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      New England Music Festival Association, Inc.          September  2019             Volume LXXXIV,  No. 1       


Latest News
NEMFA Officers 2019-20
President's Message
Secretary's Report
Future Concert Festival Dates
Chorus Manager
2020 Chorus Conductor
Orchestra Manager
2020 Orchestra Conductor
Band Manager
2020 Band Conductor
2020 Sousa Band
Lowell Mason House Project
Web Info
www.nemfa.org

Bulletin Signup

Is there anyone that you would like to suggest receive this Bulletin as a way to recruit new members from other schools and states? Please feel free to forward the Bulletin to them or send their e-mail to Editor Tom Reynolds at the following address: tomr@mit.edu . 

 

NEMFA OFFICERS 
NEMFA Logo

2020 CONCERT HOSTS:

JENNIFER CHAMBERS
HANNAH ROMMER
IAN GOLLUB
Hanover High School
41 Lebanon Street
Hanover, NH 03755
603.643.3431

jenniferchambers@
hanovernorwichschools.org

hannahrommer@
hanovernorwichschools.org

iangollub@
hanovernorwichschools.org


NEMFA OFFICERS 2019-2020

President
MARJORIE ROOEN
Bennington, VT 05201
marjrooen@yahoo.com
802.442.6024


President-Elect
JOHN DEEB
Lewis S. Mills High School
24 Lyon Road
Burlington, CT 06013
860.673.0423
deebj@region10ct.org


Past President
SAL CICCIARELLA
Somers, CT
scicciarella@cox.net (H e-Mail)


Executive Secretary-Treasurer
WILLIAM E. SITTARD
23 West Clinton Avenue
PO Box 755
Oak Bluffs, MA 02557-0755
413.478.7030 (O)
bsittard@verizon.net (H e-Mail)


Recording Secretary
LYVIE BEYRENT
Gilford High School
88 Alvah Wilson Road
Gilford, NH 03249
603.524.7135
lbeyrent@sau73.org (O e-mail)


Solo & Ensemble Festival Co-Coordinator / Adjudicators
ROBERT E. GATTIE
White River Junction, VT
603.398.2091(O)
gattier@hartfordschools.net (O e-Mail)


Solo & Ensemble Festival Co-Coordinator / Online Registration, Website Manager
STEFFEN PARKER
Williston, VT
802.343.6282 (O)
sparker@vpaonline.org (S&E e-Mail)


Librarian
FRANK A. WHITCOMB
Burlington, VT
802.734.2871 (H)
facm@aol.com (H e-Mail)


Band Manager
DANIELLE CONERTY
Hartford High School
White River Junction, VT
802.295.8610, x.2536(O)
conertyd@hartfordschools.net (O e-Mail)


Chorus Manager
EDDIE WILKIN
Fair Haven Union High School
33 Mechanic Street
Fair Haven, VT 05743
802.265.4966 (O)
ewilkin@arsu.org (O e-Mail)


Orchestra Manager
SCOTT BENSON
Brien McMahon High School
300 Highland Avenue
Norwalk, CT 06854
203.852.9488 (O)
bensons@norwalkps.org (O e-Mail)


Membership Services Chair
JOHN L. KUHNER
Cheshire Public Schools
525 South Main Street,
Cheshire, CT 06410
203.250.2534 (O)
203.250.2563 (O Fax)
jkuhner@cheshire.k12.ct.us (O e-Mail)
john.kuhner@yahoo.com (H e-Mail))


Dean of Students
PAMELA RODGERS
Danielson, CT
rahges@gmail.com


Social Media Chair
KEVIN LAM
Valley Regional High School
Deep River, CT
KLAM@reg4.k12.ct.us


Bulletin Editor, Archivist
THOMAS E. REYNOLDS, Ph.D
PO Box 102,
Templeton, MA 01468
617.529-9402 (H)
tomr@mit.edu
treynold@worldpath.net (H e-Mail)
 

