A letter from the President
of the SCBDA, Michael Foxworth.

Other Letters

October 1, 2006

I hope everyone has had a successful beginning to their school year. I know many of you are deeply involved in marching season and wish you all a successful venture with your programs. As you continue your band activities, I hope you will seriously consider continuing to participate in ALL SCBDA band events. Together, all of our events provide a wide range of activities of which our band students can enjoy and develop musically.

I appreciate everyone’s patience as bandlink was restored and improved. Jeff and Donna Thompson handled the two crashes as expeditiously as possible by installing new software and after the last crash, a completely new server. After waiting for a week on the new server to be delivered to us, Jeff had to meticulously replace many files that were lost from the old server. Jeff also took advantage of this down time to completely reconfigure the message board. As you can quickly see after one visit to the new message board, it was surely worth the wait. Except for the initial server expenses, the SCBDA has spent very little money on bandlink since Jeff, Donna, and Glenn Price presented it to us in 1997 so it was time to upgrade. Continue to thank Jeff and Donna for all they do to make our state a frontrunner in the technology aspect of music education for directors and students.

Even though it is over four months away, I would like for everyone to be planning for the SCMEA In-Service Conference which is in conjunction with the Southern Division MENC held from February 7-10, 2007 at Embassy Suites/Convention Center in North Charleston. Our Past-SCMEA President, Patti Foy, and SCMEA President Phil McIntyre, had the foresight to pursue the distinct honor of hosting this major event in our state. It will be an excellent opportunity for everyone to hear not just our own state groups but many others from across our Southern region. From South Carolina we will have Summit Parkway Middle School, David Allison and Maria Lee, Directors; Charleston School of the Arts Middle School, Charlton Singleton, Director; Summerville High School, Leslie Gilreath, Director; Palmetto Posaunen, Mark Britt, Director; Winthrop/Carolina's Wind Orchestra, Bill Malambri, Director; Winthrop University Symphonic Band, Lorrie Crochet, Director; and the Parris Island Marine Band, CWO Christian Flores, Director.

From the Southern MENC region we will have: Columbus State University Wind Ensemble, Robert Rumbelow, Director; Tennessee Tech University Tuba Ensemble, Winston Morris, Director; and the Huntsville High School Band, David Spencer, Director. Also the US Army Brass Quintet will present a special concert for us.

Two special workshops/clinics will be presented by conductor/performer/author Scott Rush and jazz composer/arranger Dean Sorenson. You will not want to miss Scott's "Improving student performance through ensemble performance," and Dean's "Jazz and Improvisation."

As you can readily see our conference will be packed with outstanding performances and fantastic workshops that will be enjoyed by everyone. Please talk to your principals today to get approval for professional days to attend these outstanding four days of musical enrichment that will give you a musical lift that is much needed during the second semester of school. If you can get recertification credits for attending the In-Service Conference, please bring the appropriate paperwork and Martin Dickey, Tommy Finigan or myself will be glad to sign these for you.

Please plan to attend the committee meetings and be a voice in all the decisions of the SCBDA. You input is vital as we continue to plan and improve what we do each year. Be a voice for our association and even though we may never all agree, we will always agree to work together with decisions made by the body. This will keep our association strong and viable as we educate the young people of South Carolina.

Good luck as you continue in your year and I hope to see each of you at our in-service conference in February.

Sincerely,

Michael Foxworth
President
South Carolina Band Directors Association