January 2018 - Volume 21, No. 4

District 4 General District Meeting and Teacher Open Mic

• Date: Wednesday, January 10
• Time: 9:15am: Meet and Greet
• 9:30am: District 4 General Meeting
• 10:30am: Teacher Open Mic (deadline to register is Friday, 1/5)
• 11:30am: Catered Lunch
• Place: Keyboard Connection, 9912 San Jose Blvd., Jacksonville, 32257

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President’s Pen
Happy New Year to all my colleagues,

I trust that you had a blessed Christmas and are looking forward to a new year packed with innovative and exciting musical activities. Dr. Anita Renfroe gave us much food for thought at our November meeting about “Accompanying Do’s and Don’ts.” Thanks also to Erin Bennett for her detailed report of the FSMTA Mini-Conference. Our district meeting in January will give us a chance to feature our unusual and/or favorite performances with “open mic.” Now is your chance to be a star!

Other upcoming events include: District IV Student Day, Concerto Competition, Outstanding Pianists’ Competition, preparation for Piano Festival and monthly programs to enhance your teaching skills. Be sure to join us each month!
See you at the District Meeting on January 10 at 9:30 am at Keyboard Connection.

Let’s make 2018 the best musical year ever.
Dr. Sandra Roberts
JMTA President
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JMTA General Meeting
Wednesday, November 8, 2017, Keyboard Connection

• Call to order 9:35 am
  • President Sandra Roberts
  • Parliamentarian Lynn Freeman
  • Secretary Minutes Lorie Burningham
  • Treasurer’s report Lorraine Eaton
  • Vice President/Membership Lindsay Hardee
  • Provisional membership Michael Mastronicola
• Present: Stephanie Martin, Erin Bennett, Anita Renfroe, Lynn Freeman, Angie Holt, Lorraine Eaton, Denise Homsley, Lorie Burningham, Sandra Roberts, Susan Figlietti, Kama Rasmussen-Li
• Visitors: None
• Welcome: Sandra Roberts
• Lorie Burningham suggested that a motion be made to approve the minutes as printed. A motion to approve as printed was made by Lynn Freeman. Seconded by Anita Renfroe. Minutes stand as printed and as on website.
• Treasurer Report: Lorraine Eaton – Lorraine handed out the transaction report. JMTA rates will remain the same for 2018.
• Membership report: No report

Committee Reports

• Altruistic: Denise Homsley – Denise mailed a card to Sara Blazs with a note that we would donate $25 to the scholarship fund in honor of her grandmother, Jeannie Blazs. Lorraine took out pictures in the scrapbook of Jeannie and Denise will mail them to her. Dr. Roberts read a thank you note to the group from Sarah Murphy thanking JMTA for their support in her nana, Jeannie Blazs’ passing.
• Communications: Angie Holt (email) – High Notes information needs to be to Angie by December 20.
• Community Service Awards: Sandra Roberts – A question was raised last month about what happens when a teacher and student are in different counties. The answer is to list your student as living in your county. If there is a student from another teacher, list the student’s county. Registrations are due by end of December. You can go online and look for community service. There are applications for ages 7-9 and 10-12.
• Ethics: We still need a chair for this position.
• Historian: We need someone to collect and post important items.
• Internet Media: Lorraine Eaton, Co-Chair Chelsea Chacon – Lorraine posted the updated Student Day forms on the website. Scholarship information is current and is on the website as well.
• Piano festival: Lindsay Hardee (not present) Anita Renfroe said that repertoire music has been selected. Preview of the festival music will be in the April program.
• Programs: Anita Renfroe – January program is district – Lorraine is in charge of that one. Jonathan Reed is coming in February. March will be Sandra Palmer. The concerto winners will perform in May.
• Scholarship: Kamila Shahtakhtinski (not present)
• Social: Angie Holt and Lorie Burningham brought refreshments.
• Student Recitals: Christmas recital will be December 17 at 3 PM at Arlington United Methodist Church. Application deadline is the week before. Teachers who participate need to bring cookies.

Old Business

• FSMTA mini-conference report: Erin Bennett. October 28 in Tampa. The morning was used for executive board meetings. The afternoon session had 3 general sessions. The state commissioned composer, Andrew Boss, performed.Written theory and aural theory for Student Day will change in 2019. Next year’s conference will be at the Biltmore in Coral Gables, October 18-21, 2018. The hotel rooms will be $20 more expensive. If you registered by 2017’s conference, you have the option to have it refunded or roll it over to the 2018 conference at the same rate. 2019 will be held in Gainesville.
• The provisional membership vote will take place in the 2018 conference. New board members were elected. The bylaw votes will take place at the next conference. The fundraising efforts were not able to take place. If you’d like to donate to the foundation, contact Becky Barlow. Lorraine asked about donating $15 to the foundation fund. Lorraine will send funds.
• New state board members are located on website. Mary Beth Purchase is the president.
• Student Day reminder given by Denise Homsley. Applications are due January 6. Student Day is February 17.
• Reminder – January open mic meeting is Wednesday, January 10, at Keyboard Connection. Any teacher can share anything. It doesn’t need to be memorized.
  