NEMFA Calendar 2019-2020
October 2, 2019 - Solo and Ensemble Applications Open
October 25, 2019 - Solo and Ensemble Application Deadline
October 28, 2019 - Solo and Ensemble Postmark Deadline 
December 7, 2019 - Solo and Ensemble Festival (North) - Hartford High School, White  
     River Junction, VT 
December 13, 2019 - 7:30pm, NEMFA Executive Board Meeting - Griswold, CT
December 14, 2019 - Solo and Ensemble Festival (South) - Griswold High School,    
     Griswold, CT  
January 17, 2020 - Concert Festival Acceptance Deadline 
March 19-21, 2020 - 92nd Concert Festival, Hanover High School, Hanover, NH
June 6, 2020 - Executive Board Meeting, 10:00am, Holiday Inn Express, Brattleboro, VT 
  President's Message -
Marjorie Rooen
 
  
September, 2019
 
 
Dear Membership,

I hope you all had a great opening to a new year of music education! We are very happy to be in the north this year. Our solo and ensemble festival in December is coming together nicely. The Concert Festival will be in Hanover, New Hampshire in March. We have been working with Jennifer Chambers, Hannah Rommer and Ian Gollub, and they have everything well underway. The Concert performance will be in Spaulding Auditorium at Dartmouth College, which is literally across the street from the high school.
 
         The executive board has also agreed to revamping our website. Steffen Parker has been tasked for this job and it should be ready for the next school year. I'm looking forward to seeing you all this year and hearing some great music! Remember to tell your friends about the New England Music Festival! It is a wonderful group that supports our talented students.
 
Have a Great year!

Musically, 
     
Marjorie Rooen  

New England Music Festival Association President
marjrooen@yahoo.com
(802) 442-6024
 
