Chapter Meetings and Events

Bring in the New Members!

Most chapters greet their new members through some type of induction ceremony. It can be formal or relaxed, but it’s a chance to welcome new members into the fold. At this ceremony, new members are often given membership pins and cards, while returning members receive continuing member certificates, all of which are available through the Tri-M Catalog. Chapter officers can also be officially installed at this meeting.

A sample script for a presentation of charter (for new chapters) and installation of chapter officers (all chapters) is available in the Tri-M Manual, but it's really up to your chapter and advisor to decide what kind of ceremony suits your chapter’s personality.

Getting to Know Each Other

The most frequent get-together most chapters have is their chapter meeting, which can be held once a month or more frequently. Meetings should be advertised one week in advance so everyone has a chance to participate. When you tell people about the meetings, be sure to include the date, place, opening and closing times, and an agenda or list of topics that will be talked about at the meeting.

Before the chapter meets as a whole, the executive committee should meet to outline the list of topics that will be covered by the meeting. If you keep your meetings businesslike, with defined opening and closing times, members will be more likely to attend. It really shouldn’t take longer than 30 minutes to plan for a monthly chapter meeting.

Enhance Your Meetings with Guest Speakers

One great highlight that can be added to any chapter meeting is a guest speaker. Guest speakers can be other teachers, community leaders, local college students, local instrumentalists—anybody who can expand the horizons of your chapter. Below is a list of possible people to invite:

• students with unusual backgrounds or experiences (e.g., national scholarship winners, state conference achievers, foreign exchange students),
• alumni members of your Tri-M chapter who could share their musical and professional experiences,
• composers, conductors, performers, and honorary members who could give lectures or lecture-recitals,
• international residents and visitors who could discuss music and music education in other countries,
• university or college music department representatives, especially MENC Collegiate chapter officers and/or advisors who could discuss their school's admission requirements (e.g., auditioning, applying, obtaining financial aid) or campus life,
• panel of public school teachers who could advise the chapter on how it could participate in Music In Our Schools Month® (MIOSM®), and
• community representatives (e.g., PTA officials, recreation directors, local musicians) who can discuss various aspects of music in community life.

Let’s Play Together

Music is what draws Tri-M students together. So, why not share your joy in music with others? Music activities draw attention to your chapter and your school, while giving your chapter members a sense of personal accomplishment at being able to share what you love and do so well.

Here’s a list of ways you can incorporate music activities into your Tri-M chapter:

• Provide entertainment for school and community events.
• Perform at a school open house, Back-to-School Night, or orientation for incoming students.
• Participate in joint or exchange concerts and induction ceremonies with other schools and collegiate chapters.
• Host a "Pyramid Concert" involving performing groups from feeder junior high, middle, and elementary schools. Other possibilities are a choral day, a band festival, or an orchestra gala.
• Sponsor musical programs for feeder schools.
• Participate in area festivals and contests.
• Sponsor and participate in a variety or talent show.
• Present mini-concerts at retirement homes, hospitals, shopping malls, or other community locations.
• Sponsor a Music in Our Schools Month (MIOSM) program.
• Involve the school and community in an in-depth program for MIOSM.
• Invite community music groups to present in-school concerts.
• Sponsor a master class day.
• Participate in mock adjudications prior to competitions.
• Coordinate projects with MENC Collegiate chapters from a local college or university.

Field Trips

Field trips are a great way to get a breather from your school or chapter activities. Here’s a list of different ways that you can head to the hills:

• Attend professional, community, and all-state concerts.
• Attend rehearsals of community organizations (e.g., orchestras, bands, opera companies, dance companies, theater).
• Visit backstage with professional touring or local companies.
• Attend rehearsals and performances at feeder schools and colleges and universities in the area.
• Visit recording, radio, and television studios.
• Visit piano, organ, and instrument factories.
• Visit music publishing firms and printing plants.

Community Service Ideas

Looking for ways to reach out to others? Try these tried and true techniques.

Inside Your Own Walls

• Incorporate "music history tidbits" in your school's daily announcements.
• Include other departments in production of concerts and musicals (use drama club members as MCs, shop classes to help with scenery construction, art students to create posters or backdrops, dance class students as dancers, etc.).
• Invite community music groups to perform with you at concerts, participate in clinics, or meetings.
• Establish and/or judge elementary or middle school performance or composition contests.
• Get involved with MENC's national campaign for the preservation of music education in our schools (for more information, contact MENC at 1-800-336-3768 or visit www.musicfriends.org).
• Include a local Collegiate MENC chapter in a community service project.
• Sponsor a school dance or career day.
• Assist with school building maintenance (landscaping, hall decorating, clean up, painting).
• Host receptions for visiting performers or special guests.
• Assist at state conferences in your area through hosting visitors and helping with registration.
• Produce a slide show or video of your school's musical activities for recruitment and information purposes.

