Biennial Board Meeting 2023
Texas Federation of Music Clubs District VI
Biennial Board Meeting
June 3, 2023
Colonial Hills United Methodist Church
San Antonio, Texas
The meeting was called to order by President Marcia Edwards at 9:17 a.m. The opening ceremonies were led by Etude Music Club members, who hosted the meeting.
Pledge of Allegiance, Mary Eck
Pledge to the Texas Flag, Cookie Nattinger
Collect, Lois Armor
Greeting from the Host Club, Lois Armor
Response by Barbara Houde, New Braunfels Music Study Club
Minutes of the last board meeting held via Zoom on March 21, 2023 were read and approved.
Club Presidents reporting on the State of the District included the following:
Austin Opus 64 Music Club Sue Bachus, President
Etude Music Club of San Antonio Lois Armor, President
Gonzales Music Study Club Vida Burnett, President
New Braunfels Music Study Club Barbara Houde, President
San Antonio Arpeggio Festival Music Club Judy Gorrell, President
Music Club Austin (formerly WMMC) Angela Smith, President
San Antonio Crownridge Music Club No report
Russian Ukrainian Overtones No report
All club written reports appear in Appendix A below..
The following District VI Officers gave reports (see Appendix B):
President Marcia Edwards
First Vice President Virginia Kniesner
Second Vice President Judy Gorrell
Treasurer John Isaacks
Treasurer John Isaacks reported as follows: TFMC District VI closed its $5000.00 CD at First National Bank, Shiner, and moved the money into a new CD at Randolph Brooks Federal Credit Union bank. The new CD, for $5,000.00, matures after 35 months and pays a dividend rate of 4.36% (about 4.45% APY). District VI also took $1,000.00 of excess funds from its checking account and opened a CD at Security Service Federal Credit Union bank. The new CD for $1,000.00, matures after 15 months, and it pays a dividend rate of 4.79% (about 4.90% APY).
Nominating Committee Report by Virginia Kniesner
Newly elected officers for 2023 - 2025:
President Virginia Kniesner
1st Vice President Janie Keys
2nd Vice President Judy Gorrell
Recording Secretary Lois Armor
Treasurer John Isaacks
Parliamentarian Angela Smith
Historian Johnana Clark
Lois Armor introduced the guest speaker, Alyssa Padilla, Music Therapist, from the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio. We enjoyed learning about this way that music is used to help people who are suffering or ill.
An outstanding musical program was presented by the Ukulele Ladies and Gents of Saint Andrew. These nineteen musicians played and sang rousing renditions of many familiar tunes. They also played Hawaiian music for two graceful hula dancers.
Marque McKay presented a delightful reading of her own creation, “Yankee Doodle’s Secret Love.”
President Marcia Edwards expressed heartfelt appreciation for the service of the outgoing officers and presented each one with a gift wind chime.
The new officers for 2023 – 2025 were then installed by Lois Armor.
The calendar 2023-2024 was announced and placed on the program agenda.
The Benediction was the singing of “The Gift of Song” led by Barbara Perdue with Mae Wannarka on the piano, and the meeting adjournment was approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Eck, Recording Secretary
Appendix A
“State of the District” Club Reports
Arpeggio Festival Music Club and District 6-3
The Arpeggio Festival Music Club hosted the annual TFMC District 6-3 Festival at the new location on Boerne Stage Road, back on Saturday, January 28th. After 2 years of online Festivals, we finally had a “live” Festival. Students had almost forgotten what it was like to have a judge in the same room, sitting a few feet away. There were 4 teacher’s studios participating with a total of 52 entries. This year the entries were in Piano Solo, Piano Hymn, American Folk and Patriot Songs, Piano Duet, Vocal Art Song, Vocal Musical Theater, Violin Solo and Music Theory. Many thanks to Lois Armor and Mae Wannarka from the Etude Music Study Club. They were our monitors all day. We could not have had a Festival without their help.
The students gained so much experience by playing live this year. They learned how to control their nerves, gain confidence and poise, and to persevere no matter what happens. Playing live for a judge is a different experience than playing for a video or in a recital. The judge has the music and knows exactly what each performer is supposed to do and you only have one opportunity to play your piece as perfectly as possible.
The 6-3 Festival is continuing to grow in numbers, and we look forward to our next Festival on Saturday, January 27th, 2024.
Thank you,
Judy Gorrell, Arpeggio Festival Music Club President
Mike Gorrell, TFMC District 6-3 Festival Chair
Etude Music Club
Etude Music Club has had its “downs and ups” this year. I say it this way because our rocky start ended up on a high note with 2 new members. We had a good time this year with our programs “All About Time”. To name a few examples we had “Sleepy Time”. Mary Eck provided an interesting and educational program on “Time” as it relates to music. We had “Christmas Time” and” Play Time”, where we actually revisited the games we played as kids. It was a fun and interesting time this year. This summer we will work on our programs for the 2023-2024 year. We have some interesting suggestions, so it will be fun to see what we put together.
