CJMEA

Central Jersey Music Educators Association

www.cjmea.org

I hope this finds everyone well and you had a wonderful holiday season! CJMEA has started its region season and students and staff have been hard at work over the past few months. Our High School Band, Orchestra, Chorus, and Percussion Ensemble Auditions took place at JP Stevens High School on December 10th. A huge thank you to our division chairs Chris Vitale, Arvin Gopal, and Arielle Siegel for their work and dedication to ensure our auditions ran smoothly. An additional thank you to Brian Toth and Barbara Retsko for all of their work behind the scenes in organizing the day.

We are in the midst of our HS concert season, and it has been amazing to watch our students tirelessly get down to work. The concerts have been phenomenal, and it has been a joy to see how much our guest conductors enjoy working with each of our students. One of my greatest pleasures of being CJMEA President is to welcome each of our conductors into Region II and this year has been no different. Thank you to each of our conductors for bringing your expertise, passion, dedication, and leadership to all our students: Dr. Sandra Dackow (Hershey Symphony – HS Orchestra), Pablo Rieppi (Percussion Ensemble – Julliard Pre-College), Dr. Andrea Brown (University of Maryland – HS Wind Ensemble), Dr. Julia Baumanis (Rutgers – HS Symphonic Band), Julianna LoBiondo (UNT – HS Treble Chorus), and Dr. Andrew Kreckmann (Sacramento State – HS Mixed Chorus). Bravo to all involved!

Our Intermediate Auditions took place on January 28th at Community Middle School, and I will have full coverage of all of the concerts in the next issue. Looking ahead, we have many exciting events coming up including our HS Concert Band Festival, and Honors Ensembles at the Elementary and Middle School Level, as well as our HS Honors Orchestra. If you have any questions, please reach out to the appropriate division chair.

In June, my term as CJMEA President will come to an end. I know that CJMEA will be in great hands with Brian Williams, our President-Elect. With that said, it is an election year coming up this Spring and we will have open positions of President-Elect, Secretary, and Treasurer. Please be on the look out for information about these elections. If you are thinking of possibly running of one of these positions or have any questions please feel free to contact me and I will be happy to speak with you.

I look forward to seeing you very soon at a CJMEA event. Wishing you all the best this Winter and Spring!

Yale Snyder CJMEA President percussion[at]cjmea.org