Newsletter
NANCY'S
NOTES
Greetings, fellow Mu Phis!
I am excited and honored to be serving as your president this year! And
what a year it’s shaping up to be! The programming committee (Kimla
Beasley, Susan Poelchau, and Claudia Jameson) has come up with some
great programs, and I love the theme for the year – the Healing Power of
Music! I get to experience the healing power of music each week as I
work with a group of dementia patients, some of whom barely communicate,
and watch them sing some of the “oldies” songs. The magical connection
between music and the brain never ceases to amaze me. How lucky we are
to be musicians!
Our first meeting is coming up soon – a potluck luncheon on Saturday,
September 15, at Mary Williams’ clubhouse (details elsewhere in this
newsletter). In addition to great food and fellowship, we’ll have a
chance to go “back to school” ourselves. Lisa Beyer will be leading us
in a “lesson” using
Orff/Kodaly inspired lesson using barred
instruments (xylophones), body percussion, and a children's book. It’s been
proven time and time again that children involved in music generally
have higher IQ’s than those who are not. I can’t guarantee that your IQ
will increase after Lisa’s lesson, but I can guarantee that you’ll have
a fun time! Thanks to dedicated music education teachers, like Lisa, the
love of music is continually being passed to new generations.
Looking forward to starting a great year together!
Loyally,
Nancy Laine, President
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May
Our
May meeting was held at the home of Lisa Beyer - a make up meeting
as January meeting was cancelled due to bad weather. A few stalwart
souls made it to Richardson where we played a series of games based
on popular games such as Bingo, Jeopardy, Charades, etc that
featured music and Mu Phi topics. Games were conducted by Nancy
Laine and Lisa Beyer. Winners received prizes of Mu Phi cookies
(from Rosemary Ames' visits to local hotels); the remainder of the
cookies were shared with the group. (If you
weren't there - see what you missed?)
Lisa Beyer and Nancy Laine provided refreshments.
Remember that our new officers are:
Nancy Laine, President
Lisa Beyer, Vice-President
Sandra McMillen, Treasurer
Susan Poelchau, Secretary
Claudia Jameson, Chorister
Frances Estes, Corresponding Secretary
Pat Suitt, Chaplain
Kary Caboose, Steward
Mary Williams, Historian
Committees:
Susan Poelchau (Program Committee / Concert Series)
Claudia Jameson (Program Committee)
Kimla Beasley (Programs / Concert Series)
Mary Williams (Newsletter / Webmaster / Yearbook / Concert Series)
Pat HIll (Patrons)
Jenny Smith (SERV)
Ashley Bouras (Scholarship)
Sandra McMillen (Finance / Ways and Means)
Frances Estes (Sunshine)
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Theme: The Healing Power of Music
Saturday Sept 15 -
11 am -
The Healing Power of Rhythm and Music
Lunch and program at Chimneyhill Clubhouse, 9223 Emberglow
(north of LBJ, west of
Abrams)
Host: Mary Williams
Co-hosts: Everyone bring a lunch dish to share
Program: Lisa Beyer presenting a program on elementary school music
featuring Orff/Kodaly inspired lesson using barred instruments
(xylophones), body percussion, and a children's book!