  Secretary's Report - NEMFA EXECUTIVE BOARD
Lyvie Beyrent
MINUTES OF THE NEMFA EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
September 7, 2019, 10:00am 
Hanover High School
41 Lebanon St. Ste1
Hanover New Hampshire 03755
  1. Call to Order: Marj calls the meeting to order at 10:01
  2. Roll Call : Marj Rooen, Lyvie Beyrent, Steffen Parker, Frank Whitcomb, Rob Gattie, Eddie Wilkin, John Deeb, Scott Benson, Sal Cicciarella, Danielle Conerty, Jennifer Chambers, Ian Gollub, and Hannah
  3. Association Member Comments
  4. Minutes June 8, 2019 - sent on-line. Steffen makes a motion to approve, Sal seconds.  All in favor, no discussion
  5. Board Member Reports:
    1. Executive Secretary/Treasurer - Bill Sittard - Printed copy. Lost $3,243 over the course of a year. Loss is from non-income activities from board, bulletin, etc. Dues were raised $10, if membership stays same should make up half that loss.  Loss is primarily due to S & E Festivas. Steffen makes motion to approve, Scott seconds. All in favor. Steffen makes a motion to approve to raise the S & E Fee to $20 to take effect on the 20-21 school year, John Deeb seconds. Discussion about how festival experience is more than an All-State Audition, because of adjudicators. Suggestion to look at a financial statement of S & E Festival Summary at a June meeting. All in favor. Discussion about notifying people about the fee going up for next year for budgeting purposes, would it be too confusing?
    2. Past President - Sal Cicciarella - Website needs to be updated and Steffen needs help.  Steffen's plan was to have it ready by Sept 15th, but things got in the way. Steffen would like to keep current website for this year. Worried about content manager or sharing access to the site, as that leads to issues and content accidentally disappearing. If anyone needs help, Sal would be willing to help, please just ask.
    3. President Elect - John Deeb - Trying to gather more members, as there has been a lot of turn over in the band world.
    4. Bulletin - Tom Reynolds - 
    5. Solo & Ensemble Festival - Steffen Parker & Rob Gattie
  1. Contact with S & E hosts - All set
  2. Piano parts from Hartford wanted - All set
    1. Member Services/Background Checks- John Kuhner
We voted to do the more intensive background checks. All set
    1. Librarian - Frank Whitcomb Concert Festival music status - Everyone has music and we have one rental piece coming to Scott in December. A few pieces were not collected back, as the numbers weren't linked to a name. Four schools still have outstanding music missing, and sent bills to schools. Discussion on adding those outstanding fees to S & E bill.
    2. Chorus Manager - Eddie Wilkins (contract, music) Committee for on-site hearing and rooms needed. Accompanist - All set with conductor and music. Will need help with rehearing process and having chorus directors around for festival.  Accompanist is different, by request of director and is aware of rehearsal tracks and for the possibility of performing for S&E Festival part of concert. Was hard to send email to past accompanist, but is ok with it and is looking forward to playing next year. Conductor for following year is all set as well. Frank suggests having Anthony Trekk-King and Anthony Russell for future festivals. Eddie is doing a dissertation on student motivation and asks Steffen for auditions results for past several years. Steffen makes a motion to provide data to Eddie for his dissertation, Rob seconds.  1 abstain, everyone else in favor.
    3. Orchestra Manager - Scott Benson (Percussion needs) - Discrepancy on some of the music price. Will get list of percussion needs (timp, mallets and 2 players) and other stuff to hosts (harpist or pianist needed).  Had an unusual email about having a kobyz player play for S&E Fest and be considered for Concert Festival. Discussion about adjudication and would it be more appropriate for S&E portion of the concert. Will this open up other issues with other instruments? Steffen will email host back and say they are welcome to play for S&E, but not considered for Concert Festival.
    4. Band Manager - Danielle Conerty (Percussion needs) Pianist or harpist needed? Other? - Sent list needs to hosts: timp, 4 battery, 1 mallet player (2 pieces have opportunity for second mallet player). Optional keyboard part in the march (Decision to cut, due to space issues on stage). Plans to ask Matt Westgate for 2021. Lyvie has also been in touch with Brian Messier at Dartmouth College and he would like to offer some students to run sectionals during the festival.
  1. President's Report - Marjorie Rooen
    1. Recruitment efforts. What festivals or conventions can we participate in? Table Apron/Brochures/business cards/recordings - Ad appeared in VT, ME, CT All-State Programs. Received list of NH schools and directors, will send out info to them. Essex is back for auditions. Discussion on budget for promotion and other youth organizations to reach out to. Social media boosts.
    2. Website - do we have a timeline for completion of the new website - Spring. Is our old website up to date or useful for the coming year until the new website is ready - Will use old website for this current year, until updated. 
    3. Liability Insurance
  1. Host school policy at S & E - 
  2. Host School policy at Concert Festival
National Federation of Teachers - sign on for $20.00(still the same price). Go on website and pay, then submit to get reimbursed.
  1. Solo and Ensemble festival preparation
    1. Adjudicators - All set
    2. Information to adjudicators for outstanding solo or ensemble performance in the Concert Festival - All set
    3. Certificates of participation - All set, Danielle will check her school
  2. Unfinished Business
    1. New Southern S & E Festival hosts, Griswold HS
    2. Host for 2021 Concert Festival - There was a school interested as we were leaving the general meeting. I never got names. James Wicum.
    3. 2020 Concert Festival - report and tour of facility - John Deeb will host.
  3.   Future Dates
    1. Saturday December 7, 2019 S & E Festival - North
    2. Friday, December 13, 2019 Executive Board Meeting - South
Griswold, CT
    1. Saturday December14, 2019 S & E Festival - South
    2. Saturday December 21, 2019 S & E Festival - Snow Date
    3. 2020 Concert Festival- Hanover High School, Hanover NH - Performance venue Spaulding Auditorium at Dartmouth College. March 19-21, 2020.
    4. Future Concert Festival Dates:
2020 Concert Festival; March 19-21
2021 Concert Festival; March 11-13 Change due to ACDA festival
2022 Concert Festival; March 17-19
2023 Concert Festival; March 16-18
  1.  Any other business that could not be brought to the President before the setting of this agenda?
  2.  NEMFA Executive Board Comments
  3. Tour of Host Facilities
  4.   Adjournment! Rob Gattie made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 11:45am, Sal seconded, all in favor.

