Spring Board meetings are important. That’s when we decide the direction the North Dakota Federation of Music Clubs will take during the next year. This year’s meeting will also feature the final auditions of North Dakota young musicians who have entered the Centennial Young Artist competition. The contestants are listed later in this newsletter. I hope we will be able to send at least 2 young people to Chicago for the BIG birthday celebration.

I know that local clubs don’t like to do reports, but according to the schedule, there are a lot of reports coming due soon. Please check the dates and get them to the proper people.

If you did something special in January for the centennial, please send a copy of your program to Eloise Halverson in Williston.

Do you have any exciting ideas about what the North Dakota Federation could do at the August National Board meeting?

The International Peace Garden Music camp will soon be opening their doors for another season. How many young people will be attending with scholarship help from your club? As you know, the NDFMC gives Gay King scholarships to the Agnes Jardine students at orchestra camp. We plan to honor these students at Federation Day. Doris Lambie is our liaison with the music camp. Joe Alme is the camp director.

Spring Board Meeting
Saturday, May 2, 9:00 a.m.

Fargo Holiday Inn

I hope you can all attend. We’ll try to be done by 3:00 p.m.

I would like reports from national board members and committee chairs, state elected officers, regional vice-presidents, club presidents and committee chairs. Please bring 25 copies. This report should be your annual report. For the fall board meeting, I will want you to present a brief plan of work.

There is a tentative agenda in this newsletter.

Rooms are available at the Holiday Inn. There is also a Holiday Inn Express, Red Roof Inn, Select Inn, Comfort Inn and Fairfield Inn within one block of the Holiday Inn.

We will have a group lunch at the Holiday Inn followed by the live final auditions for Youth Day.

Spring Board Tentative Agenda

Call to order
Opening ceremonies

Minutes of Fall meeting
Treasurer’s report
President’s report
National Board member reports
Northern Lights director’s report
Regional Vice-president reports
Committee reports

Old business
    Bylaws
    Archives
    National Board meeting
    State convention

New business
    Inspiration Point request

Centennial Youth audition finals (1:00 p.m.)

Other business
Adjourn
 
 

Centennial Audition preliminary results

Thanks to the eight students and four music teachers who entered the auditions. We had a great morning listening to the tapes. I’d like to recognize all the students who entered:

*Tom Wipf, Oakes, ND. (D. Eileen Geske, teacher), Valley City-Jamestown Music Club
*Janelle D. Mueller, Hillsboro, ND (Sharon Westbrook, teacher), Grand Forks Thursday Music Club
*Jennifer Donelson, Dickinson, ND (Priscilla Keogh, teacher), St. Cecilia’s Music Club of Dickinson
*Christy Morlock, Grand Forks, ND (Jane Solose, teacher), Grand Forks Thursday Music Club
Toni Bockwoldt, LaMoure, ND (D. Eileen Geske, teacher), Valley City-Jamestown Music Club
Aleisha Pfaff, LaMoure, ND (D. Eileen Geske, teacher), Valley City-Jamestown Music Club
*Sarala Nagala, Oakes, ND (D. Eileen Geske, teacher), Valley City-Jamestown Music Club
Sonia Nagala, Oakes, ND (D. Eileen Geske, teacher), Valley City-Jamestown Music Club

Those indicated with a star (*) have been invited to the final auditions to be held at 1:00 on May 2 at the Fargo Holiday Inn. The decision on who will represent the NDFMC will be made at the Board meeting after the auditions.

I hope that senior clubs with finalists will help with the contest expenses of their young people. State winners will receive $1000 for expenses incurred with travelling to Chicago for the national competition. They will receive that check in Chicago upon completion of their performance.

Junior Festivals and Gold Cup

I attended the Fargo area Gold Cup recital last month. What a wide range of ages and talent. Although I have not seen the final reports, I did sign a lot of certificates. The initial distribution was greater than last years totals and then I sent additional certificates to Bismarck, Minot, Dickinson, Fargo and Mayville. A big welcome to the Mayville Junior Festival!

