Successful High School Festivals
- A big thank you to our high school hosts Melody Vigo and Kevin Pollock for their high level of organization and professionalism in putting together top notch festivals for our Westmoreland county high school musicians. I was very impressed with the level of difficulty in the music and the way the students performed with expression as an ensemble. Very nicely done!
The rest of our festivals are as follows:
- Junior High Chorus: March 14th at Franklin Regional HS, hosts Denise McMullan and Lauren Bloomer, guest conductor- Kelly Newstead.
- Junior High Band: March 21-22nd at Mt. Pleasant HS, hosts Fred Collins and Erin Blystone, guest conductor-Reed Chamberlin
- 6th Grade Chorus: April 4th at Southmoreland HS, host Meghan Whytsell, guest conductor-Tom Octave
- 5th and 6th Grade Band: May 2nd at Jeannette HS, guest conductor-Annette Russell
- Please respect all deadlines for applications, registration fees, medical forms and any other important paperwork. Nothing is more frustrating for a host then bugging colleagues for paperwork. Please offer your help and especially a big “thank you” when the festival is over. We all have lots of demands on our shoulders and these folks have stepped up to do this for our kids on top of their normal duties!
WCMEA Memorial Donations
- We are pleased to announce that the Koter family chose our organization for memorial donations in honor of Donald Koter. To date, we have received $575. We will be setting that aside for our scholarships to support and encourage more young people to pursue music education. The officers are very grateful to the Koter family for this honor.
Paying Dues Online
- Starting next school year, you have the option to pay your dues online. They will be $16 (one dollar more to cover the cost of a surcharge). Thank you to Jaime West for putting this together and re-working our web site.
25 Year Award By-Law Wording
- This year we had a question regarding the qualification for the 25 year WCMEA award and we noticed that we did not have officials wording in our by-laws. A discussion will be held at each festival meeting, a committee will meet in June and we will vote on the wording at our next dinner meeting. PMEA’s award uses these terms “Were you a first year teacher in the fall of 1988 or prior to 1988? PMEA’s 25 Year Award recognizes music teachers, elementary through college/university, who have taught 25 years (or more) with at least 15 years of teaching in PA.” If you have a suggestion or would like to serve on the committee, please e-mail Denise Bilott.
Nominations for VP
- From Denise: As of the fall dinner meeting 2014, I will be moving to past president and Lauren McCurdy will be moving to president. We are in need of someone (or a few people), that would like to run for VP. You would serve 2 years as VP, 2 as president and 2 as past president. If you are concerned about attending all festival and selection committee meetings we have arranged it that the board of officers splits duties so one person does not have to attend everything. I have truly enjoyed my time as an officer and getting the chance to meet all of you and serve our profession. When I agreed to be the VP, never did I think I would be a mother of three little ones by the end of my term! The workload is manageable and not too much additional stress…I promise! If you are interested or have any questions, please e-mail me.
WCMEA Concert in the Park
- Our First Annual WCMEA Concert in the Park is Saturday May 31, 2014! As of right now we only have two applications for performances and NONE for concession. If you are interested, please download a form from our web site and send it to Denise Bilott so we can start planning. The officers will be promoting this through all local media and plan on making this a celebration of music across our county in all areas of music. We also need concessions! If you have a booster group looking to make a little extra money, have them fill out the concession form. First come, first serve in terms of selling preference. Any group can perform – even smaller combos/ensembles that you may have!
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