Embracing Your Community

• Establish an annual community award for the person, business, or organization most supportive of your music program.
• Partner with local businesses to advertise upcoming musical events and projects.
• Give music lessons at local group homes, orphanages, or retirement homes.
• Purchase or repair used instruments and offer lessons or donate instruments to the community.
• Usher, prepare sets, costumes, programs, and collect tickets at community concerts, theater shows, or festivals.
• Serve as the hospitality committee or hosts for a community meeting.
• Assist public radio/television in their fund-raisers and outreach programs.
• Visit the Good Knights Web site to learn how to help prevent violence in your community

Providing for Those in Need

• Donate concert proceeds to a local charity.
• Volunteer at a soup kitchen—offer performances as well as food.
• Help a food pantry distribute food to needy families.
• Canned food drives—charge one can admission to a concert or have a donation box at your school (don't forget flood and hurricane victims).
• Donate to Feed the Children (www.feedthechildren.org).
• Coordinate a clothing drive (summer and winter!).
• Give music lessons at a local shelter—raise money or seek sponsorship to purchase a piano for the shelter.
• Give Shoebox gifts (for babies, teens, and adults; hygiene boxes, pet boxes, etc.).
• Visit rockandwrapitup.org to see how your chapter can reach out the hungry in your area.

It’s Elementary

• Compose and perform songs for local children's programs (day care, elementary schools) with themes such as "eat your fruits and vegetables," "say no to drugs," "don't smoke," etc.
• Develop a musical fairy tale to introduce young children to instruments by including musical demonstrations in the story. Let the kids try the instruments afterwards.
• Partner with any "keep kids safe" program and present a session to school faculty/staff with live music.
• Give music lessons to elementary or homebound kids.
• Assist with rehearsals and performances of the World's Largest Concert® at your local elementary school.

Supporting Seniors

• Visit a retirement/nursing home and give a concert/have a sing-a-long.
• Adopt a Grandparent—take him or her shopping, play games, do crafts, talk.
• Coordinate with the program director to plan a Senior Prom for residents of a retirement/nursing home.
• Hold a special Seniors brunch before a Sunday matinee performance at school.
• Visit the elderly in their home and help them with yard work, shoveling snow, grocery delivery, etc.

Safeguarding Health

• Organize and participate in a blood drive and provide entertainment.
• Sponsor a CPR course.
• Participate in a mock accident through MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving).
• Visit local hospitals and perform for the patients.

Preserving the Environment

• Adopt a Highway and get your Tri-M chapter's name and members out there for everyone to see.
• Join an environmental group to clean up a stream.
• Organize a recycling program.

Decking the Halls

• Sponsor a Holiday Gift Tree at your school and collect gifts for Toys for Tots and local families in need.
• Provide singing telegrams on birthdays, Valentine's Day, and other special occasions to faculty and students or community businesses.
• Decorate the school during the holiday season in conjunction with a concert.
• Participate in a gift-wrapping party at a retirement/nursing home.
• Go Christmas caroling at a local shelter, retirement/nursing home, or senior center—help Seniors decorate their Christmas tree.

Fundraising Ideas

In a lot of schools, it’s hard coming up with the cash to run all of your chapter operations. Here are a few suggestions to help get your chapter off the ground:

Ways to Fund Your Chapter

• School Activity Fund—School activity funds can be accessed to provide financial assistance for your chapter activation fee on the same basis as the National Honor Society (NHS) or National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) and for your membership insignia materials on the same basis as athletic letters.
• Community organizations—The PTA, Rotary, Kiwanis, or Lions Club, for example, may have an interest in financially supporting your chapter.
• Donations—local businesses or parents may donate tax-exempt funds for Tri-M through the Tri-M donor program (see information on the Tri-M activation form).
• Local Chapter Member Dues—shall not exceed $15 per Article III of the Tri-M Program Guidelines, found in the Tri-M Chapter Manual.

For Sale!

• Sell "stock" in your project, trip, or event. When it is finished, invite "stock-holders" to a dinner where photos, stories, and videos are shared and celebrated.
• Sell Christmas trees, wreaths, or poinsettias—local nurseries may give you a discount for bulk orders.
• Sell chili, soup, or hot chocolate at a football game.
• Hold a bake sale—you can do holiday themes for Valentine's Day, Halloween, or Christmas.
• Run a car wash and charge by the car—charge more for trucks—you can sing or play for customers while they wait for their car to be cleaned.
• Yard sale—ask teachers and friends to donate sale items.
• Sell used CDs at a booth at school functions (carnivals, sports events, etc.). Ask local music stores to donate CDs or tapes—they may have some older titles they want to donate.
• Sell singing Valentines or birthday wishes—ask a local florist to donate a flower for each singing Valentine sold.

Chapters for Hire

• Coordinate a newspaper drive.
• Recycle bottles or soda cans—some states offer refunds for recycling.
• As a chapter, advertise your yard work services—rake leaves, mow grass, pull weeds.
• Shovel walks in the winter months.
• Collect mail and newspapers for people on vacation.
• Offer gift wrapping services around the holidays.

Contests, Concerts, and Family Fun

• Host a holiday dinner for Valentine's day couples—provide a romantic meal and musical entertainment.
• Sponsor a contest for student films—charge for entry into the contest and/or for admission to view the winning films at a mini film festival.
• Hold a Battle of the Bands.
• Your chapter can perform a musical show with a theme and charge admission (themes can be 1950s, Jazz, Broadway, Folk Music—the sky's the limit on this one!).
• Family Bingo Night—advertise in local newspapers and at your school—offer musical prizes donated from local music stores (gift certificates are popular).
• Host a theme dance party with prizes for best costume and best dancers—charge for admission and food/beverages.

Tell us about your chapter's success with events or fundraising by sending a story to the Tri-M News! The Tri-M News is also a great place to get ideas for any of the types of chapter events mentioned above.