The cool breezes of September and October 2012 are now history and old man winter will soon be here! Before long, our KMEA District Mini-Conventions will be hosting thousands of elementary, middle school, and high school students. These mini-conventions will produce awesome teaching and learning experiences as well as wonderful performances! A big thank you to all the KMEA district leaders, you make these conventions possible. It is through your hard work and dedication that musical opportunities are provided for our teachers and students and gives strength to KMEA! I wish all music teachers and your amazing students the best of luck as you prepare for auditions, honor group concerts, and the upcoming fall and winter school music programs! I want to take this opportunity to remind all music teachers of two very important KMEA Advocacy projects.

KMEA Survey: 2012 Impact of Budget Challenges on Music Programs in Kansas' Schools. Below is a link to a survey sponsored by KMEA to help assess the impact of continued budget challenges on music education in Kansas. It is crucial that KMEA receives one response from every school district in the state. Please identify one music educator as a representative from your school district to collect the necessary information and complete the survey no later than December 31, 2012. It is extremely important to find out through this survey, if the trend of losing music teaching positions in Kansas' schools has slowed. KMEA also needs to examine if music teacher losses have negatively impacted music instruction and/or music teachers' satisfaction in their jobs. Click on this link to begin the survey: https://surveys.ksu.edu/TS?offeringid=196793.

KMEA Music Advocacy Network. Once again we are asking for your help to identify high-profile music advocates who can be contacted at a moment's notice to help support school music programs on the district and state levels. Your KMEA district presidents and district advocacy chairs are currently contacting all music educators and asking them to submit one or two names of prominent music education advocates. These advocates should be influential in the educational, cultural, and business communities. They should also be knowledgeable about the validity of music education. For each advocate, please provide, as completely as possible, the information below to your District President. Remember to ask the advocate's permission to use his/her contact information.

• Advocate Name:
• Title:
• Address:
• City/Zip:
• Phone Number:
• E-Mail Address:

The primary objective of identifying and contacting these advocates is to offer additional support to music educators who provide quality music education in the schools. Music educators will be included in all communication regarding advocates, and will have final approval about what is communicated, to whom it is focused, and when it will occur. Please do your part to help the Music Advocacy Network grow!

I would like to personally congratulate the 2013 KMEA In-Service Workshop Performance Groups and Clinic Session providers who have been selected. This year's In-Service Workshop is February 21-23, 2013, and is once again shaping up to be a wonderful conference! Highlights of the convention will be sessions by Tim Lautzenheiser and Michael Butera, NAfME Executive Director.

"Storm Front" will be performing at the President's Concert on Thursday evening at 8:00 p.m. "Storm Front" was the 2010 Barbershop Harmony Society International Gold Medal Quartet Champions. I am very excited to hear these gentlemen and to watch them perform for our All-State students and music teachers! Remember, the President's Concert is free and open to the public. Please visit the "Storm Front" website by clicking on: Storm Front


Lastly, the 2012-2013 Kansas Music Review (KMR) is online! I would like to give a special thank you to the KMR Staff of Cathy Hunt, Editor; Robert Lee, Advertising Manager; Troy Johnson, Web & Technology Manager; and Desiree Kelsch, Design Manager. These magnificent individuals have done an OUTSTANDING job with the transition from a hard copy magazine to the new web-based version. "The best way to predict the future is to create it," is a quote by the influential writer and self-described "social ecologist," Peter Drucker. The KMEA Board and KMR staff had the vision two years ago to create the future. Now, with just a click of the mouse you can enjoy videos, listen to music, and by clicking on an advertisement you will be directed to the advertiser's website. I hope you agree that our new web-based KMR is fantastic! Troy Johnson has developed an "Intro and Visitor's Guide" to help members maneuver through the magazine. Click on Intro and Visitor's Guide to watch this informative video. The KMR Staff and KMEA Leadership are very excited about the endless possibilities of our new web-based online version of the Kansas Music Review. KMEA is one of our nation's leaders in producing one of the first web-based MEA online magazine. We certainly hope you take advantage of the new KMR and what it has to offer!

Take care and if I can ever be of assistance to you, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Respectfully,

Craig L. Manteuffel
KMEA President