State affiliates recognized - National Association News - Music Teachers National Association - Brief Article

American Music Teacher, Feb-March, 2003

Three state MTAs recently were recognized for their years of affiliation with MTNA.

Kansas Music Teachers Association became partially affiliated with MTNA in 1921; it became fully affiliated in 1952. Founded in 1886, its first president, Dean William MacDonald, crisscrossed the state, spreading, as Homer Ulrich described in the centennial history of MTNA, "the gospel of music." The state's railroads provided free transportation to visit all the state's schools in the interest of the association. MTNA Executive Director Gary L. Ingle presented a plaque to the association during its state convention.

MTNA President R. Wayne Gibson, NCTM, presented a plaque to the Kentucky Music Teachers Association for its fiftieth anniversary as an MTNA affiliate. The present state association was organized in late 1952 in Louisville. Helen Griem was elected president, and the group became affiliated with MTNA shortly after this initial meeting.

Montana State Music Teachers Association (MSMTA) was honored for its seventy-five years of partnership and affiliation with MTNA. Principal organizers David S. Craig and Ralph Rauh founded MSMTA in 1927. That same year, at the first state convention, the association became affiliated with MTNA. Montana provided MTNA with a national president, John Crowder, in 1953, noted Ingle as he presented a plaque to the association.

"Over the years each of these state affiliates has become a significant organization of music teachers, each devoted to making a difference in the lives of their students and in music in America," says Ingle. "Our missions have been fully intertwined for years. I am confident that we will continue to work with and for each other for ages to come. And in doing so, we will more effectively advance the value of music study and music making to society and support the professionalism of music teachers."