February 2015 -Volume 18, No. 5

General Meeting and Program
February 11, 2015

• Location: Holiday Hill Baptist Church, 730 Mandalay Rd, Jacksonville, FL, 9:15 am
• General Meet and Greet. Refreshments will be served in the Fellowship Building. 9:30 am
• General Business Meeting, 10:30 am
• Program: Beth Martelli and Deborah McBurney will present “The Power of Visuals.”

They are bringing a group of 40 elementary students to perform for us with chorus, recorder and Orff ensembles. This will be an outstanding presentation for us to hear about Music Education in Duval. And what a great opportunity to hear the students!

Please join us for this exciting program!
________________________________________________________________________
President’s Pen
We are all excited about the upcoming Multi Piano Festival! Plans are well underway, and repertoire will be presented at an upcoming meeting. Students always love to be a part of this Festival, and eagerly ask when it will be held next. Don’t miss out on this opportunity!

At this month’s program, learn more about music education in our schools, and how it affects us as private music teachers. Perhaps we may hear more like these points brought up in a March 2012 article on foxnews.com:

• quality music education instruction improves academic performance—specifically, better scores on standardized tests
  
• almost all of the past winners of the Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science, and Technology for high school students played one or more instruments, supporting a long-debated connection between success in music and science

And upcoming, we’ll hear more about music therapy, with our guest speaker from the Medical Music Therapy Initiative. Referenced in this same article, above: Music therapy has proven to have some success among children with disabilities, as well. Children are drawn to the rhythm of the instruments and many find a way to communicate and open themselves up by singing or playing an instrument. Increasingly, schools and after-school programs for children with disabilities are incorporating music therapy and seeing great results.

There are so many venues for musicians to explore career paths! JMTA is not just about “piano teaching.” Come see all that we have to offer!
~Lorraine Eaton, JMTA President
________________________________________________________________________
JMTA GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
KEYBOARD CONNECTION
JANUARY 14, 2015
Members in attendance (14): Annie Rueff, Lorraine Eaton, John Willard Utuk, Sandra Roberts, Lindsay Hardee, Lisa Smith, Lynn Freeman, Sandra Stewart, Susan Figlietti, Betty Atkinson, Paulette Kilts, Maureen Rhodes, Cheryl Cafrelli, Kamila Shahtahktinski.
Meeting called to order by JMTA President, Lorraine Eaton at 9:30am.
Minutes read by Lisa Smith. Approved as read.
Treasurer’s Report: Paulette Kilts

• Sheet passed out with transaction reports for JMTA accounts. Listed all deposits, expenses, and balances as of Nov. 30th
• Picked up financial documents and flash drive from CPA Kevin Chase after review.
• Reviewed and completed the dues form. She recommends that we consider reviewing the dues structure based on our newly revised Bylaws.

Membership: Susan Figlietti said she did not have anything to report at this time but has had a couple of inquiries. Paulette Kilts announced that seven individuals have become members of our new collegiate chapter at UNF.
District IV Student Day: Denise Homsley not in attendance but Lorraine reminded members that Student Day is Jan. 31, 2015 @ FSCJ South. Sandra Stewart announced that the Honors Recital will definitely not be able to be held at Riverside Presbyterian Church but will take place on Feb. 8th (location TBA).
District IV Concerto: Ileana Fernandez, chair.

• Application Deadline Feb. 23rd. Competition Mar. 7th @ UNF.
• Non-Member Teacher Fee – $40.

Committee Reports:
Altruistic: No report.
Certification: No report.
Communications: No report.
Community Service Award: Chairperson needed.
Historian: Annie Rueff has agreed to be our new Historian.
Internet Media: Lorraine asked if members had any questions regarding website. Website page has changed slightly; new theme pending.
Piano Festival: Report given by Paulette Kilts, Co-Chair

• Date: November 21, 2015
• Venue: UNF Lazarra Hall
• Budget: Entrant fee will be changed from $25 to $30
• Repertoire selection: Almost completed; same number of levels and groups as at 2011 concert.
• Conductors secured: Beth Martelli, Dr. Michael Mastronicola, Maureen Rhodes, and Dr. Sandra Stewart , student conductors; Dr. MJ Palmer, teacher conductor.
• Paulette met with Erin Bennett and Fine Arts Dep’t at UNF and has a tentative contract.
• Expenses will be much reduced thanks to funds from the President’s program at UNF.
• Plan for Teacher Reading Session:
• Location: Keyboard Connection
• Date: April 8th. Sandra Stewart and Betty Atkinson will perform the repertoire for teachers.
• As much information as is available will be ready for distribution to teachers at this meeting and for publication on the website.
• Program cover design/poster contest: new chairman is Annie Rueff
• Next committee meeting will be Wednesday, Feb. 25th at 10am at Keyboard Connection. Agenda will include: Venue contract info, finalize budget, review forms, report on rehearsal locations/times, confirm information for April JMTA presentation.

