TN Musician Vol. 72, No. 3

TMEA BACK THEN
• In this conference edition of the
Tennessee Musician, then President
Dr. Tom Cowan encouraged all music
teachers to attend the upcoming gala
celebration of the Centennial of the
Tennessee Education Association from
April 8-10, 1965. The TMEA All-State
Ensembles would perform during the
TEA general sessions, thus “giving them
the largest audiences in their history”.
Special recognition was given to John
Bright for his leadership of the local
committee responsible for scheduling
the program for music educators at this
event. Dr. Cowan also invited Tennessee
music educators to attend the upcoming
MENC (now NAfME) Southern Division
convention which would feature two
Tennessee performing groups, the
Memphis State University Chorale
and the Tennessee School for the
Blind Band.
Conference. Thursday highlights
were morning rehearsals of the All-
State Band, Chorus, and Orchestra,
on-site registration (which was then
$2.00), demonstration and music
reading clinics in the afternoon, and a
TEA Banquet and Dance to close the
evening. Friday activities continued
with performances of the All-State
Chorus (Director: Dr. Charles H.
Webb, Jr.) and Orchestra (Director:
Howard Brown) at the morning and
evening general sessions, respectively.
The Saturday morning general session
featured the All-State Band (Director:
THE TENNESSEE MUSICIAN
(MARCH 1965)
Volume 17, No. 3 – 12 pgs.
Dr. Tom Cowan, TMEA President
Carolyn M. Scruggs, Editor
Nilo W. Hovey) and concluded with an
afternoon meeting of the TMEA Board
of Control (now the TMEA Board of
Directors).
• The School of Music at Nashville’s
Peabody College for Teachers (now
part of Vanderbilt University) was
recognized for receiving one of eight
university grants awarded through
MENC’s Contemporary Music Project
for Creativity in Music Education.
Composer on faculty Gilbert Trythall
served as the director of the three week
“Contemporary Music Workshop”.
• The Tennessee School For The Blind
Band from Nashville was selected as
one of the ensembles to perform at
the upcoming 1965 MENC Southern
Division convention in Louisville,
Kentucky, on March 12, 1965. Under
the direction of director Mrs. Virginia
Mitchell Bruce and assistant director
Miss Reigel, this band of 43 members
encompassed students from ages 9
through 18, where “one-fourth of the
ensemble read regular music notation
while the remainder of the students
read braille music”. The noteworthy
program this band would perform
included Grainger’s Irish Tune from
County Derry, Sousa’s Stars and Stripes
Forever, Slocum’s arrangement of
Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro Overture,
and more. This article was intriguing and
included answers to commonly asked
questions; details consisted of methods
the directors in this ensemble utilized
to teach the repertoire, how braille
music was notated for the students, and
how tempi changes were rehearsed and
performed as an ensemble.
• The program for the upcoming
Tennessee Music Educators
Association’s Convention (West
End High School; Nashville, TN)
resembled aspects of the outline
utilized for our modern-day TMEA
32 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2020 | Volume 72, No. 3