New Business – None
Meeting is adjourned at 10:08 AM
Program – Anita Renfroe, Do’s ad Don’ts of Accompanying.
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JMTA Treasurer Transaction Report
October 1-31, 2017

• Premier Business Checking October 1, 2017 $7105.70
• Expenses
  • 10/16 check 1083 D. Homsley—Programs Presenter $25.00
• Deposits
  • 10/20 Dues FSMTA $3/MTNA $53 $56.00
  • 10/31 interest .61
• Current Checking $3553.32
• Piano Festival Fund 1306.26
• Warren Fund 2277.73
• October 31, 2017 $7137.31
• Business Money Market (Scholarship) $4209.07
• Business Shares (Piano Festival) 1635.93
• CD (matures 5/21/2018) 8789.82
• Total Assets October 31, 2017 $21,772.13

– Submitted by Lorraine Eaton
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JMTA ‘Open Mic’ Event
Teachers are invited to perform! Join us at Keyboard Connection on Wednesday, January 10th, at 10:30 am for another JAMTA ‘open mic’ event. This is an informal recital for all members who want to perform a solo or duet or chamber music on one of Keyboard Connections’ wonderful grand pianos. You may perform on ANY instrument or voice. Memorization is not required, just an interest in sharing music that you want to perform for a friendly audience. The meeting is at 9:30 am at Keyboard Connections; the teacher’s recital is from 10:30-11:30 am. Let Michael Mastronicola know that you are interested in performing, and the length and title of your solo by January 5th. You have lots of time to prepare–so save the date and plan to play something!

Contact Michael at 904-402-6480 or [email protected]
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Save the Date!

You won’t want to miss the February JMTA General Meeting on Wednesday, February 14th, as Dr. Jonathan Reed presents:

• Musical Interpolation: Filling in Musical Gaps with Student Creativity
• Musical Interpolation is the process of leaving out elements of music to be filled in by students. This interactive approach uses new or current repertoire to explore improvisation, memory, and other topics. This workshop presents case studies of students engaged in filling in musical gaps, and it shows how diverse conversations can result from this exploration. The workshop involves audience members playing examples and filling in gaps themselves. The workshop presents applications to rhythm, aural skills, group classes, and form. Musical Interpolation satisfies the cultural influence to create without being intimidated by totally blank space.
• Dr. Jonathan Reed is a professional pianist in both the concert hall and the classroom. An active arranger and performer, Dr. Reed has arranged and recorded five albums of piano music, presented numerous sacred and classical concerts in the Central Florida area, and performed with both choral and instrumental ensembles. Dr. Reed holds music degrees from Butler University, Bob Jones University, and University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He is Assistant Professor of Music at Warner University, where he teaches piano, music theory, and music history.

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District IV News
District 4 Board Elections
The District 4 Board has approved a slate of nominees for your vote at our next General District Meeting, Wednesday, January 10, 2018, at Keyboard Connection. Please plan to be in attendance to cast your vote. This is also the day of our fun Music Teacher Open Mic event which you will not want to miss!
The board presents the following nominees. Additional nominations will be taken from the floor.

• President–Erin Bennett
• Vice President–Sarah Hartley
• Treasurer–Chelsea Chacon
• Recording Secretary–Lorie Burningham

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2018 District IV Student Day
Denise Homsley, Mus.M., NCTM, Chair, District IV Student Activities

• The 2018 District IV Student Day is almost here! Student Day is planned for Saturday, February 17, 2018 at Jacksonville University. There are four events; three of which are graded. The events for which the student will receive a grade are: Written Theory, Aural Theory, and Audition. There is no grade for the Recital performance (fourth event); however, the Recital is a wonderful opportunity to share a Student Day piece and polish performance skills.
• An independent teacher in Florida has devised a curriculum to help you prepare your students for the technique, aural theory, and written theory portions of Student Day. The guidelines follow the same leveling and guidelines that is provided in your Student Activities Handbook. Contact information is as follows: Music Master, 4111 NW 79 Ave, Coral Springs, FL 33065 954-752-2856 (teacher Sue Colvert) [email protected]
• The Student Day Handbook may be found online on the FSMTA website under Student Activities, Non-Competitive. There is no charge to print all, or any portion, of the Handbook. Please use the new password, which was emailed to you recently, to access the information.
• You may locate information specific to our District IV Student Day at the jmta.org website under “Special Events.” Please download the “Piano Interactive Adjudication Sheets” from the fmta.org website and the the “District IV Achievement Examination Application” from the jmta.org website. Please fill them in completely and mail to me with a check for each students’ fee ($30 each) plus the amount for your lunch ($15). The application deadline is January 6, 2018.
• Participation in District Student Day really helps advance a student’s music education. While the preparation is comprehensive, the rewards are great! Students, parents, and teachers are all pleased to see the student learn so much about theory and performance. As certificates and medals are awarded to the students, it is exciting for everyone to see the merits of their effort and how much they have progressed. Additionally, students often remark that school music classes are easy because of what they have learned from Student Day.
• Please contact me by email ([email protected]) with any questions you may have regarding Student Day. I will look forward to seeing many of you and your students at Student Day on Saturday, February 17!

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District IV Concerto Competition

• Saturday, March 24, 2018
• Time TBA
• University of North Florida – Recital Hall
• Application deadline: February 24, 2018

Dr. Erin K. Bennett, NCTM
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Music Exchange
Do you have too much music collected in your studio? Is there some you think you’ll never use? Let’s have a music exchange! Bring your unwanted music to any JMTA meeting. Bring home something new to you! Look for the “Free Music” spot. Music does not have to be brand new.
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Need a Sponsor?
Does anyone in the JMTA need a sponsor or need help in any way? If so, John Scott, owner of Great Scott Music School, is interested in helping our organization. If interested, contact John at [email protected]
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Check out those shoulder pads!
We’ve had lots of pictures taken over the years. We have some dating back to the 80s! All of our photos and scrapbook pages have been digitally scanned and are available for viewing anytime on the archive page of the state website, fmta.org. All of the physical copies of the old pictures and scrapbooks will be put out for you to take at the next several meetings. Please take a look and keep any pictures you like. Whatever is left will be thrown away.
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