Programs: Sandra Stewart reported that the next program will be at Holiday Hill Baptist Church Feb. 11th featuring Beth Martelli. The March meeting will be at St. Paul’s Catholic and Stephen Choate, Music Therapist, will present, April meeting will be the presentation of music for piano festival event, and for the May meeting the scholarship winners perform for us.
Scholarships: Kamila Shahtahktinski announced scholarship dates and deadlines:

• High School Senior Scholarship applications due by Feb. 28, 2015. Competition is Mar. 14, 2015.
• Music Camp Scholarship application deadline Mar. 25, 2015.

Applications are on website.
Social: Betty Atkinson, chairman, arranged for a great spread for today’s meeting. Next month Denise Homsley and Sarah Blazs will bring refreshments. April meeting volunteers still needed.
Student Recitals: Sandra reminded members to enter students in the Proton Therapy Community Recital Apr. 14th @ 6pm; no elementary students are allowed and students can perform one or two selection. Mar. 8th is a regular recital at Deermeadows Baptist.
Unfinished Business: None
New Business: Paulette Kilts went over the new FTC Guidelines with membership.

• Subject: Adoption of Schedule B
• In accordance with FTC conditions, we revised our Constitution and Bylaws last summer. Lorraine completed an application that stated we had changed the Constitution and Bylaws based on FTC guidelines.
• State has already adopted antitrust policy and we have no choice but to do the same.
• Paulette Kilts moved that we adopt the Antitrust Policy Schedule B.
• Susan Figlietti seconded.
• Lengthy discussion ensued.
• Scholarships are not affected in terms of not allowing non-member students to compete. However, Competitive Concerto is now open to non-members.
• Provisional membership is still permitted.
• Certification is the same.
• The local President is automatically the Compliance Officer.
• If we don’t adopt this policy we can no longer be affiliated with MTNA.
• Vote taken; Three members opposed, eleven in favor. Motion passed.

Tidbits from FSMTA Conference: Lorraine had a great time. Erin Bennett coordinated a dinner for all the collegiate members from around the state. Michael Mastronicola gave a class on teaching younger students of which Paulette spoke highly. Next conference will be Oct. 22-24th in Ft. Myers; MTNA Competitions will be Oct. 25th same location.
Announcements: Next general meeting is Feb. 11th at Holiday Hill Baptist Church.
Lunch following program at San Jose Deli and Grill.
Free music offered to membership.
Adjournment: 10:20am
Respectfully Submitted,
Lisa Smith
_______________________________________________________________
JMTA Multi-Piano Festival “The World is a Stage”
Plans are underway for the next Multi-Piano Festival scheduled for Saturday, November 21, 2015. “The World is a Stage” will feature music with opera and musical theater themes. With the financial assistance the UNF Music Department, we will be performing in Lazarra Hall on the UNF campus.
Student participants will range from Levels 1 – 5, Advanced (high school) and teacher performers. Repertoire selection is almost complete.

A featured duet team performing advanced repertoire will be selected by audition to perform one 4 hand duet on the program. This duet repertoire should follow the theme of the event – opera or musical theater.

All student performers are invited to enter the program design contest with the chance to win $50 if their design is selected.

Conductors have been secured for the Festival. Conductors for student groups will be Beth Martelli, Dr. Michael Mastronicola, Maureen Rhodes, and Dr. Sandra Stewart. The conductor for the teachers group will be Dr. Merril J. Palmer.

Plan now to attend the JMTA program on Wednesday, April 8, 2015 at Keyboard Connection. It will feature Betty Atkinson and Dr. Sandra Stewart performing the Piano Festival student and teacher repertoire. Schedules and forms should be available to teachers at this program as well for the Piano Festival.

~Paulette Kilts and Lindsay Hardee, co-chairs
_________________________________________________________________
New Committee Chairperson
Annie Rueff is our new Historian Chairperson. Be sure to check out our scrapbook at the monthly meetings! If you have any programs, pictures, etc. from any JMTA events you attend, please pass them on to Annie for inclusion in our scrapbook and Historian files. Sandra Roberts is our new Community Service Award Chairperson. Although all application forms are available online at fmta.org, Sandra is available to answer any questions you may have about the application process.
​
Thank you to these members for helping JMTA be a great Association!