Dear JJ,

Greetings from the Oregon Music Education Association! Click here to visit our website.

The following email includes OMEA's February News.

Make sure to Click View entire Message at the bottom to see all of the content.

Hannah Abercrombie is an enthusiastic and dedicated music educator in her 2nd year as the Director of Choirs at McKay High School in Salem, Oregon, where she directs four choirs, the nationally acclaimed a cappella group, Scots-Appella, and is the assistant director of the McKay Marching Band. 

After receiving her Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of Oregon, Hannah started her career at Douglas High School in Winston, Oregon, where she taught band and choir for six years. During her time in southern Oregon, she led her bands and choirs to top placings in state championships, revived the marching band and color guard after a 30-year hiatus, planned, coordinated, and hosted district competitions and honor events, and served as Vice President for OMEA District 10.

Hannah is excited at the chance to be a part of the OMEA leadership team and is eager to seek out inspiring experiences and opportunities to further enrich music educators in Oregon. She wants to ensure that the OMEA Conference experience is revitalizing and worthwhile for educators of all ages, backgrounds, and specialties.

Outside of work, Hannah loves spending time with her fiancé, Andrew, and snuggling with her two kitties, Meelo and Momo. She has enjoyed getting to teach in her hometown of Salem and feels grateful to be in such an amazing community of people and music.

Conference Survey

Thank you to all who attended the OMEA 2025 Conference: Resonance. Please spend a few minutes filling out our post-conference survey. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and used to improve our conference for future years. The survey can be found here.

OMEA 2026

Save the date! OMEA 2026 will be held at the Graduate Hotel, Eugene on January 16-18th.

Applications are now open to present or perform at the OMEA 2026 conference. New this year - submit a topic or presenter nomination! Have a specific topic or speaker you would like to see at next year's conference? Fill out the short nomination form to share your ideas! The conference planning team will take this feedback to recruit relevant and impactful sessions for our membership's needs. 

All application forms can be found here.

Elizabeth Soper

OMEA Conference Chair

conferencechair@oregonmea.org

All-State Apparel Update  

Corrected 2025 All-State t-shirts and sweatshirts were just completed in Eugene and will be distributed through teachers. Thank you for your patience and help!

• 2025 Concert Photography Order Form
• 2025 Concert CD & DVD Ordering Form

Kristi Stingle

OMEA All-State Chair

allstatechair@oregonmea.org

The NAfME Northwest Division Conference will be held in Spokane this month from the 13th - 16th.

Rooms for this conference are still available:

The Davenport Grand

The Centennial Hotel

Click here for the conference website.

Direct any All-Northwest or conference questions to Scott.Ketron@wmea.org.

40th Annual Music In Our Schools Month® 

Get ready to celebrate! March 2025 is the 40th annual Music In Our Schools Month®, a huge national-level advocacy event celebrating school music programs. This year’s theme is United Through Music.  

Not sure what to do? Easy Action Steps! 

1. Put a ready-to-use graphic in your March concert programs
2. Email the parents of your students, encouraging them to reach out to decision makers
3. Invite your principal to make a proclamation or put a message in a March school newsletter. 

• 2025 MIOSM: Newsletter Samples (make a copy, change the highlighted text, send to principal as a template)
• Sample Proclamation |  How to Get a Proclamation Passed

1. Email your elected officials

• Find your elected officials: OMEA District Roster |  bit.ly/ORLOOKUP (case sensitive)
• 2025 MIOSM: Elected Official Email Sample (make a copy, change the highlighted text, send)

Change your social media profile picture in March

NAfME/Federal Advocacy

• Tell your Congressional and Senate representatives about how you feel about cuts to Title I, Title II, Arts-specific language from ESSA, and why federal funding matters to you and your students. DO THIS NOW. It takes five minutes! Personalize your message to make it more impactful and to avoid being flagged.  



• An update from NAfME, discussing recent federal actions around Education: President Trump’s Executive Order Regarding the U.S. Department of Education - NAfME. The blog covers key developments, including efforts to eliminate DEI from federal programs, the (since lifted) freeze on federal funding, executive orders directing the Department of Education to “End Racial Indoctrination” and “Expand Educational Freedom,” and discussions on dismantling the Department of Education. 