Logistic checklist for the NEMFA Concert Festival

Parking
Entrances/Exits
Vocal rehearing rooms
Rehearsal Spaces
Sectional/solo auditions
Performance Space
Audience capacity
Meals - Gym at school, cafe at Spaulding. $20 for student meals, group is looking at it and that meals are nutritious and can meet dietary needs. 
Restrooms/changing areas
Traffic patterns to and from performance Area
Luggage storage - Half the gym when they arrive by host family.  Day of the festival in the garage area near Spaulding.
Meeting Rooms/Directors Forums & General Membership
Hospitality room
Office/working area for Festival director
Nurse/Dean of students
Housing

Information to compile for website:
Maps & directions
Map of school w/rehearsal and performance areas
Hotel information
Food Restaurant Information
Tickets
T-shirts
Recordings
Other?

                                                                     Respectfully submitted,
 
                                                                     Lyvie Beyrent

                                                                      Recording Secretary
Future NEMFA Concert Festival Dates
NEMFA Logo
    
     March 19-21, 2020 - Hanover High School,
                                       Hanover,  NH
     March 18-20, 2021
     March 17-19, 2022
     March 16-18, 2023
 
Be sure to mark these dates into your calendars. We are always in need of host schools for our concert festivals. If you have never hosted a NEMFA Concert Festival at your school, please consider doing so. It is a very rewarding experience for any school to be a host, and most every NEMFA Concert Festival has had a positive effect on the host school's music program for a long time after the festival is over. It is also a great way to raise funds for your local school program. Please contact President Marjorie Rooen if you have any further questions about hosting a NEMFA Concert Festival.   
 
  2020 NEMFA Chorus Manager
Eddie Wilkin
 
  
   Chorus Program  
   for Concert Festival 2020
 
   Alleluia - Jake Narverud
   Awake the Trumpets Lofty Sound -  
   G F Handel
   Wandrers Nachlied - Blake Wilson  
   Rise Up (Women) - Jake Runnestad
   Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel (Men) -  
   Ryan Main
   O, What a Beautiful City - Shawn Kirchner
 
 
 
   
 
Dear Colleagues and Friends,  
 
Welcome back as we start another new school year! Please contact me if you would like to help me this year as part of the Chorus Committee, On-site Hearing, etc. (email: wilkineddie@gmail.com).
 
Our conductor for the 2020 concert festival is Dr. Cory Ganschow, Director of Choral Activities from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.
 
As an active conductor and choral scholar she has chosen a program that highlights her cornerstone as a musician by highlighting both the Soprano and Altos, and Tenors and Bass sections by selecting an SSAA and TTBB piece for the concert festival. The music chosen for the program provides challenging and educating musical selections. Please refer to the list below. Dr. Ganschow is looking forward to working with your students and our wonderful organization.
 
I hope all is well! 
 
Keep Smiling,
 
Eddie Wilkin   
 
2020 NEMFA Choral Manager  
 
 
  2020 NEMFA Chorus Conductor
Dr. Cory Ganschow

Dr. Cory Ganschow is currently Director of Choral Activities at Bradley University. She is extremely active as an adjudicator and clinician for honor choirs across the country including All-State, All-Region, and All-District Choirs. Prior to teaching at Bradley, Ganschow was Coordinator of Music Education and Associate Director of Choral Activities at Western Connecticut State University. She has taught choir in the Texas and Illinois public schools, continues to sing professionally, and is a published researcher and presenter in the areas of choral sound, rehearsal approaches, and engagement.
 
Her life's work emerged from experiencing a moment of sound so profound that her core-beliefs about choral singing were transformed. That transformation lead to her infinite search for how to not only re-create that sound for her students to experience, but how to teach others to re-create that sound and experience for their students: a search that lead to the discovery that choral sound is more than a combination of perfected musical, acoustical, and technical elements. The greatest contribution to a choir's sound is its unified intention to create a moment that will change the human spirit. And so, Ganschow's mission continues as she works to define the exact phenomena that craft those moments, because, in the end, that change in the human spirit is the legacy left behind.
 
She holds a  Ph.D. in Choral Music Education from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, a  MME  from Illinois State University and a  BME  from Millikin University where she studied conducting with Dr. Brad Holmes.
 
