Author: Benjamin Martin

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Division I State Competition

The Tennessee Division 1 State Marching Band Championship will be held at Independence High School in Thompsons Station, TN on Saturday, November 2nd. Below is the registration for the event. The deadline to register is Wednesday, October 16th. This event is sanctioned by the Tennessee Bandmaster Association. If you have any questions please feel free to contact Nathan Belcher (nbelcher@goodpasture.org) or David Grayson.

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JOTFORM links

Just in case you are having issues…

Below are the membership registration form and the Marching Festival Form.

Membership Form

Marching Form Link

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WTSBOA Registration

Thank you all for your patience.  Below is the jotform for WTSBOA/TMEA registration.

We will only accept invoices from this form.  You may pay by card or check.  We will take checks, along with the invoice,  at the meeting this Saturday,

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Membership Dues

I am working on the jotform and will hopefully have it up soon.  If you need to prepare a check,  the rates are listed below.  Also, I am in the process of contacting those who did not attend the required two meetings and will have to pay a fine.

Membership Categories

Active/Introductory Membership, Associate Membership, Honorary/Life Membership, College Student Membership, or Music Supervisor Membership

WTSBOA 2024-2025 Dues

  • Active Membership Membership: $100.00
  • Associate Membership: $25.00
  • Honorary Lifetime Membership: $0.00
  • College Student Membership: $25.00
  • Music Supervior Membership: $25.00

Meeting Attendance Fine: $100.00 per meeting
(for failure to attend 2 of the 3 required meetings per the bylaws)

TMEA 2024-2025 Dues

•Active: $50.00 – Same rate as 2023-2024
• Introductory Active: $30.00 – Same rate as 2023-2024
• Collegiate: $15.00 – Same rate as 2023-2024
• Elementary Teacher Rate: $25.00 – New for 2024-2025 for all teachers who
primarily teach at the elementary school level.
• Retired: $25.00 – $5.00 increase from 2023-2024
• Institutional Associate Membership: $125.00 – New for 2024-2025 for all
music industry/college and university academic institutions

TBA 2024-2025 Dues

  • Active: $25.00
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TMEA: Updates and Membership Survey

Please see the letter from TMEA.
Greetings TMEA Members,
Welcome back to the 2024-25 school year! We hope your year is off to a positive start. Here are a few important updates:
  • As of July 1, TMEA leadership has been working on improving accessibility for membership to regional organizations and TMEA. Currently, TMEA bylaws require membership in a regional organization, TMEA, and NAfME. To address accessibility, TMEA leadership proposed removing the NAfME membership requirement for participation in TMEA and regional events. On July 7, the TMEA Board of Directors and the nine regional presidents unanimously supported the first reading to amend the TMEA bylaws.
  • TMEA leadership believes Tennessee music educators should have the right to choose what national organizations they wish to hold membership. TMEA should not mandate membership in one national organization above another. There are other states who currently give the option to join NAfME to its members.
  • Discussions with NAfME are ongoing. TMEA and NAfME executive committees have had multiple communications via phone and email. A Zoom meeting was held on July 17, 2024. NAfME leadership requested a proposal from TMEA, which included requests for NAfME to handle the collection and administration of their national dues, grants to be used for various purposes, including scholarships for memberships and other program services offered by TMEA. NAfME responded with a counterproposal on August 2, 2024 that did not include any grant assistance but instead offered a loan to TMEA with payment terms. TMEA was looking for financial support in the form of grants to support membership. TMEA was not  looking for a loan, nor does TMEA need a loan.
  • Last year, NAfME collected over $118,000 in membership dues from Tennessee music educators. Over the past two decades that amount has exceeded over two-million dollars. TMEA leadership has raised the question of costs versus the benefits, not only received by individuals but also the benefits received by TMEA as a non-profit organization. The benefits enumerated by NAfME may be found here.
  • TMEA as an organization does not receive any financial support from NAfME.  This includes many of the TMEA program services such as our state journal, our lobbyist, our annual music education conference, our all-state student ensembles, CNAfME Kickoff events, etc.
  • TMEA is launching new initiatives, including expanding the 2027 conference to feature middle school honor bands, orchestras, choirs, and an elementary Orff ensemble. We are also working on increasing accessibility through regional workshops in underserved urban and rural areas. As mentioned above, TMEA leadership has requested financial support from NAfME via grant proposals which were countered with a loan offer
  • We ask regional leadership to start collecting regional and state dues while we continue discussions with NAfME. Most NAfME memberships for Tennessee music educators will expire in early 2025, so regional organizations will pause NAfME dues collections until further notice. TMEA leadership has set the dues for the 2024-2025 school year, which remain unchanged from last year. For questions about your NAfME membership, contact info@tnmea.org.
  • To better understand the views of our membership, we have developed a brief survey. The survey opens on Thursday, August 8, and closes at 11:59 PM on Monday, August 12, 2024. Click here to access the survey.
Thank you for your understanding as we begin the 2024-2025 school year. With 33%-40% of music educators currently missing from our membership rolls, my primary goal as president is to make TMEA and its regional associations more accessible to Tennessee educators and to enhance musical opportunities for their students.

This is a challenge we must address together, with the aim of resolving it in the future. I appreciate your continued patience and support throughout this process. Please be assured that we are working diligently to represent the best interests of Tennessee’s dedicated music educators and the remarkable students you teach every day.

Joel Denton, President
Tennessee Music Education Association
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Membership Registration and Dues

Good Evening,

I hope everyone is having a good week.

We will have the membership registration link posted after NAfME meets August 1st.

Hopefully, it will be up and running next week.

 

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TMEA/NAfME

Greetings,

As many of you have heard we will  be voting on whether or not TMEA will dissociate with NAfME.

The purpose of this post is to encourage each and every one of you to make your choice.

I would like to clear up some information:

IF TMEA disassociates with NAfME, YOU can STILL be a member of NAfME.  You can still have a National voice.  You can still receive all the benefits NAfME has stated you will lose.  Ex.  If you are a member,  you may still run for a NAfME office.

This policy is parallel with the Tennessee Band Masters Association or any other (state or national) association.  We do not require you to be a part of them, however, you can choose to be a member and have your voice heard.

Essentially NAfME could have the same amount of membership (or more if we get parents and former educators to join).

I am not posting to persuade anyone to vote either way.  However, I think there have been some fear-mongering tactics and false information to persuade people a certain way.

I have reached out to NAfME and they have not responded.

At the end of the day, the vote is about personal choice.  National membership, in any organization, should be an individual choice.

If anyone would like to discuss it, do not hesitate to email, text, or call.  I will not post on social media or engage in discussions on social media.

Enjoy the rest of your summer break.

Benjamin