Tuesday, October 9 - 7 pm -
The Healing Power In 88 Keys
Location: Home of Sylvia Taylor
Co-host: Susan Poelchau
Program: Favorite Bach pieces of Mu Phi pianists -
TBD
Monday, November 12 - 7 pm –
The Healing Power of Music FraternityFounders Day
Location: Home of Claudia Jameson
Co-Host: Kimla Beasley
Program: Mary Ann Taylor (need to confirm)
Monday January 14 – 7 pm -
The Healing Power of Breath
Location: Home of Susan Poelchau
Co-host: TBD
Program: Cris Gale, Ocarina with Susan Poelchau, keyboard
Monday, February 11 - 7 pm – joint meeting with SAI -
The Healing Power Of Harmony
Location:
First Presbyterian Church downtown
Host: Phyllis Wilson
Co-host: Mu Phis are hosted; please bring plenty of snack food
Program: Handbell group from First Presbyterian Church, conducted by
Phyllis Wilson
Nancy Laine, organ
Tuesday, March 18 - 7 pm -
The Healing Power In Musical Family
Location: Home of Lisa Beyer
Co-host: TBD
Program: Ashley & Basil, clarinet duo
Saturday, April 6 - 11 am -
The Healing Power In Music Scholarship
Location: Lovers Lane UMC
Host: Lisa Beyer
Co-host: All bring luncheon dishes
Program: Scholarship winner and collegiate program
Monday, May 6 - 7 pm -
The Healing Power of Song
Location: Home of Kimla Beasley
Co-Host: TBD
Program:
planning session; or
makeup for bad weather, or Kimla Beasley and Claudia Jameson, sopranos
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Memorial Donations
Donations were made to our funds:
Tena Hehn: $50.00 donation to Scholarship Fund in memory of Bea
Carney
Tena Hehn: $25.00 donation to Library Series in memory of Laura Nell
Mitchell
Our Scholarship check of $500 was given to Michael Ramirez at April
meeting. Donations are needed to replenish that fund and are greatly
appreciated.
Remembering a loved on is a good way to support our projects as well
as honor them.
Sandra McMillen reported that dues are due NOW - $90 if you don't
have life Triangle subscription.
By a vote at our January2017 meeting, we raised our
local dues to $25 per year. If you are not a lifelong subscriber to
Triangle, your dues will be $90. Patron dues remain $25.
Awards
Our chapter was awarded Outstanding Alumni Chapter in South Central
Province. We are in the Circle of Winners. Yay for us!
Next Convention
Our triennial Convention will be held at the end of July, 2020 at
Embassy Suites, Grapevine (just north of the DFW Airport). Tentative
dates are July 23-26, 2020. Dallas and other chapter members in this
region will participate in assisting at this convention at the hotel
and airport as greeters, check-in, helpers, etc. Plan to be
available to help at that time.
Yearbook
Our
yearbooks for this fall will be available at the September meeting.
Facebook Page
You can “Like” the Dallas Alumni Chapter on Facebook to keep up with
messages and events.
Type MuPhiEpsilonDallas on the search line within Facebook, then
click on LIKE us.
This is especially helpful in promoting our concerts at the Library.
Share with your friends what we are doing.
You can post your own
performances there as well. We just cannot use that space to
advertise or sell products.
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Susan Poelchau's sister Julie passed away May 8th. She had been
living at Presbyterian Village for some time, with Susan as her family
support. Our condolences to Susan.
John Allen Smith, Jenny's father and our patron, died on June 14.
Jenny prepared a beautiful service for and with her father during the last
week of his life. It was held at Christ Church in Irving.
Obituary:
John Allen Smith, 74, of Irving TX passed away peacefully in his home
on June 14, 2018, surrounded by friends and loved ones. John was born in
Wichita, KS to Donald P and Margaret Smith, and spent most his childhood and
early adult life in Houston, TX. He was a graduate of the University of
Houston in 1971 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, and a member of Alpha
Phi Omega. John married his wife, Michelle, in 1967, and worked within the
oil and gas industry. After settling in Irving, they raised their daughter,
Jennifer, attended South MacArthur Church of Christ, and after several years
of research/ development work in semiconductors and heating/cooling
technology, John retired in 2012. A loving husband and father, John is
survived by Michelle, Jenny, and many other friends who adored his sense of
humor and generous spirit. A service to honor his memory will be held on
Saturday, June 30th at 4pm at Christ Church, Irving (1750 E. Airport Fwy,
Irving TX 75062). In lieu of flowers, the family asks that a donation to the
America Kidney Fund be made in John's name, as their generosity allowed our
family to afford medical care during his years of illness. The family would
like to thank Pathways hospice, UT Southwestern Cardiac team doctors,
nurses, and social workers, as well as Dr. Chemmalakuzhy, Christ Church
family, and friends of Jenny.