Lois Armor, President
Music Club Austin
Our Austin club has been busy during its centennial year celebrating its past and looking forward to the future. We started off the year by adopting a mission and vision statement to serve as our north star in moving us forward. We also filed papers with the Secretary of State to do business as Music Club Austin. We still respect the legacy of our original name, Wednesday Morning Music Club, but feel we now have a name that rebrands usfor future outreach and more flexible programming.
We had a grand birthday party celebrating our founding ni February and plan a gala Centennial luncheon on Oct 4 to which all of you will be invited. It's going to be a memorable event with 20s costumes, 20s music, 20s food, and maybe even a Charleston contest.
This year we again presented a generous amount of grants and scholarships to encourage the talents of aspiring young musicians. Some of those talents were featured at our spring luncheon in May.
In addition to our wonderful newsletter and website, we have a Centennial Facebook page and are now setting up a YouTube channel to feature performances by our members and award winners. The first offering will be up soon and will feature the young talent from our spring luncheon.
If you're in Austin on the first Wednesday of any month, starting in November, we invite you to come to our meetings at the First Unitarian Universalist Church to hear some lovely music by our talented members. We're also building a roster of guest musicians, so if you'd like to be on that list or know of someone who would like to be, please contact me.
We are especially proud of our member Marcia Edwards for her service as our Texas Federation of Music Clubs District 6 president, and another member Virginia Kniesner who will follow her in that position. Our club and District 6 are fortunate to have the benefit of their wisdom and leadership.
Angela Smith, President
New Braunfels Music Study Club
Our newly elected president Robbie Borchers hosted a board and program committee meeting on May 24 to discuss our programs for 2023-2024.
We have been able to meet in person this past year at various homes and churches for our monthly meetings. In May, we elected our new officers and Lois Armor was able to be present to have them take the oaths of office for the next two years.
Our programs for the next year are as follows:
We have planned an orientation and guitar selections for September.
October we will invite several of our German singing and dancing groups to perform. We will be hosting the district meeting on the 20th of the month as well. We will be sending out information about that meeting at a later date.
November-December will be our annual Advent Vespers. We invite people of the community to sing in this Christmas celebration.
In January, we will feature our scholarship recipients.
February is still in the planning stage.
March is the month that we celebrate the superior winners of the Junior Festival and other students of our teachers.
In April, we will attend the Mid-Tex Symphony concert.
May will be a program featuring women composers.
Barbara Houde, President (outgoing)
APPENDIX B
President’s Report
First I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the Etude Music Club for agreeing to host this board meeting and to President Lois Armor and all the Etude members who have helped plan and get ready to welcome us.
It has been a joy to serve as your president for the past 4 years, and I have many wonderful memories. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with and getting to know many of you. I feel nostalgic when I think that I attended my very first district meeting in October 2018 at Tarrytown United Methodist Church in Austin, hosted by the WMMC. Less than a year later In June 2019 we met at Coker United Methodist Church here in San Antonio for the June Biennial Board meeting. It was here that I embarked on the journey of serving as the president of District VI and experienced my first District VI officer installation conducted by Carla Johnson.
In October 2019 we had a wonderful meeting at the Presbyterian Church of Gonzales, hosted by the Gonzales Music Study Club. I got to know Vida Burnett and Laurel Ince in the process of getting ready for this meeting. Our guest speaker was TFMC President Brenda Ford, and Vida and Laurel both had piano students who performed for us. Marque McKay led us in a choral reading of “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman. Lois Armor also led us in singing “Polly Wolly Doodle,” a memorable wacky folk song.
In October 2020 we were forced to hold our annual fall conference via Zoom because of the Covid pandemic. The New Braunfels Music Study Club under the brave leadership of President Lois Gerhardt did a fantastic job in making the transition to a virtual meeting. We had a number of guest presenters, including the NFMC Texas Festival Chair Jennifer Key, Crownridge President Anna Kiefer who spoke about choosing repertoire, Felicity Coltman who led a short yoga session for music teachers, Marque McKay who read “Autumn Fires” by Robert Louis Stevenson, Brett Bachus who discussed the ups and downs of good pedal technique, and Michelle D’Arcy who offered insights about Robert and Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms. We also listened to a beautiful cello performance of Scottish folk tunes by Karen Akkerman. The “Gift of Song” benediction was sung by Carol Dewar from the Wednesday Morning Music Club, accompanied by her husband on guitar.
In June 2021 we conducted our biennial board meeting via Zoom—hosted by the Opus 64 Music Teachers Club--and new officers were sworn in by Laurel Ince. Brett Bachus and his student Catherine Matzdorf gave a fascinating demonstration of how to use the music notation program MuseScore.