Congratulations!

Young Composers Winners

State winners were announced by chair, Susan Clambey. They are:

Junior Class I (9 and under)
1. Sarah Martinsen, Moorhead, MN

Junior Class II (ages 10-12)
1. Kristen Stolt, Dickinson, ND
2. Kristen Fernholz, Moorhead, MN
3. Emily Hill, West Fargo, ND
4. Rachel Crummy, Grand Forks, ND

Junior Class III (ages 13-15)
1. Richelle Blanchard, Dickinson, ND
2. Miran Blanchard, Dickinson, ND
3T. Sonia Nagala, Oakes, ND
3T. Kevin Stolt, Dickinson, ND
4. Jennifer Senger, Grand Forks, ND
HM. Amanda Fangsrud, Moorhead, MN
HM. Matthew Crummy, Grand Forks, ND

The first and second place winners progressed to the next level.

There is a good article on Junior Composers in the 1997 Winter issue of "Junior Keynotes"

National Music Week, May 3-10

Theme: Music...To Be Shared

Club Presidents: I am enclosing the national booklet, it covers this year and next year. If this is a duplicate of what you received from Susan Lundberg, make sure a copy gets to your local chair.

Deadline is May 22.

The wonders of technology

NFMC is not yet in the technology mode. Francis Christmann, the federation’s PR director bemoaned the fact in her last memo. She wrote that there had been 173 hits on the NFMC webpage (I didn’t know one existed). She wondered what might happen if we had a real page on the web from headquarters under the name of NFMC instead of having to look and look for a home page under the name of http://home.att.net/~francis-christmann I sure wouldn’t have thought to look there! She says that until the national office computers are upgraded we are stuck with this freebie from AT&T Worldnet.

A website for NDFMC

It’s not fancy and, like the roads, it’s under construction, but we do have an Internet location. The address is    www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/cnelson/ndfmc

It’s easier if you find it the first time and then enter it into your bookmarks (favorites). If you cut off the ndfmc, you will find my main home-page with connections to the legislature and my NDSU classes.

In December, I asked for e-mail addresses. I only have 3 names on my list. If you are "connected", please let me know. Postage is expensive!

Local club visits

In January I attended the St. Cecelia’s musicale. It was well worth the drive. They had a program that spanned all ages and a variety of musical talents. We heard piano-organ, piano, clarinets, vocal, handbells and strings. It was great!. There was good fellowship at the reception that followed.
 

Deadline reminders

Here are the May-June deadlines:

May 1
    Audio Visual Activities
    American Folk Music
    Parade of American Music

May 2 Officer and committee annual reports

May 22 National Music Week

June 1
    Club ratings (brag sheets)
    Past Presidents’ Assembly report

 
Club rating sheets

Here’s some information from Rheba King, national chairman. She’s brand new at this too.

She reminds us that the rating sheets reveal a club’s strengths and weaknesses. The results make a club feel proud of its accomplishments and resolve to work to strengthen its weaknesses.

Be sure to take credit for everything that you’re doing. One of the nine senior clubs will be nominated "club of the year".

Music in Schools and Colleges

I only got two reports - thanks to Devils Lake and Williston. Those two clubs gave a total of $2784 in scholarships and awards. With 9 senior clubs and about 188 junior clubs, what do you suppose the real amount is?

Postage Stamps

Have you seen the Classical Composers and Conductors postage stamps? There is also a sheet of Operatic Stars. They look great on Federation mail.

Thanks

Quayne Sherwood has submitted her resignation as state Opera chairman. She served in that position for three years and we are grateful for her service. Thanks Quayne.

Request for news items

If you have news to share, let me know. These newsletters have no specific timetable. I anticipate that the next one will come out mid-summer.

NDFMC website: www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/cnelson/ndfmc

President: Carolyn Nelson, 1125 College Street, Fargo, ND 58102. 701-235-5161(H); 701-231-8078 (O) e-mail: cnelson@plains.nodak.edu (New), (notes.canelson@ranch.state.nd.us works too)