• The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has announced that the confirmation hearing for Linda McMahon as U.S. Secretary of Education has been scheduled for Thursday, February 13 at 10am ET. You can watch the hearing here. NAfME plans to share a recap following the hearing.  

• The Arts Education Alliance launched a social media campaign last week to help arts educators become more familiar with federal programs and how they can be used to support dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts. The APP team also updated the toolkits on Titles I, II, and IV, which all can be found here.

NAfME Professional Learning

Looking for more professional development opportunities? See all of the NAfME webinars on their Professional Learning Calendar.  

LINKS

• OMEA Advocacy
• Advocacy Resources 
• Program Standards for Music in Oregon Schools
• National Music Standards One-Page



Need advocacy support? Contact advocacy@oregonmea.org

We are the Oregon Music Educators Equity professional learning community! If you have a brilliant resource, song, approach, or idea that you want to share with other music educators, please share it here.

Cynthia Navarro

OMEA DEI Co-Chair

navarro16@gresham.k12.or.us

Amanda Sarles

OMEA DEI Co-Chair

asarles@siuslaw.k12.or.us

OMEA has a new, future-focused Mission and Vision statement along with a set of Core Beliefs that will guide our Strategic Planning for the foreseeable future. Many thanks to those who gave feedback in our Strategic Planning Survey, as well as members of the board who took the time over the summer to create these statements of accountability and purpose. 

MISSION: OMEA supports music educators and advocates for equitable access to a high-quality and comprehensive music education for all students in Oregon. 

VISION: OMEA will serve as the trusted source for music advocacy in Oregon and will strive to increase the quality and accessibility of music education in our state. 

Please click here to read OMEA's Strategic Plan in full.

The Executive Board took the time over the summer to edit and streamline OMEA's Policies and Procedures document. The Board of Control approved changes in September.

Please click here to read OMEA's Policies and Procedures.

Here are some important links as we enter festival/contest season. All of these links can be found on the OSAA Choir Website: OSAA - Activities

Sight Reading Room Procedures the OSAA Choral Handbook, which includes updated Sight Reading Room Procedures and Instructions: Choir Handbook  The updated changes are designated by black italic lettering in the 6.8 Sight Reading Room section.

Required Choral Music List NEW Required Lit. List 7/21 - Google Docs Remember, only one (1) song in your contest set must be from this list. For the rest of the set, teachers are encouraged the choose a varied program of music that best showcases their students' and their ensemble's skills, and may include variations in divisi that best fit your ensemble. 

Approval Request for Required Repertoire Selection Approval Request For OSAA/ACDA Required Repertoire Selection    If your pre-1900 selection that does not appear on the Required Choral Music List, you must have it approved to be considered in alignment with contest rules.  The deadline to submit a request is Feb 28.

The new Oregon ACDA website is OREGON ACDA. It also has links to all of the above information.

Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!

Kathy Briggs

OMEA Choir Chair

kathy.briggs@smapdx.org

www.oregonacda.com

Brigid Mayer

OMEA Orchestra Chair

mayer_brigid@salkeiz.k12.or.us

www.orasta.org

Jen Bell

OMEA Band Chair

BELL_JENNIFER@salkeiz.k12.or.us

https://www.oregonbda.org/

The Oregon Jazz Adjudicator Database is up and running! The purpose of this resource is to provide festival coordinators with a comprehensive and diverse list of professionals who are interested in adjudicating and providing jazz education in a festival setting. Each person on the list provided their own biography, experience, preferences, etc.

The current Jazz Adjudicator Database can be found HERE. 

Those accessing the database should be able to filter and organize the list however they'd like (by location, instrument, race/gender, etc.), but won't be able to alter the spreadsheet's contents. 

It is not too late to be added to this list! Submit requests to be added to the spreadsheet by filling out THIS FORM.

Jessika Smith

OMEA Jazz Chair

jessika_smith@parkrose.k12.or.us 

Small Schools Music Educators!

Please find us on Facebook by clicking here.

Excitingly, NAfME has recently put together a Small Schools Initiative. The website for this initiative is full of useful videos and information provided by small schools music educators from around the country. You can find those resources by clicking here.

