Message from Mary Ann

One of the ways of describing life is as a circle: seasons come and go, year after year; children grow up and begin the cycle over with their children while we grow older as did those who came before us. Another way uses a line that draws itself through time. We can look back from one age to the next as far into the past as we are able. Perhaps a different way to approach this would be to use a spiral, thinking of it as it loosens the circle and tightens the line. We often hear of a spiral downward, but there is no reason that the direction can go upward just as easily. Because of where we live, because of the involvements that we have, our influence can spread to many in the community in an ever-increasing circle.

 
When May comes along every other year, the leadership for the alumni chapter changes. Many of you have served as president at least once. Most of you have been an officer for a least one term. My time as president passed more quickly than I would have thought. One of the best things about leaving is to see a wonderful sister be prepared to take over, widening our circle once more.

I once heard a talk in which a leader said he was leaving his post because he was in such debt to the members of his group. His wife and I had canned peaches together using fruit from her trees. I was in their home many times, and I knew there was simply not a way they could have been excessive in anything. This man paused and said that he was in deep debt—to the members of the organization for all they had done during his term. Then, I did not understand except intellectually how that could be. Now, however, it is completely clear. It has been a privilege to be president of the Dallas chapter. In all truth, it has been during two of the more difficult years of my life, for many reasons. Still, you have done all that was needed for the chapter, and more. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

We still have far to go on our upward spiral. Let us have some music along the way!

Best,

Mary Ann Taylor

In February we began our spring meetings with a joint meeting of SAI and Mu Phi. Our talented members presented a wonderful program at Steinway Hall.

Gretchen Nichols, Cello, Pat Suitt, Piano and Frances Estes, Oboe played Sonate in c Moll, by Georg Phillip Telemann.

Mary Ann Taylor, with Jerry Taylor accompanying the first piece, played Sonata in b minor by John Ranish, and selections from Eight Pieces for Flute Alone by Paul Hindemith.

SAIs Marla Maxson, Soprano with Jane Echols, piano, sang A Simple Song from Leonard Bernstein’s "Mass," The delightful Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes by Bainbridge Crist; and Steal Me, Sweet Thief from "The Old Maid and the Thief" by Gian Carlo Menotti.

SAI Fredrica Phillips, Piano, played the first six months of The Seasons, Op 37 bis by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky.

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Next Meetings

Our next meeting is Monday, April 20th - 7:30 pm at the home of Pat Hill. The program has changed somewhat: The Dallas Ensemble of Viols and Karen Glosserman will not perform at that time. But there is a full program scheduled, with trumpeter Jenny Smith; pianist Tena Hehn; a trio with Sue Hewitt, Gretchen Nichols and Pat Suitt; and Cynthia Wadley will give a review of a book on Mozart. Phyllis Wilson, Mary Williams and Karen Glosserman are co-hostesses. We will vote for our next year’s officers.

In May, we will have our annual spring luncheon at the home of Sylvia Taylor Lerch on Saturday, May 16th at 11 am. We will install officers and Susan Poelchau, Priscilla Long, Meghan Gomen, Frances Estes and Katie Freiberger are scheduled to perform. Please bring a luncheon dish to share – it’s always good eating!

Sandra McMillen writes: I need for all members to gather information about their SERV hours and send them to me. I will be busy with Collegiate Advisor reports from all collegiate chapters and making preparations for the International Board meeting, so it is really going to be important for members to send me their hours. They can send the information by mail, e-mail, or by phone.

New Officers

Ellen Stamelos, head of the Nominating Committee writes: Hello All, I won’t be at next month’s meeting (I work Monday nights), but I wanted to let you know who has agreed to be on the Mu Phi Epsilon board for next year. Thanks to every one of you for volunteering. 

  President: Pat Hill
   VP (membership): Jenny Smith
   Treasurer: Sandra McMillen
   Secretary: Susan Poelchau
   Chorister (programs): Mary Ann Taylor (Team leader), with 

     Tena Hehn, Phyllis Wilson, Pat Suitt and Judy Dardaganian
   Chaplain: Melanie Priest
   Steward: Cynthia Wadley
   Historian: Edie Pfautsch

These people have agreed to continue in appointed positions:

   Library series: Susan Poelchau

   Newsletter/Webmaster: Mary Williams

Many thanks to Mary Ann and all our officers for their service to our chapter.

Newsletter

Our next newsletter will be out with our fall schedule of meetings and concerts about the first of September. If you have member news, items of interest, changes of address or e-mail, please send it to Mary Williams at txtravel@flash.net by Sept 1.

We have offered a good variety of well-attended concerts this year including jazz piano, chamber music and even a trombone ensemble, but the spring highlight was Andrew Jonas Wright on March 15. This young pianist performed the Schumann Symphonic Etudes and the Chopin Etudes Opus 10, taking a break of only about three minutes in between! It was a dazzling display of technical fireworks and endurance, which he performed for us as his "dress rehearsal" for his Masters recital at SMU. It was a real treat, and we were pleased with the sound of the readjusted piano. The Wireless Consort is pictured here at their performance.

I will soon be sending out announcements for next year's Series, so if members have any recommendations of musicians for me to contact, please let me know soon. We plan to start the Series in late September again this year.

UPDATE 7/7/09: Because of cutbacks in city funding, the library will be closed on Sundays beginning October 1. We have elected to move the concert series to Saturdays for this year and are in process of contacting performers and perhaps doing some rearranging of the schedule. In addition, several of the concerts will be held in the 4th floor Gallery area rather than the Auditorium, so please check this website - Concert page - for location information. We have posted a tentative schedule and will update it as soon as possible. 

TexShare Card

Did you know you can check out some materials from area libraries, even if you are not a student or faculty member there? TexShare is a cooperative program between many public, academic, and special libraries around the state and has a reciprocal borrowing program. Registered users must obtain a TexShare Card from their home institution before they are able to check out materials from other participating institutions. If you don't already have a TexShare card, you may want to get one. To learn more about the card program, see: http://www.texshare.edu/programs/card/patroninfo.html

Texas Music 

Mark your calendars for an exciting event: On May 30, the downtown Dallas Public Library will be hosting an all-day mini-conference exploring the history of Texas music. Watch for details on the Library website: http://dallaslibrary.org/services/announce.php or tina.murdock@dallaslibrary.org

20 Deals in 20 Days! 

Electronic mail

President/ General Information - Patricia HIll  pattylou915@yahoo.com

Mary Williams: txtravel@flash.net