A letter from the President
of the SCBDA, Tom Finigan.

Other Letters

"Spring 2005"

Well, Mother Nature pitched us a curve ball and luckily we still hit it! Fortunately, during the last weekend in January and the first weekend in February, SCBDA was able to hold region band auditions and then all-state final auditions.  Our inclement weather date came in handy this year and hopefully we will not have to use it again.  Thanks to Joe Meshach and all of the Region Chairman for working so hard to make sure this event went off without a hitch.  Our All-State Jazz Auditions also ran smoothly thanks to Jeff Kuntz and the Jazz Committee.  Thank you to Jerry Gatch and the staff at Lexington High School for adjusting and making sure we had a site to hold All-State Auditions.  Finally, thanks to Jeff and Donna Thompson for posting all of our results by the next day at noon for our students and parents to view.

Our In-Service Conference was a wonderful event. Congratulations to Michael Foxworth for planning a very useful conference.  Michael did a wonderful job with the convention and has done a great job with this event.

Congratulations to our new President-Elect, Martin Dickey. Martin is the Director of Bands at Fort Mill High School. Martin has served as the Solo and Ensemble Chairman since 2001 and will do a great job for SCBDA!

Our Region Band Clinics were held February, 25-26.  These clinics are so valuable to exposing so many of our top students to some of the best literature in the concert area today.  Many of our students make lifelong friends at these clinics and they all share a common thread: The love of MUSIC!

Our All State Jazz Clinic will be held March 3-5 at Newberry College. Our Annual Jazz Band Festival will be held in conjunction with this event March 4-5.

We will honor two of our fellow band directors at the All-State Band Clinic with their induction into the SCBDA Hall of Fame. This years Class of 2005 is Glenn C. Price and Leland Sandy Scott. Both of these directors have made a huge impact on their students their band programs. Congratulations to these gentlemen on their fine careers as music educators in our state.

March is a very busy month for SCBDA. We have a large number bands performing at State Concert Festival on three separate weeks and seven different sites. Our All-State Band Clinic will be held March 18-20 at Furman University. Our Clinicians are world class conductors. Our Senior Band Clinician is Dr. Ray Cramer, our Clinic Band Clinician is Rick Clary and our Junior Band Clinician is Linda Gammon. All three of these fabulous conductors will do a great job with our students.

In April, we will host our third annual State Winter Guard Championships. This event has grown every year we have hosted it and provides so many of our indoor groups an avenue to showcase their talents. We also look forward to the end of April and the first weekend in May, as it will bring our annual Solo and Ensemble Festival.

In closing, I have been very fortunate to serve as your president of SCBDA. I have learned how important music is to our schools and to our students.  I have been honored to work with some of the finest professionals in our business.  The South Carolina Band Directors Association has long and proud history.  We should take pride in what we have accomplished.  Our future is bright and we will continue to work hard at making our music programs the strongest in the state.  Our motto “Music is instrumental to success” is so true!

Thank you for a great two year term and God Bless! 

Tom Finigan, President
South Carolina Band Directors Association