| CMEA/ACME BENEFITS |
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What Benefits Do I Receive From CMEA Membership? This past November (2008) I travelled to Toronto, as a rookie provincial Music Educators' Association (MEA) president for my first CMEA/ACME Executive meeting. During the afternoon of the first day of meetings the MEA Presidents held meetings to deal with matters that were of most use to us in the practical sense of helping to run our provincial organizations. The first item on the agenda was to develop a list of tangible benefits for affiliation to support the importance of membership in the CMEA/ACME. This article is a summary of those discussions which I hope will be of aid to those who find themselves addressing the question: What Benefits Do I Receive From CMEA Membership? I have divided the list of 18 benefits which the presidents identified into three broad categories: the tangible, the largely (but not exclusively) intangible and the intangible (but not without value). I have also taken the liberty of numbering the benefits for your convenience. Easily topping the list of tangible benefits is the CMEA/ACME journal. The journal is a highly readable, informative and thought provoking periodical. It keeps us up to date with current trends in music education (1) and provides a publishing opportunity (2) for music education scholars. Plans are under way to implement changes designed to improve the journal with a section for juried research articles. Meant to encourage research (3) into Canadian music education, these will be of interest to the average teacher reader and of great use to our university colleagues. Others are encouraged to contribute articles of use to the enormous diversity of music educators in our country. Through advertising, the journal also provides us with opportunities to be involved with industry (4), universities, festivals and other institutions. Another tangible benefit for our members is the support given to students preparing to be music educators. (5) A chapter grant of $100 to $250 is available each year to qualifying student chapters. The CMEA sponsors two competitions of interest to students in Music Education. The first is an essay competition open to university students studying music education across the country. This provides an opportunity for encouraging and nurturing their studies (6). There is a cash award for 1st Place. The second is a Performance Award which helps to establish standards of excellence (7) held every two years. Groups submit CD's which are judged in the following categories: Orchestra, Concert Band, Choir, Children's Choir (maximum age: 16 years as of entry deadline), Jazz Ensemble: vocal or instrumental, Post-secondary: vocal or instrumental, Small Ensemble: vocal or instrumental (max. 12 members). Guidelines are available on the CMEA/ACME website. The CMEA/ACME produces a research-based book (8) every two years. This is a benefit to both the university community and to the teacher in the field who would like to learn more about informed music pedagogy. These publications might be just the place to find informed argument for justifying and protecting music education in your school or your District. A new initiative this year will be looking into the question of certification across the country including the area of K-8 music teachers. The books are for sale, available through the website. The CMEA/ACME website falls into the second benefit category: largely (but not exclusively) intangible. It is currently a very good source of information about the association, including the names of contacts (9) useful for organizing exchanges or other networking including, perhaps, the sharing of resources (10) throughout the country, forms for applying for grants and competitions, the order forms for the books and a variety of other useful links. Recent additions to the website include an announcement of a song competition to celebrate the 50th anniversary and advertising for nominations for the national board. Another new initiative for this coming year as the website changes formats is the opportunity to place your music teaching ideas online. (11) Suggested categories include: advocacy, assembly, assessment and evaluation, band, brass, budgeting, choral, concert related documents, Dalcroze eurhythmics, festivals, fund-raising, guitar, innovations, instructional approaches, instrument selection, jazz, Kodaly, middle years, misc. forms and templates, Orff, parent information, percussion, strings, , practicing, recruiting, repertoire, retreats related documents, sample assignments, composition, sample unit and lesson plans, technology, substitute ideas, time tabling and scheduling, trip related documents, volunteers, world music, woodwinds. This could become an excellent resource for newer teachers, those who find themselves in a new teaching assignment, or those who are simply looking for a different idea. This will only work as well as the membership supports it, so let's see if all CMEA/ACME members could contribute once (maybe even twice!) and watch this resource bank grow. Stay tuned in the journal for when the website is updated to handle this new enterprise. We now move into the area of largely intangible, but not without value, benefits. An organization whose mission it is to nurture a vital music learning community throughout Canada, provides opportunities to serve music educators needing support throughout the country. (12) Throughout the country there are educators working in isolation that could receive a sense of connection within a bigger entity. We have areas of the country not served by MME's. The networking opportunities of this larger group allow us to discuss possible approaches to issues faced by colleagues from across the nation. The organization is also useful to those of us who accept responsibility for developing a provincial voice for music educators. (13) We are able to meet with colleagues who may be facing similar challenges in their areas and provide feedback and advice based on common experience. Additionally the CMEA has an awards program to recognize those who have given life long service to music education. (14) This is a benefit that gradually becomes of greater importance as we progress through our careers. Education does not have a reward structure comparable to, say, business, and it is important to provide as many opportunities to say to those who have dedicated their lives to music education, "Thanks for a job well-done." The networking possibilities inherent with partnerships (15) with other music agencies such as the National Arts Centre and the Coalition for Music Education adds strength to our voice and helps keep music education on the agenda politically. (16) I was literally thrilled to hear the Keynote speaker for the OMEA convention, prime ministerial hopeful, Bob Rae, declare that "music is not a frill". He went on to recognize its inherent value but also its influence (amongst other subjects) on keeping kids in school by engaging them in activities that they can relate to, enjoy and experience success. We influence policy by influencing people. Beyond our borders CMEA/ACME provides an international connection through ISME (International Society for Music Education) and through other international events. This not only adds to our knowledge base on international trends (17) but provides a Canadian perspective and influence. In addition, many of our researchers and educators present papers. (18) A list of 18 benefits is a pretty good start. The challenge, of course, is to keep renewing the list: maintaining what is established and searching for new avenues to be of service to CMEA/ACME members. Respectfully submitted,
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