I can't tell you what a thrill it was to see so many of you at our conference last November in San Diego.  I was amazed at how everyone came together to do what we do best - make music.  We had kind of a running theme for our conference last year which was based on your feedback: "making music in changing times." Patrick Sheng even came up with some logo ideas for t-shirts that had two time signatures on it - but that's another story.  Last year was a time of redesigning our teaching to fit the needs of a new generation of post-covid students and we continue to be challenged to reinvent ourselves. 

If that was the theme for last year than this year is all about momentum.  We're in a process of evaluating what works best in our teaching and discarding things that don't.  We're trying to pump as much positive energy into our programs in the most significant places in order to get the best possible effect.  It's kind of the Mannheim steamroller effect that were after.  We feel compelled to position every class that we teach to deliver the most impact possible to build that momentum that makes people sit up and take notice.   If we can build that crescendo, if we can achieve and sustain excellence then the future is bright for us and for music.  How can we do it?  Work together and work smarter.  Musicians are the best collaborators, we know that.  Let's share our successes, share what's working and then go back and redesign our teaching in a way that the same success becomes possible for our local programs.

We're stronger together, so become active in MACCC and encourage new colleagues to get involved.  It's an honor to continue to serve as your MACCC President and I welcome a new year of challenges and successes.  I am so thankful for our gifted and dedicated board who work hard to make this association strong.  Keep in touch with our board and share your successes so that we can share them with the membership. Plan to make the MACCC Conference in November part of your program this year.  Let's work together to build that momentum and end the year with a Mannheim streamroller style crescendo!