Annual Fall Conference 2019
GENERAL SESSION MEETING MINUTES TFMC DISTRICT VI FALL CONFERENCE OCTOBER 12, 2019
The 2019 Texas Federation of Music Clubs District VI Fall Conference was held at Gonzales Presbyterian Church, 414 Saint Louis in Gonzales, Texas. These 7 clubs were in attendance:
Wednesday Morning Music Club of Austin represented by Marcia Edwards, Virginia Kniesner, Janie Keys, Sarah Harriman and Sue Breuer;
Etude Music Club of San Antonio represented by Lois Armor and Marque McKay;
New Braunfels Music Study Club represented by Mary Wittrup, Jo Ann Lemmon, and Spencer Gremmer; Gonzales Music Study Club represented by Carol DuBose, Laurel Ince, Mildred Lauraine, Vida Burnett, Gina Alford, and Barbara Blanchard;
Opus 64 Club from Austin represented by Sue Bachus and Brett Bachus;
Arpeggio Music Club from San Antonio represented by Judy Gorrell; and
Crownridge Music Club from San Antonio represented by Mary Thomason and John Isaacks.
TFMC State President Brenda Ford was also in attendance as our guest speaker.
President Marcia Edwards called the meeting to order at 10:15 am. Roll Call was done on a sign-in sheet. The “Pledge to the Texas Flag” was recited and “Texas Our Texas” was sung. Vida Burnett played the piano accompaniment. Laurel Ince welcomed us on behalf of the Gonzales MSC and reminded us of their city’s motto, “Come and Take It.” Jo Ann Lemmon gave the response and invited us to New Braunfels to the 2020 TFMC District VI Fall Conference.
Marcia asked if a representative from each Club would speak briefly to us about their club.
• Sarah Harriman said that the WMMC meets on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays for about an hour. They
have a music performance program each time with topics related to NFMC.
• Judy Gorrell said that Arpeggio FMC has no formal meetings. All of their members are teachers
participating in the Festival and they stay in touch by email. Also, they always need volunteers to help run their Festival every year, so they would appreciate help from the Study Club members. This year’s Festival for Arpeggio is on Saturday, January 25th in San Antonio at Arpeggio Music Academy at 5139 N Loop 1604 West, Suite #101. Judy is also Festival Chair of District 6-1 and their Festival will be in the Music Building at TSU in San Marcos on Saturday, February 29th from 9 – 5 pm. Both Festivals need volunteers because of the NFMC Child Protection Policy that requires 2 adults be present in the judging rooms. Give her a call at 210 286 7104 if you can help.
• Sue Bachus said that Opus 64 does have a few meetings and all of their members are teachers participating in their Festival. They would also appreciate help from Study Club members for their Festival. This year they are trying out a new scheduling program that lets the teachers put their own students in a block of time for judging. Contact Sue if you can help volunteer at 512 454 2533.
• Marque McKay said that the Etude Club’s theme this year is “What Music Means to You.” Lois Armor is working on their Yearbook. Also, some of their members are “under the weather” right now; Lovena Miller (their president) just had knee surgery and Cookie Nattinger is currently in a wheelchair.
• Mary Thomason said that Crownridge Music Club meets once a month. They are growing in numbers since they started in 2008. Currently they have about 30 teachers (4 at one school). Their Festival will be Saturday, February 1st at San Antonio College. They estimate about 600 entries.
Vida Burnett said the Gonzales Music Study Club has been around since 1937. Currently they have 11 active members and they meet once a month in members’ homes. Their theme this year is “Presidential Praise,” which is about hymns that presidents have liked throughout history.
Jo Ann Lemmon said that the New Braunfels MSC was founded in 1928. They currently have 27 members. At their meetings, they do programs that go with the NFMC recommendations. They have a violinist and a cellist in their membership. They also have a fundraiser called the “Silver Coffee” and they give 2 scholarships a year.
The Minutes were reviewed but not approved because a major correction was needed and no wording for the correction was readily available. The minutes will be reviewed again by the Executive Committee and emailed to the members in attendance for approval at a later date.
