WINTER OKLAMUSIC 12 13 II small file.pdf - Oklahoma Music ...

OkMEA
THE LASST WORD: charles chapman, editor
Keeping in Touch
This time of year I receive about fifty emails each day.
Many of you have the same, or larger correspondence
load. I had to establish a personal Facebook account to
set up an account for OMEA, but I don’t really have time to
check it very often, despite prompting from computer robots
of the site.
We live in an age that is perhaps leading us to the
day when we each have a permanent head/ear/eye
attachment implanted at birth, which gives us total, instant
intercommunication with all other humans, whether we
want it or not. (Star Trekers will remember the Borg! http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg_(Star_Trek) (Janis Dawson will,
of course, serve as Borg Queen, i.e. switchboard central.)
Cybernetic “yammer” can be annoying, but in our society,
some element of it may be exactly what is necessary for
the survival of our profession, even for traditional public
education.
Some 20% of our OMEA members have NO email address
listed on their membership records. Many listed emails are
inaccurate. These OMEA members have no link with the
Associations (national nor state,) except snail–mail and
personal contact, such as convention attendance.
One of OMEA’s most faithful vendors, exhibitors, and
advertisers, who works individually with most of the
members of one of OMEA’s divisions, recently told me
that his primary method for updating his records or finding
information about school music programs is the internet,
but that a shamefully large number of school web sites
have no information about their music programs—nothing.
NAfME tells us their research indicates that 60% of the
membership prefers to receive hard–copy magazines,
rather than electronic–only issues, and that age is NOT the
most determining factor. Apparently most of our members
still want a magazine to hold in their hands. That may not
be enough.
Group effort in informing the public, our administrations,
our legislators, and our patrons is always more effective
than a single letter or email. It behooves all music
educators to consider the following to be important
practices in communication, survival, and success.
1. Update your NAfME records immediately, listing your
primary email address.
2. Find the snail–mail or actual addresses of your
legislators on the OkMEA web site. Write them concerning
problems of public education, music education, and inept
legislative incursions into curriculum.
3. See that your music program is represented in detail on
your school’s web site.
Join us today in music education Delta Quadrant! We’re
selling Borg headsets at half price, but only until after
Christmas.
Empowering Performers
Dr. Diana Allan, of the University of Texas at San
Antonio, is working with a positive method for helping
your students overcome performance anxiety. An
experienced, successful, voice teacher, she has trained
as performance coach in this method, and is available to
talk with others about it. For more information, go to www.
musickpeakperformane.com/ or contact her at diana.
allan@utsa.edu.
Retired Teachers!
Past OMEA Presidents!
Don’t forget the complimentary luncheon on Thursday,
during the January Convention. It begins at NOON, in the
Remington Room of he DoubleTree Hotel. You must make
a reservation, by emailing Janis Dawson at: jdi12sing1@
gmail.com with your name, phone number, and number in
your retired music teacher party. Can we all remember to
do this without Nurse reminding us? Covered valet parking
is available for walkers, right outside the room. Join us for
long, boring stories of old times.
Next DEADLINE for all copy
for the
spring (on-line) issue of
OKLAHOMA MUSIC
March 1, 2013
Full association information
at
www.okmea.org
60 OKLAHOMA MUSIC, Winter, 2012-2013 OMEA web site: www.okmea.org