Condolences to Jenny for the loss of her devoted father.
Ashley and Basil Bouras are weathering a swiftly growing (darling!) new baby and
getting back to work.
We have a number of address changes. You can see them in our new Chapter Yearbook or by contacting our President,
Nancy Laine, or webmaster
Mary Williams.
-
Ashley Bouras' address has changed
-
Chris Brunt's address has changed
-
Kary Caboose's address has changed
-
Katherine Freiberger's phone info has changed
and her Colorado address dropped
- Please use cell phone for Mary Williams as she will get rid of
her land line soon
We have a new special member to be initiated soon. Please welcome Francis Vu
who is
Director of Choirs at Centennial HS in Frisco ISD and Director of the Turtle
Creek Chorale Chamber Chorus.
Please let your newsletter editor,
Mary Williams, know changes in your
situation and what you are doing.
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Our 82nd year of presenting a Concert Series begins on September 30th.
One of our favorite
pianists and Mu Phi from Texas A&M University Tarleton - Leslie Spotz and
her colleague Carolyn Keyes, flute will begin our season. Gather up your
friends to welcome our first performers for the season.
One outstanding performer will be harpist - Abigail Kent who plays on
October 21. She is 2017–19 touring “Concert Artist” of the American Harp
Society after winning the prestigious Pan-American solo competition with
lots of other awards.
Make a point to volunteer to help at least one concert this next year. Mary
and Susan will be traveling at times and Kimla works some weekends. We will
need some extra people - especially for these dates:
- One person for Oct 7
- One person for Oct 14
- Two people for March 3 (Susan will be here but will be performing)
- One person for March 24
- Two people for March 31
Tell Susan you can come to the Library one of these days.
This
is Susan's last year as Chairperson for our chapter project. She has worked
long hours to get us the best schedule for the year and found some great new
musicians for our series. And found substitutes when there are
cancellations. She deserves all our kudos!
Kimla Beasley will taking her place beginning next year and is "interning"
with Susan this year. Thanks so much to Kimla for taking over this important
job in our chapter.
This series has a long history with several awards. Our wonderful performers
want the opportunity to perform and our students, teachers and
bargain-minded concert goers love the opportunity to hear free concerts. But
it takes all of us to support it - by coming to concerts, by volunteering,
by giving a donation for our expenses (piano maintenance and program
printing) and by telling your friends and students about it. There is an
audience in Dallas for free concerts - but they don't all know about it.
Help us promote this project.
See the full schedule on our
Concert Series page
and share it with your friends, family and students.
See more photos on our Facebook page for a look at some of the past performers
and their instruments.
https://www.facebook.com/MuPhiEpsilonDallas/?ref=bookmarks. Share these
posts on your page.
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Convention Planning
The meeting if the International Executive Board (IEB) will be held at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Grapevine next year to start planning the Convention. Their meeting is tentatively scheduled for July 28-31, 2019. The Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation Board will meet at the same place tentatively June 9-12, 2019 and will choose the location of the International Competition.
The 2020 Convention will likely be July 23-26 - pending confirmations of various contracts. Meetings of both Boards will take place immediately before the Convention.
Few details are yet in place but more will be forthcoming as time goes on.
Wanted: An International Editor for
The Triangle
The ideal candidate does not have to be a member of Mu Phi Epsilon but
would be preferable. “Because of the Editor's evolving role in meeting
the fraternity's overall communications needs, the IEB decided to revise
the job description and re-post the position. While still focused on
compiling and editing Triangle material, the new job description also
includes social media and website work.”
See the attached separate file if you are interested in seeing the job
description. See current and past issues of The Triangle at
https://muphiepsilon.site-ym.com/page/Triangle
Applications are being accepted through September 30, 2018.
The Triangle is the official quarterly journal of Mu Phi
Epsilon. It is a means of communication for the Fraternity membership
and a vehicle for presenting Mu Phi Epsilon and its members to the music
world.
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Mother Teresa:
"We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love."
Mu Phi Epsilon 