Parliamentarian Mary Thomason provided a handout and stated that parliamentary procedures provide a framework on how to conduct a meeting. She also cited Robert’s Rules of Order and some interesting historical rules from the original edition.
Treasurer John Isaacks presented the Treasurer’s Report and Budget. The account balance as of October 12, 2019 is $6, 183.31. We still have a $5,000 CD. There was discussion by Lois Armor on a $1000 line item expense for the past president and how it should have been asked for each year. John responded that the $250 per year allotment for a President’s yearly expenses had not been requested for the past 4 years by Mary Thomason and that now it was being asked for all at one time. John said he was not sure that our budget could support this payment and that all the receipts needed to be evaluated. The budget was approved.
New Business
Marcia announced that she has appointed Janie Keys as our Corresponding Secretary.
Marcia also said how much she enjoyed visiting with all the presidents of all of our District VI Clubs and
getting to know each of us.
Marcia said that she would like to have a Finance Committee of 3 members. This will help promote more members to keep track of our finances and to give others an opportunity to be treasurer of our District. Marcia asked for volunteers for this committee and Mike Gorrell and Sue Bachus have volunteered today. Marcia will appoint another member in the near future.
Marcia stated that the previous Nominating Committee was not able to come up with a new Nominating Committee for the next election, so she has appointed Cookie Nattinger to be the new Nominating Committee Chair. She asked for volunteers for members to this committee. Committee members are Janie Keys, Johnana Clark, Judy Gorrell, Mary Thomason, and Vida Burnett.
Marcia is forming a Bylaws Committee to review our TFMC District VI Bylaws. She appointed Virginia Kniesner to be the Chair. She asked for volunteers for members to this committee. The volunteers are Sue Bachus, Judy Gorrell, and Lois Armor. The President serves as an ex-officio member.
Memorial Service
Joel Saegert – Member of the NBMSC. His memorial was read by Mary Wittrup.
Shirley Spoon – Life Member of TFMC and member of the GMSC. Her memorial was read by Vida
Burnett
• Carlie Burdett – Life Member of TFMC and member of WMMC. Her memorial was read by Virginia Kneisner.
All members sang “Blessed Assurance.” Brenda Ford picked this hymn and led the singing, accompanied by Brett Bachus.
Our lunch this year was a large salad, assorted fruit and cake for dessert.
Prize Drawing
Marcia had a drawing for 3 prizes from the Insignia table that has musical gifts. The winners were Carol Dubose, Sue Bachus and Marque McKay.
Poetry Moment
Marque McKay, recently retired TFMC Poetry Chair and member of the Etude Music Club is now the Poetry Editor of the Lone Star Music Messenger. She led us in a choral reading of “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman.
Bylaw Revisions
Marcia wanted member input on the following Bylaws –
Should there be term limits for District VI officers?
How should the Nominating Committee be formed?
Should the Bylaws include some qualifications for holding office?
Guest Speaker – TFMC State President Brenda Ford “Making a Music Club Your Own”
All of our clubs are unique
Listen, Learn, and Lead for Successful Service with a New Generation
Promote the Juniors to participate
Find out about luncheons and meetings in your area and have your juniors perform for them.
Check the Junior Awards on the nfmc-music.org site. Go to Publications >Junior Division. For the
National Music Week, Invite your students to write an essay. Choose winners, give them an award, have them come and read their essays at your meeting. Have students make a poster and choose a winner, but display all the posters. There are lots of scholarships too.
Lois Armor, who is the NFMC Folk Song Chair, presented a folk song activity. She suggested we start singing a folk song at our meetings. She then led us in singing “Polly Wolly Doodle.”
Marcia presented an idea to us. She said District IV does a charity called Guitars for Vets. She asked us to think about doing a charitable event as a District in the future.
Marcia presented Mary Thomason with a Past President’s pin for her service as District VI president. We closed our meeting by singing “The Gift of Song,” accompanied by Laurel Ince on the piano. Meeting adjourned at 2:00 pm.
