Instrumental Council News - Peter Toews
As the incoming chair of the Instrumental Music Council, I would like to recognize Craig Westwood for his leadership, commitment, and service during his time as the Chair-Elect and Chair of our council. Throughout his time as chair, Craig empowered every member of the council to think anew and act anew. Especially during our virtual conference this year, Craig was focussed on providing the best experience possible for our membership. My most sincere thanks to you, Craig!
I would also like to recognize and thank our newly elected council members:
Instrumental Music Council Chair-Elect Tim Libby
District 1 Representative Andrew Holcombe
District 3 Representative Loni Obluda
District 5 Representative Tom Chapman
District 7 Representative Katie Schrichte
Thank you to everyone who attended our sessions at the virtual CMEA Clinic/Conference in January. We appreciate the feedback we’ve received, and I would welcome any other thoughts you may have as we move forward this spring. The members of the IMC are committed to providing support to all of you, in any way we can, to support your efforts to continue providing outstanding music education to your students.
We hope you will consider sending in audition recordings and clinic proposals. We would also encourage members in the even numbered districts to consider running for a council position next year.
General Music Council News - Cathy Keller
Greetings fellow General Music Educators!
As your incoming General Music Council Chair, I want to take a moment to introduce myself and our incoming chair-elect, Kalinda Theobold, as well as share our state-wide happenings within our local chapters! I have been serving on the G.M.C. for six years, first, as the district three representative for four, followed by the chair-elect under Elizabeth Moffett (Ford). I am in my twelfth year as the general music teacher at Prairie Ridge Elementary School in Firestone in St. Vrain Valley School District. Kalinda has been serving as the district 7 representative for two years. She is the general music teacher at Pomona Elementary in Grand Junction.
During my tenure as the G.M.C. Chair, I hope to connect with YOU, hearing and learning from each other. I am eager to finally see you, to learn with you, and to make music with you again. This year has posed many great challenges for us, and I have seen compassion and empathy as we have navigated this new way of learning, teaching and engaging. I am in awe of our CMEA general music community!
Stay in the know with our local chapter events:
RMC-AOSA - March 13th & 27th featuring Drue Bullington “
May 1st featuring Peggy McCreary & Barbara Grenoble “The Beat Goes
On and On and On!”
ROCKE - April 10th featuring Karla Cherwinski: “Kodaly ‘tune-up’”
Please reach out to me with any questions, suggestions, or just to say hi! You can reach me at cmea.gmc@gmail.com.
Warmly,
Cathy Keller
Vocal Music Council News - Tanner Oharah
Hello wonderful music educators,
My name is Tanner Oharah and I am excited to be serving as your CMEA vocal music chair. I am grateful for the time I was able to spend learning from Todd Dicamillo and realize I have some big shoes to fill. Congratulations to Alyssa Miller on being awarded the position of chair-elect! I am very excited for our partnership in leading the vocal council for the next couple years. I would also like to welcome our new council members, Shannon Schell from district 1, Anna Saks from district 5, and Marla Sitton from district 7. Together with all of our council members we will work to support singing in Colorado. It is my hope for this council that in this time of so many questions about what kinds, distances, and types of singing are allowed that we are newly able to respect and recognize the diverse and creative ways that music education is happening in all of our classrooms around the state. If you have great ideas of how the CMEA vocal council can support you or our state please reach out and I would love to hear your ideas and suggestions.
Thank you for entrusting us with this opportunity to serve you,
Tanner Oharah
College/University Music Council News - Sean Flanigan
Greetings to my music education colleagues!
I am excited to be once again serving as the Chair of the College-University Council. With the transitions of the last year we are still in the process of selecting one of our Council members to serve as Chair-Elect; stay tuned for more information. The success of our recent virtual 2021 Clinic-Conference leaves us with much to think about and much to do. Special thanks to all of the individuals involved in the planning and execution of another excellent event. As a reminder, the sessions from this past January event will be available online for participants and attendees to reference. I am particularly excited to work with my colleagues to move our profession into a new and challenging future. Those of us on the C-U Council are focused on providing the training and experiences to our future music educators that will prepare them to effectively engage with these challenges is a way that carries on the rich legacy of music education in Colorado and throughout the nation. Finally, I am inspired by all of my colleagues in our organization who set examples of dedication and integrity. Thank you for all you do!
Greetings from Tri-M - Michelle Ewer
Thanks to all of the student chapters that attended Tri-M day 2021. We had over 125 register for the event. While it was not our normal 350-400 in attendance, given the fact that we are in a pandemic I was beyond thrilled. I am so appreciative of the extra effort all of you made to make this happen. Scott Lang definitely started our day off with a bang. My own chapter loved the keynote. I hope yours did as well.
Special thanks to our presenters: Sam Connor, Lindsey Fulcher, Robin Hoch, Steve Holley, and Sara Off for sharing their expertise with us. Sam and Robin thanks for your gracious flexibility in the process. All sessions are accessible for the next year. Please take the time to go back and catch some of these if you have not done so. Thanks to William Kohut and the staff at Creative Generation for helping to make sure Tri-M day was part of the Virtual Conference.
It was not an easy task, but one which brought hope and Joy to so many people.
Tri-m Social Hour was very fun. Congratulations to Pueblo Central for having the member who was our Bingo Winner. Even if you did not win, perhaps you gained some Tri-M History Knowledge. I want to share a few quotes over the question What does Tri-M mean to me?
1. “To me, Tri-M is a community where we can be ourselves and share music. It is a safe place that brings all types of music together.”
2. “It’s a social outlet that doesn’t judge you for who you are. It is a safe space and a place for those who feel like they don’t belong and want to express themselves through the art of music.”
3. “Tri-M is a group of people who love music and create new friendships while learning new things about music which we all love.”
4. “Tri-M is an opportunity to make a meaningful difference in my community.”
5. “It is a safe place to meet new people and become better at music. We can talk about music and talk with Band, Orchestra and Choir.”
The statements above were just the beginning of our Jamboard. Thanks to all who contributed and played our games Wednesday afternoon. I greatly missed our ending performance, but hearing your ideas and watching you write and share made my heart very full and I thank you so much!
As we continue with our year I ask, What is your chapter doing to make a difference? Our newly formed chapter made Valentine’s day cards for a local nursing home. The compassion and feeling that students put into the cards was touching. Together we can make a difference! Continue to make Tri-M strong. We all need each other more than ever.
Sincerely,
Michelle Ewer
Colorado Tri-M Chair
CMEA Awards
Did you know that you can purchase CMEA Solo and Ensemble Awards even if you did not attend a CHSAA Solo and Ensemble Festival? If you hosted a regional Solo and Ensemble
Festival or a county of district festival you can still order CMEA Solo and Ensemble medals.
Did you have students selected to the 2021 List of Honor Students for All-State Jazz Band, All-State Band, All-State Orchestra, All-State Choir? If you did this might be a great time to honor these students with an All-State Medal. You can order these medals for your students and have them shipped directly to your home address. This is a great way to recognize your students for their accomplishment.
Have you thought about stocking up on Solo and Ensemble Medals, All-State Medals, or Clinic/Conference Performing Group medals? This might be a good time to spend remain budget dollars to stock up on these medals before your funds run out.
All award orders can be placed by going to the CMEA web site at cmeaonline.org, clicking on the General Information Tab and Clicking on the Order CMEA Awards Tab. All transactions can be completed on-line, including credit card payment.
Do you have questions regarding CMEA awards? You can direct those questions to CMEA Awards Manager- Ken Anderson at awardscmeaonline@gmail.com