| Founded | 1944 |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Affiliation | MENC: The National Association for Music Education |
| Key people | James Perry, Executive Director |
| Office location | Tallahassee, Florida, USA |
| Website | www.flmusiced.org/ |
The Florida Music Educators Association, or FMEA, is the Florida state-level affiliate of MENC: The National Association for Music Education. FMEA is a not-for-profit, professional association that serves and supports music educators across Florida. FMEA promotes and publishes the Florida Music Director as well as music education research, organizes in-service programs, and broadens teachers’ knowledge and interest in their profession through affiliation with colleagues. Membership in FMEA is open to music instructors from Pre-K level through college, including music supervisors.
Contents |
The mission of the Florida Music Educators Association is to promote quality, comprehensive music education for all Florida Students as a part of their complete education.
FMEA is a federated state unit of MENC: The National Association for Music Education that requires concurrent membership. It is composed of several component and affiliate organizations. FMEA is itself an umbrella organization and is concerned with activities that affect all music education. Activities that deal specifically with a particular area are handled by component organizations.
Currently, the six component organizations are:
The Florida Music Educators Association was founded in 1944. It was an association of White music teachers and music directors teaching in the schools of Florida. The Florida State Music Educators Association was founded in parallel fashion in 1951. It was an association of Black music teachers and music directors teaching in the schools of Florida.
Both of these associations were the result of combining the membership of existing associations, which became component groups of the respective Music Educators Associations. For example, the Florida Bandmasters Association was founded in 1936. In parallel fashion, the Florida Association of Band Directors, a Black association, was founded in 1940. The first Florida School Vocal Clinic had been held in 1938. In the academic year 1966-67, the two separate music associations, FMEA and FSMEA, merged into a single association under the name Florida Music Educators Association. Any detailed history, for the period prior to 1966, of the Florida Music Educators Association, therefore is also the history of the Florida State Music Educators Association.
The detailed history of FMEA is contained in the serial issues over a period of more than 40 years of the Florida Music Director magazine. History is also found in several theses and dissertations on various phases of the work of the association.
The FMEA Annual In-Service Clinic/Conference is the highlight of the year for many members and has become one of the largest state music educators’ conventions in the nation. It is one of the most visible activities of FMEA and has the distinction of being the only activity mandated in FMEA's constitution. It has traditionally been held in early January, generally on the first or second weekend of the month. The conference is held annually at the Tampa Convention Center in Downtown Tampa.
The guiding purpose of the Clinic/Conference is the advancement of music education in Florida and the professional development of music teachers. At the conference, music educators have the opportunity to observe master clinicians at work. FMEA and its components conduct a variety of workshops and clinics to improve teachers' skills, inform them of the latest materials available, and inform and motivate music educators to actively participate in the many public and political activities that affect music education.
The large number of exhibits presented at the clinic/conference provides immediate and firsthand access to the many suppliers of music, instruments, and activities, fund raising opportunities, college and university programs and other related areas.
A facet of FMEA's Annual In-Service Clinic/Conference is the student All-State performing groups. These are designed to give students experiences in working with nationally known clinicians, performing in a group of the best student musicians in the state, and experiencing literature that they might not have available in their own school.
Bands:
Choruses:
Orchestras:
All-State Elementary Chorus
Currently the affiliate organizations consist of the:
Florida Music Competition Festivals, as they were originally known, had their beginnings in Tampa about 1927 when the Tampa Chamber of Commerce under the direction of A.Y. Dickenson began to host them and supply adjudicators from around the nation. Instrumental and vocal contests were also held and solos and ensembles were part of the program. These continued until the formation of the Florida Bandmasters Association and the Florida Vocal Association in the mid-1930s.
The formation of these two organizations, followed by the formation of the Florida Orchestra Association, led to the development of contests, Evaluation-Festivals and philosophies that still influence Music Performance Assessments (MPAs) as they are operated today, under the oversight of the Florida School Music Association. The following statements are indicative of the thinking presented in the early years:
Growth of the school music program and interest in contests led to the development of districts in 1947. Originally there were six districts and participation in the district contest, plus earning a First Division or Superior, was necessary to qualify for participation in the state contest. During these years the Florida Bandmasters Association and the Florida Vocal Association each operated the contests within their respective fields. The Orchestra contest was for the most part held in conjunction with the Band contest.
Continued development of the school music program in Florida mandates a continual redistricting process in bands and choruses. At the present time there are more than double the numbers of the original six districts. Orchestras have been separated from the band and the Florida Orchestra Association operates festivals of its own. Participation in state band and vocal festivals grew continually until they were too large for one site and the state was divided geographically to accommodate them.
In the early 1950s the Florida High School Athletic Association expanded to become the Florida High School Activities Association and assumed supervision of many non-athletic school activities including music festivals and related events. The respective components of FMEA still set standards and rules for participation in festivals. Tremendous growth and changing times have brought about refinements and changes in procedures, but have not altered the basic philosophy developed in the 1930s.
After 1997, extracurricular music activities came under the supervision of the Florida School Music Association. Rules and Regulations for Interscholastic Music Activities are published by FSMA annually and may be obtained from the FMEA/FSMA website.