ASTA AZ: American String Teachers Association

Arizona ASTA General Membership Meeting

September 17, 2011

Dobson High School Orchestra Room

The meeting was called to order at 12:45 pm. Shelley welcomed the AZ ASTA members and introduced the attending Executive Board members:  Jan McDivitt, Past President; Terry Alexander, President-Elect; Toru Tagawa, Treasurer and Southern Membership Chair; Ruth Kurtis, Secretary; Claire Gordon, National Solo Competition Chair and those not present: Jacquelyn Schwandt, Northern Membership Chair and Gail Rolland, Central Membership Chair.

REPORTS:

1. The General Membership Meeting Minutes of February 4, 2011 were approved as written and accepted by acclamation of the attending members.

2. Toru presented the Treasurers Report of $10,552.00 in the treasury as of September 16, 2011.  He also reported that different AZ ASTA events will be submitting an Event Summary Report: Bass Jam; Cellobration, etc, and the rationale for the summary in addition thanking those for their attendance at today’s event.

3. The Membership Report of 208 current AZ ASTA members compared to 211 members at this comparable time last year was shared by Shelley Rich.  There are 9,907 national ASTA members and Shelley outlined some of the new options for renewing membership: automatically renewed by credit card, semi-annually, quarterly and monthly.

4. Claire reiterated the new process that is being implemented for all Special Events, the Summary Form, a byproduct of the Financial Sub-Committee.

5. Shelley announced for Bill Bitter the National Honors Orchestra Report that a total of 13 Arizona students have been selected to participate and represent our state in this prestigious orchestra.  Ten of those students are string students.

EVENTS UPDATES
Terry Alexander reported that the website has been recently updated, gone live, with new pages for new special events: Showcase Strings, Violas Plus, Cello Congress and ASTA CAP. Mailers were sent with a calendar of events and the dates shared.  There is now a capacity of using Pay Pal to pay for registered events.  The membership shared thanks with Terry for all her dedication and hard work in updating the site and making events easier to register and pay for.

There is an additional site for the ASTA Certificate Advancement Program (ASTA CAP) program being initiated in Arizona this year.  In addition to the North, Central and South sites, Maggie Fenske will be starting a program in Yuma.  Hurray to the Yuma area and their outstanding teachers.

AWARDS
Jan McDivitt represented AZ ASTA and recognized Cayce Miners for a wonderful job serving as the Treasurer for the past three years with a certificate.

AWARDS, Cont.
Jan also talked about the outstanding qualities of Catherine Nichols, the Outstanding Public School Teacher of the Year. The common threads amongst the many nomination letters were about the love of music and students, talent, knowledge, dedication and influence upon the many students, student teachers and communities that she taught in during her career which included the states of Arizona and New Mexico.  The members gave a standing ovation to Catherine upon receiving her plaque.

Claire Gordon shared that this is a State Solo Competition year and encouraged all private and public teachers to use their influence to enter students.  Registration is easy to complete online and hard copies of the information is available upon request.

NEW BUSINESS
Shelley highlighted the following new business:

    * The AZ ASTA Bylaws and Constitution are in revision, will be posted online for review and will be included on the election ballot.
    * The Communications Chair position is open and members with the skill set of publications, making flyers that are mailed out and soliciting articles from members are encouraged to let Executive Board members know of your availability to serve.
    * The National Convention will be held in Atlanta on March 21-24, 2012.  
    * AZ ASTA is pleased to announce that we are co-sponsoring Richard Meyer for the AMEA Convention on Saturday, February 4, 2012 at the Mesa Conference Center.
    * The Election Committee Members of Jan McDivitt, Beth Gilbert and Louise Scott are would like to hear from to those that that wish to run for the offices of President Elect and Secretary in the spring election.
    * The String Showcase Event held on January 21, 2012 will alleviate scheduling concerns and conflicts at the ABODA/AMEA Convention and will feature the Master Class lead by Thomas Landschoot, ASU Professor of Cello and also the performances of our AZ Solo Competition winners.
    * Doris Gazda graciously donated copies of her different music publications to give to the membership that were warmly received such as: Performance Series, Progressive Trios, Ensembles for 2, 3 and 4, Studies in Lyricism, Melodious Etudes (arrangements) and High Tech for Strings



It was moved, seconded and by acclamation the meeting was adjourned at 12:35 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,
Ruth Kurtis
AZ ASTA Secretary

Draft 9.17.2011
Executive Board Review Consensus:  9.28.2011
General Membership Meeting Approved: Date