|
Music Educators National Conference |
Florida Orchestra Association Welcome to the 2008-2009 school year! I hope you were able to take some time over the summer to recharge your batteries, enjoy your family and friends, and maybe even take in a professional development opportunity or two. It’s always nice to have some extra time to rediscover our instruments or brush up on that new technique or lesson that has been waiting on the back burner during the months that school is in session. Speaking of great opportunities, our summer conference was an outstanding experience for all of the members in attendance. We met once again at the Radisson Worldgate Resort in Kissimmee last month, and it proved to be another excellent event! The conference gave each of us time to network with our colleagues and engage in some critical conversations and sessions prior to returning to our school sites. Our keynote speaker, Justin Locke, kept us both entertained and informed about current trends in the world of orchestral musicians. We were truly impressed by the wealth of knowledge and experience on display by many of our own Florida educators who presented sessions – be sure to check out our website, www.myfoa.org, for pictures and highlights of the event. The evening activity at Downtown Disney was great as well, but we’ll keep those pictures off the website (what happened at Disney stays at Disney!) The July executive board meeting of our organization afforded us the opportunity to focus on many of the goals central to our cause as string educators. We have a fantastic board, and I urge all of you to take advantage of the resource you have in your district chair. We welcome your input as we tackle the important cause of promoting and expanding our string programs throughout the state, especially during this critical time of budgetary woes and state educational decrees. The process for assigning adjudicators for District Concert MPAs will take on a new format. The adjudication and MPA committees met over the summer to formally establish the process for the centralized selection of adjudicators. It is our goal that, through this new process, we will raise the level of adjudication across our state. Additionally, we plan to have a formal monitoring process in place to ensure that directors and students are receiving fair, accurate, and professional comments and suggestions during the MPA event. Be sure to attend your district FOA meeting in August to receive important information for the rest of the school year. In keeping with our focus on mentoring new teachers, I am asking each district chair to provide me with a list of teachers in their district that are new to string teaching. We are looking for one member in each district to assist our FOA mentoring committee with identifying and supporting our new teachers. Don’t be shy….we need our experienced colleagues to share and empathize with our newbies! As September approaches, please be sure to renew your FMEA/MENC membership. This is critical as we prepare for All-State auditions. I urge all of the membership to log on to our website, www.myfoa.org, and periodically check for updates, important information, and pictures of the exciting orchestral events that are happening throughout our state. Let me end by saying how much I appreciate all of your efforts in keeping music alive and vibrant in your classrooms and in the hearts of your students. Rosin those bows, tune those strings and let’s get to work! Dr. Scott Rudes
|
Home | Directors | MPA | All-State | Exec. Board | Help | Contact |
