Arthur Tollefson
Since the first of the year CMS has, as most of you know, effected several important, visible changes: the transfer of publication responsibility for our monthly Newsletter to our National Office staff, the emergence of a timely Book, Periodical, and Newspaper Survey, and a long overdue move of the National Office from cramped, obsolete quarters to a larger and more suitable site "one block west" of the old location. Concurrent with the continuation of day-to-day operations and services the staff has coordinated planning for our third annual Music in General Studies Institute in Boulder this June, our Annual Meeting in Nashville this October, and the "meeting of the century" involving the American Musicological Society, the Society for Ethnomusicology, and the Society for Music Theory in Vancouver a year from this fall. In July, CMS will, through formal Society involvement and the active participation of many members, be particularly visible at the biennial conference of the International Society for Music Education in Oregon - the first meeting of this distinguished organization in the United States.
Behind the scenes the CMS Executive Committee and Board have been working diligently to frame a strong management policy which will direct the long range planning of our Society well into the 1990's. Such a policy is intended to provide those goals, objectives, and directions needed to construct effective guidelines for the planning and operation of all CMS activities. In addressing the most pressing concerns of our organization a "Critical Issues Agenda" has been adopted to accomplish, during the current year, the following: the development of the aforementioned CMS management policy, a review of the alignment of CMS personnel with such a policy, a review of CMS business operations, the development of comprehensive plans for regional chapters and publications, and the development of a plan for identifying the needs of the profession.
While the development of chapter and publication plans must await further Board discussion this fall, work on the other critical issues is already well-advanced. In defining both the present and future role of CMS, the Board stressed the Society's responsibility to act "as an agent for increasing communication among the disciplines of the music teaching profession...Issues of an interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary nature will be defined and analyzed in all areas of specialization. However, in areas where an organization exists to address intradisciplinary issues, the Society will concentrate attention on issues of an interdisciplinary nature. The Society will consider serving intradisciplinary needs in areas not accommodated by an established organization."
In an attempt to define and coordinate the responsibilities of CMS officers, staff and Board, council and committee members, a series of "Mission Statements" have been devised. A paragraph in the Mission Statement for Board Members is particularly significant, I believe, in providing ongoing opportunities for interested CMS members to become more actively involved in the operations of the Society: "each Board Member will serve as chairman of a standing advisory committee that will consist of the chairman and three members of the Society. The committees will consider the intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary concerns of their area. Committee members will be appointed for three-year terms by the President in consultation with the Board Member. The committee will advise the Board Member in the identification and analysis of professional concerns and in the development of special projects, programs, and publications. The purpose of the committees will be advisory only; they will assist the Board Members and the Society in identifying, addressing, and disseminating information about the issues and concerns of the profession."
The Advisory Committees for several disciplines are announced elsewhere in this Newsletter. That for Ethnomusicology will be announced when William Malm returns from abroad while those for Composition and Music in General Studies will be identified when new Board Members assume those positions next January.
As CMS continues to refine its operations and align its activities with the articulated goals of the Society, particular credit must be given to our Executive Director and National Office staff without whose vision, dedication, and perseverence the efficient coordination and implementation of CMS policy would be impossible. I am sure you join me in congratulating Robby Gunstream on the superb manner in which he has dispatched the myriad responsibilities of the position during his first year as Executive Director.
On behalf of CMS please let me take this opportunity to wish you a most pleasant summer season.
