd became our new Secretary after Nikki Wolfgang stepped down from the position. Thanks Nikki for an incredible 6 years as Secretary.
 
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Congrats to Marvin Huls for receiving the 2008 Elaine Brown Award for Choral Excellence
The Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA-PA) announced Mr. Huls the recipient of the award for 2008. The award was created in 1998 and is named after the internationally known choral conductor Elaine Brown. Previous recipients of the award include Fred Waring, Robert Page, Douglas Miller, and other well-known greats.
Kudos to the Norwin School District Staff for honoring their superintendent as PMEA Superintedent of the Year.
To show their appreciation, a district-wide music celebration was held at Norwin stadium in June. We should celebrate administrators who recognize the value of music in schools. If you have supportive administrators,don't take them for granted. Let them know of your appreciation and continue to show them examples of how music is improving student's lives. There are many administrators out there who only comprehend standardized testing scores and refuse to see the benefits of the arts or correlations between music and higher scores.
WCMEA Scholarships
Every year, WCMEA members will audition and select one student from the High School Choral Festival and one from the High School Band Festival to receive a $500 scholarship for college. Interested students must have intentions of entering an undergraduate music program to be considered for the scholarship. Click here for more details and an application.
Act 48 and Certificates
The new five-year cycle for Act 48 hours began 3 years ago. You will receive only one certificate in the spring with all of the festivals that you participated in during that particular school year, but you must REQUEST IT to save time and mailing costs. It will save on certificates and be less hassle for you to keep track of them all.
Festival Policies Reminders
As positions change within your school district and new teachers are hired, inform them of WCMEA and the importance of membership. Students cannot participate in a festival unless their director is an active member.
1. A student selected for a festival MUST participate in the ENTIRE festival. He/she is not permitted to leave the festival for sports, dance, doctor appt., etc. and return later. Students are not permitted to go out for lunch. Pleae make sure our students are aware of this policy. If he/she (or the parents) cannot abide by it, select a replacement. The president should be consulted if this issue arises on sight.
2. Directors should attend the evening concert and remain after the concert until all students have been claimed. If for some reason you cannot the concert, designate another director to oversee your students. You (or WCMEA) could be held liable if something would happen to a student that is "left."
Professional Recording
Have you entertained the notion of hiring a professional recording company to come in and record your next concert? Before you look in the Yellow Pages, consider our WCMEA members Dwight Brown and Jim Julian. They are both excellent and there is no charge to have them record for you. Email them for more details. Here is their contact information:
Dwight Brown: dbmusicman@comcast.net, or www.goodsoundstudio.com
Jim Julian: jwjul@aol.com
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