When the air begins to have a hint of coolness in it and the moon becomes shaped like a football, it can only mean one thing…..Fall is here. With fall comes the beginning of a new school year and opportunities to reach your students as you never have before. A willing spirit and a little time will make all the difference in how you are going to take students from passive music listeners to active music consumers. As President of your AMEA elementary/general division board, along with the other board members, we want to assist you with innovative, rigorous and exciting ideas. With the release of our new standards and higher expectations facing us, these next years will be like none ever before.

In just a few days, the 12th Annual Elementary Music Festival will take place at Samford University’s Wright Center on Friday, October 6. Approximately 400 elementary students representing over 40 schools across the state have registered. The clinicians for this event will be Erika Bridge and Vic Oates. This music festival is a great opportunity for our students to learn and grow. Consider including your students for next year’s festival. The following day, Saturday, October 7th from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. we will have our joint Fall Workshop sponsored by AMEA Elementary/General Division and AOSA. This year our clinician will be Orff specialist Ericka Bridge. The workshop will be held at Liberty Park Elementary at 17051 Liberty Parkway, Vestavia Hills, AL 35242.

As you know, the 2018 AMEA Professional Development Conference will be moving from Montgomery to the BJCC in Birmingham, Alabama. You will not want to miss this one. This year we are honored to have Lorelei Batislaong as our featured clinician. She will be presenting three sessions for us, while an Alabama favorite, Roger Sams, will return to present a session. Bring your ukuleles as Lorelei will take us through new ways to teach with them.  We will also have member-guided sessions ranging from bucket drumming with Viktoria Truesdail to around-the-world recorder with Darla Meek. Steve Campbell will introduce us to some rhythm-teaching strategies while Jeanette Shorey will lead us through stories that sing. The Mitchell Elementary Honor Chorus, under the direction of Doris Day, will be our featured choral performance. Please be sure to reserve Friday night for an evening of fellowship and music-sharing fun. We look forward to seeing you in Birmingham on January 18th -20th. Be sure to check the AMEA website (www.myamea.org) for details about preregistration and hotel information.

We hope to see you all at the Fall Music Workshop on October 7, and at the 2018 AMEA Professional Development Conference in Birmingham in January. Please contact us at elementaryamea@gmail.com for questions or concerns.

Phil R. Wilson, President

AMEA Elementary/General Division