CAJ Update

Ali Gilroy Golden

CASMEC Coordinator Director of Orchestras, Reagan Educational Center

CASMEC Preview

The 2022 California All-State Music Education Conference is back IRL! We can’t wait to see you all this upcoming February in Fresno, CA and are so excited to provide the highest quality professional learning opportunity for music educators and your students across the state. As always, California Alliance for Jazz (CAJ), California Band Directors Association (CBDA), California Choral Directors Association (CCDA), California Music Educators Association (CMEA) and California Orchestra Directors Association (CODA), the collaborating organizations of CASMEC, have been working hard to prepare an educational and uplifting conference and All-State experience.

Registration will be open soon! The cost is $220 for organization members, $30 for college student members, $35 for retired members, and $365 for non-member attendees. Be sure to get registered with CAJ, CBDA, CCDA, CMEA and/or CODA to access that member rate.

This year we are excited to host some wonderful sessions including presentations on great techniques to rehearse your ensembles, ways to communicate with your administrators, ways to cultivate a positive ensemble identity for musical excellence, and tips on score study and rehearsal preparation. Our CBDA presenters include Dr. Peter Boonshaft, Dr. David Betancourt, Dr. Jason Caslor, Dr. Michael Fleischmann, Dr. Danielle Gaudry, Dr. Christopher Marra, Phil Vallejo and Dr. Gregory Whitmore. Please be sure to join us immediately following CBDA General Session on Saturday for a special session featuring our Guest Composers, Kevin Day and Katahj Copley and their new commissions.

Hopefully, most of you have heard of the exciting opportunity CBDA recently offered its membership. CBDA has organized a consortium to commission two new pieces of music, one for High School Band (Grade 4) composed by Kevin Day, and one for Junior High School Band (Grade 3) composed by Katahj Copley, that will help tell the story of social injustice within our nation. We are honored to work with these talented composers in the creation of these two works and hope you will join us for the World Premiers performed by our very own All-State students on Saturday, February 19, 2022 and Sunday, February 20, 2022.

Our housing link for conference attendees will also be available on our registration page soon. Rooms will fill up quickly, so please do not wait to book your stay. Discounted rates are locked in for a short time only and shuttle services will only be provided to and from select hotels. Again, be sure to use our housing link on the registration page in order to lock in our CASMEC block rates.

We know the 2020-21 school year was a difficult one. And unfortunately, 2021-22 is proving to provide its own new and quickly changing obstacles for us all as educators and musicians. However, it really is wonderful to see students and colleagues in real life again, and to make music together. For this I am grateful! We hope you’ll join us Friday night for the Director’s Social where you’ll have the opportunity to visit and reconnect with old friends and hopefully make some new ones as well.

The CASMEC Team is hopeful that our 2022 Conference filled with educational sessions and inspirational music making will provide you all with a safe space to refresh, rehone and resharpen your skills and talents as an educator. We are so looking forward to seeing you all this February and reconnecting! I hope you have a wonderful and safe fall semester!