We all share a wonderful and sometimes challenging job. As such, we truly are one another’s best resources. From first-year teachers to established veterans, connection is key to our success! If I can be of any assistance to you this year, please feel free to reach out to me at any time. I am always thrilled to hear from other small schools music teachers.

Best wishes for a great year!

Melissa Jmaeff

OMEA Small Schools Chair

melissa.jmaeff@sutherlin.k12.or.us

If you need to renew your OMEA/NAfME membership, please do that sooner than later. Please click here to renew!

Visit this website to cast your vote! This election ends the afternoon of the 13th.

Aaron Marshall of Idaho and Chad Rose of Wyoming are candidates for NAfME Northwest's President-Elect position.

A Tri-M® Music Honor Society chapter opens up a world of opportunities for students who have already shown themselves to be academically capable and musically gifted. Through performance and community service, they’ll develop confidence, creativity, critical thinking, compassion, and a host of other leadership skills sure to serve them well in school and beyond.

Click here to apply!

Click here to access NFHS publications and e-newsletter subscriptions.

Bandworld features the American Band College of Central Washington University and WIBC hosted annually in the fall in SeaTac.

Enjoy exceptional chamber music with Chamber Music Northwest's digital concerts available virtually at CMNW.org and live concerts in Portland, OR.

The Columbians Drum & Bugle Corps is a 501c3 non-profit organization serving the youth in the Tri-Cities, Washington, and surrounding areas.

Since 1750, Conn Selmer is the largest manufacturer and importer of band and orchestral instruments for students, amateurs, and professionals of all genres.

Students will have unique performance opportunities, music and theater clinics from industry professionals and by attending great shows.

Eugene Symphony is a professional orchestra performing classical, symphonic, and live music in Eugene, OR.

Delivering music since 1876. JW Pepper ® is your sheet music store for band, orchestra and choral music, piano sheet music, worship songs, songbooks and more.

Music education programs offering orchestra, band and jazz in Portland, Oregon. Celebrating our 50th anniversary!



Quality professional development in the Feierabend curricula in a fun, interactive way, so teachers can spend their time teaching.

Nova Music International offers services in music publishing, education, administration, summer camps, and events (workshops, guest conducting, clinics, adjudication, and festival management).  

The Oregon Ambassadors of Music continues to provide meaningful cultural experiences and extraordinary performance opportunities. Outstanding students from all over Oregon prepare music to perform in select cities throughout Europe.

The Oregon Children's Choir has served kids in Lane County for over 40 years. We offer excellent singing opportunities for kids in 1st through 12th grade.

The Festival is an outgrowth of ideas that formed in the Newport Symphony’s board and the Festival’s artistic leadership comes from the Music Director Adam Flatt.

Peripole is the exclusive dealers for Peripole® Halo® Recorders, Bergerault® Orff Instruments, Peripole® Percussion and the NEW Peripole® Classic™ Ukulele by Enya.

Celebrate Portland’s most dedicated young musicians as they perform both classical favorites and rarely heard works, bringing an unrivaled energy to each piece.

Quartet Violins specializes in violin, viola, cello, and bass rentals and sales. We are dedicated to providing quality instruments in great condition at an affordable price.

Southern Oregon University Music Program offers bachelor of music degrees, graduate programs focused on music performance & music education degrees.

 The music program offers a Bachelor of arts in music with 4 tracks: In all four, the liberal arts core curriculum is complemented by a deep study of music in applied private lessons, ensembles and the classroom.

The department supports large and small ensembles in vocal and instrumental music and up-to-date facilities for electronic music production and recording.

We specialize in repairs, sales, and rentals of band and orchestra instruments. We also offer sales, setups, and repairs on fretted instruments such as guitars, ukuleles, and bass guitars. 

Please click here to access OMEA publications. Issuu will now archive all OMEA publications dating back to 1948. These older editions will be posted as access becomes available for scanning.

Please contact JJ Sutton if you are interested in submitting an article for future publications.

Follow OMEA on Instagram at "oregonmusiceducation."

You can also follow OMEA on Facebook by liking "Oregon Music Education Association."

OMEA social media is a great way to receive news and updates in real time!