TN Musician Vol. 71 No. 4

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TMEA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Lafe Cook || Dobyns-Bennett High School T hroughout my career, I’ve learned that great teachers use the summer to both relax and unwind from the school year and to reflect upon and plan for the future. I know that I’m planning on trying to do both of those things as much as I can this summer. By the time you read this message, summer will be in full swing, and I hope that you are enjoying some much-needed time off. As TMEA President, I have the added responsibility of also reflecting on our growth and achievements as an association. As I look back at the progress we have made, I am also keenly aware that there is still much to do. In thinking about this, my thoughts have turned back to our TMEA Professional Development Conference this past April. It was quite a display of just how fortunate the students of Tennessee are to have such great music educators. The selected TMEA Performing Ensembles continue It’s time to let the leadership know that there is a significant segment of our Tennessee schools who serve a diverse socio-economic student population who struggle to maintain affiliations with our regional and state associations due to the cost of membership at the national level. to display a high caliber of musicianship that represents the high standards of Tennessee music educators. In addition, the TMEA Spotlight Chamber Ensemble performances also highlighted excellence in teaching with a diverse mixture of traditional and non-traditional ensembles. And of course, our Tennessee All-State Ensembles keep raising the bar higher and higher with their outstanding conductors and performances. On top of all that, we have a professional development conference that brings together so many exceptional leaders in so many facets of contemporary music education. Reflecting upon those four days in April, I think about the many people of our association who also volunteer and serve TMEA year-round in order to ensure an excellent experience for our membership, and for our students. It can sometimes be easy to take these individuals for granted as many of us are not aware of how much goes on behind the scenes to make our experience in April something we look forward to each year. I am so grateful and thankful to the members of the TMEA Board and Council and to everyone who volunteers for our TMEA. Words truly cannot express how much your leadership means to me and to all of us across Tennessee. It has been a very productive year for TMEA. I am happy to report that our association has made some significant progress towards some goals in our strategic plan. This year we have once again partnered with the Country Music Association Foundation. Their unyielding support of music education in Tennessee is unparalleled, and we could not thank them enough for their generosity. As a result, we were able to launch our first TMEA Regional Professional Development Grant, which awarded more than $8,000.00 for professional development grant money to the following organizations: • West Tennessee General Music Association • East Tennessee American Orff- Schulwerk Association • Tennessee Chapter of Collegiate National Association for Music Education • Rutherford County Schools • Tennessee Bandmasters Association We continue to flourish under the watchful auspices of our team at Milsaps- Gowan and the ArtsEd Tennessee. I can’t stress how important it is to have lobbyists who are working on our behalf for arts education in Tennessee and who are keeping a watchful eye on legislation that could have a drastic impact on what we do. I feel good about what TMEA has done and is currently doing for our music educators. Yet there are still some things that I think we should aim to accomplish as we head into the next school year. At the conference, I had the pleasure to attend many of the area caucus meetings. There were many productive topic discussions. One of the common threads that each area shared was the future of TMEA’s relationship with NAfME. There were many points of pros and cons. 8 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2019 | Volume 71, No. 4
In thinking about what is truly best for Tennessee, I have decided to make a rather bold proposal to NAfME. It’s time to let the leadership know that there is a significant segment of our Tennessee schools who serve a diverse socio-economic student population who struggle to maintain affiliations with our regional and state associations due to the cost of membership at the national level. What your TMEA leadership is going to propose to NAfME is for a complete or partial waiver of NAfME membership fees for first time members teaching in lowincome schools. Members of the TMEA Board will be busy this summer drafting a proposal to submit to NAfME Leadership at the National Leadership Assembly in late June. What will come of this proposal remains as of yet to be seen. What is abundantly clear to me as TMEA President is that there is a segment of our students in Tennessee who are not being given access to events like regional honor bands, choirs, and orchestras, simply because their school systems or their teachers do not have the means to fund their NAfME membership. We all know that anything that involves institutional change can be painfully slow. What is important now is not recognizing the glacial pace of progress but rather the fact that things that are of interest and importance to Tennessee music educators are being addressed, not just for the here and now but for the long game ahead. I will keep you apprised of our progress. In the meantime, I hope that your summer is both rewarding and relaxing. Lafe Cook | TMEA President Tennessee Music Education Association | www.tnmea.org | 9
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TN Musician Vol. 71 No. 4

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