​May 16, 2024
Meeting: Potluck at the home of Kay Zavislak. Began at 10:00am.
Present: Andrea Rackl, Eva Sauve, Dorie Blue, Nathan Campbell, Debra Chang, Kay Zavislak, Kim Bowman
Vote for Board Members
              - Vote is unanimous to keep the current board members on for next year.
Discussion of potential new performance opportunity for Students: Sonata/Sonatina Festival
              - Kay offers to organize
              - October 12, 2024 - potential date to hold festival
              - Written adjudication for participating students
              - Open to Bellingham, Lynden, Skagit, and Whidby Island chapters.
Business portion of Meeting concludes at 11:05am

April 18, 2024
Meeting called to order at 10:05 am by Andrea.
Present: Andrea Rackl, Eva Sauve, Michael Hannon, Nathan Campbell, Vanessa Ellis, Rabia Magnusson, Debra Chang, Spencer Rank, Bo Bestvina, Kaitlyn Ronstadt, Dorie Blue, Gabriel Manalac, Barbara Borries, August G., Issac

The current Board Members have agreed to stay on for next year.
              - The vote to approve will occur at the May General Meeting.
             - Andrea extends an invitation for other members to join the board either as an additional Member at Large or to run against the current board members.
              - Members are encouraged to think about joining one of the many committees for the next year.

Membership Renewal: Members are encouraged to renew membership by the end of June.

Treasurer’s Report:
              Checking: $4,842.62
              Savings: $6,640.00 (includes the Nancy Heyer Scholarship Fund)

March General Metting Minutes Approved: Andrea moves to approve, Gabriel seconds.

Nancy Heyer Scholarship Fund:

• This fund is available to student’s taking lessons with a BMTA teacher to help cover the cost of lessons.

Bo is looking to expand his program with the kids at the Whatcom Juvenile Correction Center.
              - If you are interested and/or have ideas, contact Bo.

Music Olympics:
              - Discussion of facilitator guidelines

Business portion of Meeting concludes at 10:40am
​
Program: Beginning Improvisation
              Presentation by Andrea
Program: Teaching beginning note reading
              Presentation by Barbara

March 21, 2024

Meeting called to order at 10:10 am by Andrea.

Present: Andrea Rackl, Eva Sauve, Nathan Campbell, Vanessa Ellis, Rabia Magnusson, Debra Chang, Spencer Rank, Bo Bestvina, Kaitlyn Ronstadt, Dorie Blue

February General Metting Minutes Approved: Spencer moves to approve, Vanessa seconds.

Music Olympics:

• Need three more volunteers to facilitate.

• Saturday, April 20th from 9am to 4pm
• Consistency in grading is needed!

       - An information packet with standards for assessment will be put together to give to teachers/facilitators
       - Possible in-person meeting to be set up to go over assessment standards.

The Chapter Piano Competition: Happened March 17, 2024

Honor’s Recital:

• Two Recitals this year.
• Sunday, March 24th starting at 2:00pm

 
Senior Awards:

• Seven awards to be given out this year.
• The awards will be presented at the beginning of each Honor’s recital.

Nancy Heyer Scholarship Fund:

• Bo and Rabia will reach out to music teachers in the local school districts to let them know about this fund which is available to students to help cover the cost of lessons.

Scholarship Basket:

• Rabia will organize.
• Accepting donations preferably by the next general meeting which will be April 18th.
• Nathan is available to transport it to convention.

Business portion of Meeting concludes at 10:43am

Program: Discussion on teaching neurodivergent students continues:
              Led by Rabia and Spencer

Women Composers:
              Presentation by Milica Jovanovic

Submitted respectfully by Nathan Campbell

February 29, 2024
Meeting called to order at 8:30am.
Present: Andrea Rackl, Michael Hannon, Nathan Campbell, Eva Sauve, Kaitlyn Ronstadt, Dorie Blue
Minutes from February Board Meeting approved. Michael moves to approve, Andrea seconds.
Treasurers Report:

• $4,769.58 in Checking
• $6,632.40 in Savings. This amount includes the Nancy Heyer Fund

Senior Awards:

• The board reviews the seven applicants.
• The board approves awards to all seven applicants.
• Andrea will let Vanessa know that she can proceed with the next steps of award distribution.

Meeting Adjourned at 8:45am
 
Submitted respectfully by Nathan Campbell

​February 15, 2024
Meeting called to order at 10:04 by Andrea
Present: Andrea Rackl, Eva Sauve, Nathan Campbell, Vanessa Ellis, Rabia Magnusson, Debra Chang, Spencer Rank, Kim Bowman, Bo
Treasurer’s Report:
              Checking: $4,554.07
              Savings: $1,449.40
              Nancy Heyer Fund: $5,183.00
Website:
              Password Protected Pages:

• Yearbook Roster
• Budget forms
• Is there anything members would want to see in the password protected section of the website?

              All the dates for upcoming chapter events are available on the events page
Senior Awards:
              February 23rd is the deadline.
Young Composers Project:
              Registration is open until February 27
              There are also a couple other opportunities for student composers:
              - MTNA Composition Competition – Deadline is September 15th
              - Marsha Wright Sonatina Festival – Run by the Seattle Music Teachers Association
MAP:

• Fees are due -$10 per student.
• Registered teachers should have received a schedule.
• Reminder, teachers should bring 2 copies of the schedule. One for the artist, and one for you.
• 1 student evaluation filled out for each student.
• Make sure copies of music are legal.
• Both artists are open to having meals with teachers.

Piano Competition:
              March 17, 2024
Music Olympics:

• April 20, 2024
• Need teachers to volunteer as facilitators!!

January Chapter Recital:

• 5 teachers
• 10 students
• Went smoothly.
• Would be nice to have a few more students participate.
• Reminder to let families know about donations.