  2020 NEMFA Orchestra Manager -
Scott Benson
Dear Colleagues,

As a new school year begins, I'm happy to report that preparations are well under way for this year's NEMFA Orchestra. The upcoming 2020 festival will be under the baton of Mr. Allen Tinkham, whose biography is below. As the director of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Composers Orchestra, he is a champion of new music. He has won the ASCAP National Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music nine times, and leads Chicago's only professional orchestra performing exclusively the works of living composers. Chicago area music critics have recognized him not only as an outstanding conductor, but also as an excellent educator; he brings a unique set of skills and knowledge to the NEMFA stage, and I eagerly anticipate the work he does with our students.
 
It is never too early to start thinking ahead for a performance, and to this end, I am pleased to announce the program for next year's festival. The concert opens with "The Machine Awakes," an electro-acoustic composition written by Steven Bryant in 2013. Working with electronics is a new technique for the NEMFA orchestra, and fits with the conductor's reputation for "Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music." The largest work on the program is the first movement of the "Symphony No. 1 in E Minor" by Florence Price. Price is a composer who is likely to be unfamiliar to many students and directors; according to Tinkham, she is noted as the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer and the first to have a composition played by a major orchestra. The symphony we will perform comes from 1932; while it definitely contains echoes of Dvorak's "New World Symphony," it is in no way derivative, creating a sonic world uniquely its own. The closing piece on the program is Franz von Suppé's "Light Cavalry Overture." Although the operetta for which it was written is rarely performed, this 1866 overture contains many familiar melodies and may be Suppé's best-known work.
 
What a program! Covering a variety of time periods and styles, there are exquisite moments for every section of the orchestra, and numerous solo opportunities throughout the ensemble. I hope you will share this repertoire with your students, and get them excited about taking part. Best wishes to all, and if you have any comments, questions, complaints, or suggestions regarding the NEMFA orchestra, please do not hesitate to be in touch.

 Sincerely,

Scott Benson

NEMFA Orchestra Manager
Director of Orchestras, Brien McMahon High School
Norwalk, CT

.
  2020 NEMFA Orchestra Conductor -
Allen Tinkham
Allen Tinkham is increasingly recognized as one of the most inspiring and exciting conductors and teachers of his generation. He is hailed by the Chicago Tribune as both a conductor and teacher, described as working "wonders" conducting with "uncanny control" and as one of Chicago's most important "educators, mentors and inspirational guides in the training of tomorrow's orchestral professionals."

As the Music Director of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras (CYSO), Tinkham oversees artistic programming and faculty and leads the Symphony Orchestra each season including appearances at Orchestra Hall in Symphony Center and Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park. Tinkham led the orchestra in its Carnegie Hall debut, first live broadcast, first recording release, and six international tours on four continents.
 
Since Tinkham joined CYSO, programs have tripled and the budget has doubled. CYSO's Symphony Orchestra is regularly broadcast by WFMT and has received numerous Illinois Council of Orchestras Youth Orchestra of the Year and Programming of the Year awards. The orchestra is internationally acclaimed as "one of the country's most famous youth outfits." (Muso Magazine) John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune said of their recent performance of Varèse's Amériques, the first ever by an American youth orchestra, "The performance would have done credit to an adult professional orchestra."
 
As an advocate and champion of contemporary music, Tinkham has won nine American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers National Awards for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music (ASCAP). Tinkham is also the Music Director of the Chicago Composers Orchestra, Chicago's only professional orchestra performing exclusively the works of living composers.
 
In high demand as a guest conductor and educator, Tinkham has conducted summer festivals and NAfME All-State Orchestras throughout the U.S. including the All-Eastern and All-Northwest Orchestras. He was the Assistant Conductor for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's holiday concerts for six seasons, and he has guest conducted the Colorado Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, and the Members of Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
 
Tinkham attended the Eastman School of Music, University of Michigan School of Music, and American Academy of Conducting of the Aspen Music Festival. He was invited to the 14th International Nicolai Malko Competition and the 4th International Conductors Competition Sir Georg Solti and is a laureate of the League of American Orchestras Bruno Walter Conductor Preview.
 
