Dear Director:

It is time to begin planning for the 2011 IMEA State Convention and specifically the 2011 IMEA Honor Band.  It is with great pleasure that I announce to you that Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser will serve as guest conductor of the 2011 IMEA Honor Band.  Tim Lautzenheiser is a well-known name in the music education world as a teacher, clinician, author, composer, conductor, consultant, and above all, a trusted friend to all of us.  I am most confident that your students will walk away with an extremely positive experience having played for Dr. Tim. 

Another exciting event occurring this year will be a premier of a newly commissioned piece by the IMEA Honor Band composed by Richard L. Saucedo.  Mr. Saucedo will be guest conducting this premier.

Rehearsals for this year’s Honor Band will begin on Thursday evening, January 20 on the campus of Indiana-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) in the Walb Student Union Ballroom and will conclude with the Saturday 10:00 a.m. IMEA Honor Band concert held in the beautiful Ft. Wayne Embassy Theatre on Saturday, January 22.  Please make sure your students are available for Thursday evening, all day Friday, and Saturday morning.  The fee for participation is $159.  This includes four meals, each students’ room for two nights at the Ft. Wayne Holiday Inn (Coliseum Boulevard adjacent to IPFW) and all administrative costs.  Fees will be collected after notification of acceptance.  There are no nomination fees. 

As a member of IMEA, you may nominate up to THREE of your finest students for the IMEA Honor Band.  To do so, you must go to the IMEA website (www.imeamusic.org), and under IMEA Honor Activities/Ensembles, click on the IMEA Honor Band and follow the instructions.  You will need to create a teacher login and have your MENC membership number available.  You do need to be a member of MENC to nominate your students.  The nomination process is similar to an ISSMA / IMEA form where you will type in all of the information on the website AND then print off the forms and mail them to me at the address listed on the forms.  You may do this anytime between Friday, October 1^st and Sunday, Oct. 31^st.  You will not want to wait until the 31^st to find your MENC number (MENC: 800-336-3768).  All forms MUST be postmarked by Nov. 1^st  to be accepted.  To assist you in gathering information on your students, there is a “Student Data Collection Form” enclosed and available online however, this form is NOT what you send in to nominate students but rather intended to aid you in completing the online nomination process.  Please remember:  YOU STILL NEED TO PRINT OFF THE FORMS AND MAIL THEM ALONG WITH THE PARENT SIGNATURE SHEET & THE VERIFICATION SHEET which will print out for you when you print the nomination forms.