Scholarship Basket:

• Rabia will organize.
• Nathan is available to transport it to convention.

Andrea proposes the question, “What is a habit you would like to let go of in your teaching for 2024?”
Business portion of Meeting concludes at 10:59am
Program: Teaching Neurodivergent students
              Led by Rabia and Spencer

February 1, 2024
Meeting called to order at 8:33am.
Present: Andrea Rackl, Michael Hannon, Nathan Campbell, Eva Sauve, Kaitlyn Ronstadt
Minutes from January Board Meeting approved. Eva moves to approve, Andrea seconds.
Minutes from December Board Meeting approved. Eva moves to approve, Michael Seconds
Workshop: 2024

• November 9th
• Jody Graves would prefer to stay at a hotel.
• Still good to ask potential presenters if they would be okay with staying in a home to save on hotel cost.

Treasurers Report:

• $4,914.88 in Checking
• $5,894.40 in Savings
• Masterclass Instructor was paid for 5 ½ hours

 
Collegiate Dues Discussion:

• Now $0.00
• No problems so far!

 
Website: Password protected pages:

• Full member contact page will be under member resources
• Michael will make that page live
• Andrea will email members with information concerning access to the password protected pages.

 
Meeting Adjourned at 8:46am
 
Submitted respectfully by Nathan Campbell

Meeting cancelled. Business taken care of through email.
Treasures report:
            Checking: $5260.85
            Savings: $5,894.40
Chapter Survey:
            Andrea called and spoke with a handful of our members, focusing on those who do not attend general meetings regularly. The general consensus was that Thursday mornings are still the best meeting time for the majority of us, and that people think we’re doing a good job in programming. There was still confusion about new forms of communication for the chapter, so we will need to keep emphasizing in emails and meetings that our website is now our central hub.
 
Submitted respectfully by Nathan Campbell

December 7, 2023
Meeting called to order at 8:36am.
Present: Andrea Rackl, Michael Hannon, Dorie Blue, Nathan Campbell, Eva Sauve
Minutes from November Board Meeting approved. Dorie moves to approve, Nathan seconds.
Workshop: Alexander Technique

• 11 attendees: 5 members, 3 non-members, 3 students
• $25 in profit will be used to reimburse Eva for her expenses.

Workshop: 2024

• November 9th is a potential date. Eva will confirm.
• Jody Graves is the presenter.
• Need 16 people to sign up.
• Members potentially host workshop presenters to save on hotel cost.
• Eva will ask Jody if she would be open to a home stay.

Treasurers Report:

• $4,832 in Checking
• $1,367 in Savings
• $4,445 in Scholarship fund

Chapter Dues Discussion:

• Active members: $25
• Seniors: $12.50
• Collegiate: Currently $12.50 but chapter had set it at $0.00
• Michael will follow up about what the lowest rate acceptable by MTNA is.
• Dues will not change this year.

Website: Now with password protected pages

• Forms page is password protected.
• Pages to include password protection are:
  • Contacts page with full contact information of members.
  • Events page with full event details

General Meeting: Discussion in regard to meeting the member’s needs.

• Poll members on meeting time.
• Andrea will check in with members individually.

Meeting Adjourned at 9:14am
 
Submitted respectfully by Nathan Campbell

Meeting called to order at 10:01am by Andrea.
Present: Andrea Rackl, Eva Sauve, Dorie Blue, Nathan Campbell, Spencer Rank, Gabriel Manalac, Debra Chang, Barbara Borries, Mary Walby
October General Meeting Minutes Approved: Barbara moves to approve minutes, Dorie seconds.
Treasures Report:
Coffers are full.
Halloween recital discussion:

• Recital brought in $850 in profit for the Nancy Heyer Scholarship Fund.
• Let students know that funds are available for use.
• Volunteer needed to contact schoolteachers to let them know about the fund in case they have a student who has expressed interest in lessons but can’t afford them.
• Andrea will send a reminder to members making it more clear that the scholarship fund is available to beginner students who are hesitant to start lessons due to limited finances.

Workshop:

• Alexander Technique led by Lisa Toner. November 18, 2023 from 2:30-4:30pm at the Grace Center
• Thursday November 16th was the last day to register.
• There were enough registrations that the event is financially feasible.

Discussion on Teaching Strategies: What’s Working?

• Visualization
• Rewards to encourage practice.
• Singing and learning by rote
• Training eyes for sightreading using a laser pointer.
• Nathan will send Andrea a link to, “What do pianists see?” video to share with the chapter.

Business portion of Meeting concludes at 10:44am
Program: Mary Walby speaks about the Piano Guild and what the guild has to offer teachers and students.
Program: Lorraine Earle speaks about strategies for preparing students for Music Olympics.
 
Respectfully submitted by Nathan Campbell

November 2, 2023
Meeting called to order at 8:32am.
Present: Andrea Rackl, Michael Hannon, Dorie Blue, Nathan Campbell
Halloween Recital:
    • $850.15 in profit
    • Too long without intermission
    • Need Volunteer at door to let people in and out.
Minutes from October Board Meeting approved.
Website:
    • Permission for secretary to post minutes as blog post
    • Members only section
        ◦ Password protected pages
        ◦ Full contact list of members
        ◦ Calendar/Event postings
        ◦ Metting Minutes
        ◦ Budget
        ◦ Speaker Handouts
    • Andrea will create page of Event Descriptions
    • Dorie will send Andrea current descriptions of events that she has written
    • Dorie will research what other organizations put on their members only pages
    • Michael needs all relevant information regarding members only pages by the end of November 20th
Member list: Discussion of what to do with it.
    • Send out to members
    • Should it be a word or excel document?
Meeting Adjourned at 8:55am

Submitted respectfully by Nathan Campbell