Tinkham began his career as Apprentice Conductor at the Oregon Symphony and before the end of his apprenticeship was appointed Music Director of CYSO-the youngest to win the post in its history.
  2020 NEMFA Band Manager
Danielle Conerty
 
Dear Colleagues,

Welcome back to a new school year! Hope that you had a wonderful summer and are recharged and ready for the coming year! 
 
  We look ahead to the 2020 NEMFA Concert Festival: we are excited to be back up "north" in Hanover, NH this coming year! The band will be conducted by Dr. Elizabeth Peterson, Associate Director of Bands and Clinical Professor of Music at the University of Illinois. Prior to Illinois, Dr. Peterson was a tenured professor of music education at the Ithaca College School of Music. She spent 17 years at Ithaca College directing numerous ensembles and teaching a variety of music education courses. Her current research focus is the experience of first-year music teachers. Dr. Peterson has selected a wonderful program for the 2020 NEMFA Concert Band: His Honor March by Henry Fillmore, Dum Spiro Spero by Chris Pilsner, Symphony of Fables, Movements 1 and 3 by Julie Giroux, and Dance of the Jesters by Peter Tchaikovsky/arr. Ray Cramer. Please encourage any student musicians that you know to perform in the New England Solo and Ensemble Festival in order to be eligible for the New England Concert Festival Band. This is not an opportunity to miss with an amazing conductor and wonderful repertoire!
It was a pleasure to serve as the NEMFA Band Manager this past year and I look forward to continuing in this role. I wish you all a great new school year and I hope to see you all at the 2019 NEMFA Solo and Ensemble Festival in December!


Sincerely,

Danielle Conerty 
NEMFA Band Manager

 
NEMFA Band Manager
Band Director, Hartford High School  
White River Jct., Vermont. 
 
  2020 NEMFA Band Conductor
Dr. Elizabeth Peterson
Dr. Elizabeth Peterson, clinical professor of music, and associate director of bands, joined the Illinois faculty in the fall of 2015. She conducts the Illinois Wind Orchestra, serves as the placement coordinator for student teachers, and teaches courses in instrumental conducting. Prior to her appointment at the University of Illinois, Dr. Peterson was a tenured professor of music education at the Ithaca College School of Music. During the seventeen years she spent at Ithaca College, she conducted numerous ensembles including the Symphonic Band, Brass Choir and All-Campus Band. She taught courses in conducting, undergraduate and graduate courses in music education, and supervised student teachers. Dr. Peterson was the co-conductor of the Ithaca Concert Band (community band) for fifteen years. Her current research focuses on the experiences of first-year teachers.

Dr. Peterson is active as a guest conductor, adjudicator, and school music consultant in the United States and Canada. She presents clinics at the local, state and national levels in the field of music education. Dr. Peterson's two books,  The  Music Teachers First Year: Tales of Challenge Joy and Triumph,  and  The Music Teacher's Later Years: Reflection with Wisdom  are both published by Meredith Music.

Dr. Peterson received a Bachelor of Music Education and Bachelor of Literature, Science and Arts degree from the University of Michigan where she studied trumpet with Armando Ghitalla. She received a Master of Music in Music Education and Trumpet Performance from Northwestern University, where she studied trumpet with Vincent Cichowicz, and performed in the North Shore Community Band under the direction of John P. Paynter. She earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Education from Shenandoah Conservatory.

Prior to her appointment at Ithaca College, Dr. Peterson was an arts administrator and director of bands in the public schools of Ohio and Illinois. She holds a number of professional memberships including the College Band Directors National Association, National Association for Music Education, National Band Association, Mu Phi Epsilon, Phi Kappa Phi, and Pi Kappa Lambda. Dr. Peterson is a member of the American Bandmasters Association and the Midwest Clinic Board of Directors.

  2020 Sousa National High School Honor Band
June 24-27, 2020
Audition music for the 2020 John Philip Sousa National High School High School Honor Band is now posted on our website, found at   https://www.sousanhsband.com   !! Please have your students check it out and get ready to submit auditions beginning on October 10, 2019. Auditions will be accepted in January 1, 2020 !!!!
 