October 2021 found us once again meeting via Zoom. This fall conference was hosted by the Arpeggio Festival Music Club. We enjoyed the Show Us Your Pets roll call and remarks by TFMC President Connie Randall. Marque McKay read one of my favorite poems “Undivided Attention,” about students watching a grand piano being lowered from an 8th floor window on a crane, Elizabeth Gutierrez presented comments about the “Comfort of Exploring Music at the Piano,” and we were entertained by music from a couple of Deanna Badgett’s string students.
In October 2022 we were able to meet in person again for the District VI fall conference at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Austin. The host club was the Wednesday Morning Music Club, which has now officially changed its name to Music Club Austin as part of our 100th birthday celebration. We enjoyed poems inspired by music read by Michelle d’Arcy, music by the members of the Inside Out Steelband, and a very interesting presentation by UT Professor Robert Duke. Professor Duke had contracted Covid and unfortunately was unable to attend in person, but we made good use once again of our Zooming capabilities.
I cannot tell you how delighted I am to conclude my 4-year tenure as District VI President with an in-person meeting here in San Antonio with all of you. Thanks very much for coming!
One more thing:
We inaugurated a district website during the past year. I hope that you have all had a chance to take a look at it. We used funds from the President’s discretionary account to cover the cost of a one-year subscription. It is my hope that the website will continue, but in order for that to happen funding will need to be approved and included in the budget for the coming year. In the meantime, please send me photos and information about your activities. I still need an introductory paragraph or two about the history and character of your club if you have not already submitted this information. Website address: tfmcdistrict6.org
Marcia Edwards
Two Reports from 1st VP Virginia Kniesner
Nominating Committee Report
24 votes were cast. The results for each office are as follows:
President - Virginia Kniesner (MCA/WMMC)
1st Vice President - Janie Keys (MCA/WMMC)
2nd Vice President - Judy Gorrell (Arpeggio)
Recording Secretary - Lois Armor (Etude)
Treasurer - John Isaacks (Crownridge)
Parliamentarian - Angela Smith (MCA/WMMC)
Historian - Johnana Clark (New Braunfels)
Music Teachers Survey
Music teachers in four festival clubs were surveyed to find ways to increase their attendance at the annual TFMC District VI Fall Conference. The three questions of the survey were:
What days of the week have no students to teach in the morning?
Would you prefer attending the Fall Conference in-person or via Zoom?
What week of October is best: 1st, 2nd, or 3rd?
Results:
Friday morning
In-person, but Zoom might be more convenient at times.
3rd week of October
Report from 2nd VP Judy Gorrell
I am glad to return to serve another term as the District VI 2nd Vice President. Thank you everyone for taking the time to vote! The District VI Officers have been talking recently about how to get more participation from our Junior Club Festival members. As a Festival teacher myself, I know that I am normally busy teaching my students every Saturday morning from 9 AM until 2 PM. I had to cancel and move many lessons in order to be here today. I made the suggestion that if we could move our District VI meetings to be held on the 3rd Friday morning of the month, we would be able to get more Festival teachers to join us. I am happy that we are moving our next meeting to be on Friday, October 20th at 9 AM. It will be important to advertise this and talk to all of the Festival teachers about it ahead of time.
I was informed that judging is complete on the State entries and teachers should be receiving their students’ awards very soon in the mail. This was the first year that State has added a Theory Test event. Five of my own students entered the State Theory Test and they are anxiously awaiting their results.
Some reminders for items coming up in the future–
Right after Labor Day, Dawn Humphrey will send us our Club dues form. Remember to pay your Senior Club and Junior Club dues by November 1st.
There is a Paypal option to pay your dues. If you pay using Paypal you will pay an extra 3 % fee. They prefer to have payments by check.
Festival Chairs should check in September if they need to order ribbons from Jennifer Key. Last year’s deadline was October 10th.
We want to encourage our students to apply for the NFMC Scholarships. The application fee is $20 or less and the deadlines for entries for most scholarships is either March 1st or May 1st each year.
This year will be the last year of our current Festival Bulletin book, which runs through June of 2024.
Thank you again for re-electing me as your 2nd Vice President.
APPENDIX C
Credentials Report
The Credentials Committee reports the following members present at the District Vl Biennial Board Meeting in San Antonio, Texas:
___9___ NFMC Officers
_ __1___ NFMC Chairs
___2___ TFMC Officers
___3___ TFMC Chairs
___6___ District VI Officers
___1___ District VI Chairs
___3___ Life Members
___5___ Club Presidents
___19___ Club members
There were ___19___ members present at the meeting.
Barbara Perdue and Marcia Edwards, Credentials Committee
