Paul Copenhaver
President

Olds Ambassador Cornet to MMEA President

First, thank you to everyone who made our 70th MMEA In-Service Conference/Clinic a success! Our Vice-Presidents did an exceptional job of selecting clinic topics and clinicians. President Paul Swofford did an incredible job of “pulling it all together” to make it one our best conferences ever. And, we should all thank Kurt Bauche for changes and improvements he made during his six years of dedicated leadership to MMEA.

It is astounding to consider the number of performers, clinicians, exhibitors, and attendees who participated in our conference. A preliminary count of MMEA active members attending the conference is 1759, and total number of exhibit personnel is estimated at about 250. So, you when you consider the performing groups, clinicians, parents, and others, “traffic” at our conference/clinic is well over 10,000..

There are often concerns expressed about the space at Tan-Tar-A. We use just about every available area for concerts, clinics, warm-up rooms, storage areas, registration tables, food service areas, water stations, or some other function. Even though space is utilized to maximum and sometimes we feel crowded, there is much to be said about having everyone in close proximity during the conference. [Our exhibitors are very happy to be near the action!] A larger venue where things would be spread out in various buildings would certainly change the character of our conference.

New Vice-Presidents, District Presidents, and Advisory Council members bring new energy and new ideas to our organization. Just like any effective organization, we always need to be aware of where we’ve been---yet we also need to look to the future. That vitality is important!

It should be noted that many of our newly elected Vice-Presidents were already hard at work on Sunday, January 27---the day after our conference/clinic! That level of enthusiasm and dedication is hard to beat.

By the time you read this, the newly elected Board of Directors members will have attended a Leadership Training Session. During this session the specific duties of each office were discussed, information was given about conference planning, and goals and objectives for the future were set.

When our Constitution and By-Laws were revised last year, the office of Jazz Vice-President was initiated. Chris Becker was elected to that post, and has the task, with help from the remainder of the Board of Directors, of setting the course for that position.

When the Board of Directors and Advisory Council meet in May, business items will include additions to the Policy and Procedures Manual, improving our mentoring efforts, a planned late summer advocacy workshop, and, of course, next year’s conference/clinic.

We are also working diligently to improve the appearance and function of our MMEA website. Again, by the time you read this, we will hopefully have completed some significant changes. Our goal is to provide our members with a user-friendly site that is easy to navigate, provides useful information, will readily accept registration and/or membership forms, and will allow communication with members about important issues.

Recently, President Swofford wrote about his initial experience in band as an elementary student. In my case, my Sunday school teacher’s son was an excellent trumpet player at the Bowling Green High School. I wanted to be just like him---a baseball player and trumpet player---what could be better? We had to take a listening test to enter band classes, and my mother feared I might not pass. To her [and my] surprise, I got a perfect score. [That would probably also surprise my music theory teachers in college!] With that hurdle accomplished, the next step was to buzz the various sizes of brass mouthpieces, and tell our band director, Marvin Stratmann, which was the easiest on which to produce a satisfactory buzz. Being the genius that I was, and knowing the trumpet was the smallest brass instrument, I selected the smallest mouthpiece. “That’s French horn,” Mr. Stratmann said, and I thought I was doomed to play that awful round thing. After a terribly long couple of weeks thinking I was Bowling Green’s next horn player, I was soon the proud owner of an Olds Ambassador cornet. Who’d have ever thought those events would transpire into a 35-year [and still counting] career in music, and the opportunity to serve as MMEA President!

I do thank you for the opportunity to serve as President of our Missouri Music Educators Association. I, of course, have lots of goals I’d like to accomplish during the next two years. MMEA’s previous leaders have established a firm organizational foundation. However, change is inevitable, and organizations such as MMEA need to change with the times to remain viable and useful to our members. Let us now commence to building for the future of MMEA!