The Sousa Foundation is proud to present the 14th biannual edition of the John Philip Sousa National High School Honor Band from June 24-27, 2020, showcasing high achieving musicians from across the US. We are very pleased to announce that Michael J. Colburn former conductor of the "President's Own" United States Marine Band and former New England Music Festival Association Guest Conductor and Student member from Vermont will lead the 2020 John Philip Sousa National High School Honor Band Festival. It will take place at The Bromfield School in Harvard, MA. The performance will be the last day at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA.  We are hoping to get as many auditions as possible this year! Our goal is to represent all 50 states!

Lowell Mason House Project
by Thomas E. Reynolds
 
LOWELL MASON HOUSE REPORT
 
September, 2019

Exciting things are happening at the Lowell Mason House ! 
 
First of all in September, 2019, the Lowell Mason House has just unveiled a fresh, new website designed by Ms. Meghan Ferris from Norwood, MA who is a Music Education major at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Please check it out at www.lowellmasonhouse.com.   
 
And secondly, the Lowell Mason House is pleased to announce our first Music Education Advocacy Competition. During the autumn of 2019, participants will be asked to submit a video, song, presentation or paper that expresses their ideas on an important issue - the future of Music Education Advocacy in the 21st century. Awards will be given to the grand prize winner and runner up winner. There will be also be honorable mention winners. The Lowell Mason House is looking for the creative ideas of those of all ages who are passionate about music. We are looking forward to hearing the voices students, teachers, composers, performers, songwriters and anyone who is passionate about music. 
 
Applying is a two step process:
1. Fill out and submit the interest form. Interest forms are due November 1, 2019. 
2. Complete the project and submit the application. Applications are due December 4, 2019.  
 
Applicants need to address the following four questions:
 
1. How did you become passionate about music?
2. How did your experience in music frame what you do now?
3. What areas of music education and/or performance need greater support?
4. How can an arts and music education advocacy organization like the Lowell Mason House help fulfill your musical dreams in the future?
 
Words to think about - Innovation, Passion, Excitement, Enthusiasm, Motivation, Vision, Youth, Adult Education,  Facilitate, Research, Specialty, Discipline, Technology  
   
The submission could be in the form of a video, paper, presentation or song The grand prize will be $5,000.00. A runner up prize of $1,000 will also be awarded as well. There will also be honorable mentions. Award winners will be announced on January 8, 2020, Lowell Mason's birthday!  
 
For details, please go to the Lowell Mason House website at www.lowellmasonhouse.com.  
 
We are at the point of bringing utilities into the house now including electricity, water, gas, and HVAC. We are working with a consultant from Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts to help us with plans for floors, ceilings, plaster work, trim, and interior fixtures.  
 
The Lowell Mason House has raised over $375,000.00 now towards the necessary $500,000.00 to complete the restoration of the house, to turn it into a museum and a meeting place. We are grateful to the 15 music educators associations around the United States that have made contributions towards its restoration, including the New England Music Festival Association. The NEMFA Executive Board voted to sponsor a window installation at the house, and this donation helped the Lowell Mason House meet a $25,000.00 Challenge Match.  
 
The mission of the Lowell Mason House is to preserve, restore, and promote Lowell Mason's birthplace as a significant historical and educational resource.
 
  • Partnering with local arts organizations by providing office and meeting space to support the arts and the importance of arts education in our schools
  • Building an up-to-date rehearsal and performance space which will include music technology and recording facilities
  • Restoring and preserving the house to include a Lowell Mason museum
 
All cultivated within the home of the Father of Music Education, and fueled by a living endowment, fulfilling Lowell Mason's dream that "Children must be taught music as they are taught to read."
 
Donations are always welcomed and we can now see the house moving closer to completion. Thank you for considering making a tax-deductible donation today. Please make checks payable to: The Lowell Mason House, P. O. Box 913 Medfield, MA 02052. Your contribution is tax-deductible as a charitable contribution to the extent provided by U.S. tax law. ·
 
Thomas E. Reynolds

Please feel free to drop me a line at tomr@mit.edu or treynold@worldpath.net for any suggestions to improve the Bulletin. Find it also on www.nemfa.org.

Hope that you had a great start to your school year!

 

Thomas Reynolds

New England Music Festival Association, Inc.