Cowichan Music - The Cowichan Valley Music Teachers Association

About the Cowichan Valley Music Teachers Association

The Cowichan Valley Music Teachers Association (CVMTA) was established nearly 40 years ago by local music teachers who came together to create an informal organization dedicated to furthering music education in all its forms in our community.

The goals of the CVMTA have always been:

  1.  To gain fellowship and enjoyment through gathering to share music, laughter, food, and friendship, and to increase the quality of our music teaching by exchanging ideas and teaching experience;
  2. To organize performing events for music students, such as Pianofest (2005 through 2019), Melody Marathon, Masterclasses, and our biannual Canada Music Week concerts. Educational events have included Music History and Eurhythmics Workshops;
  3. To motivate and inspire music students through special recognition in the form of Festival awards; we also grant a yearly Scholarship to a graduating senior who has studied with a CVMTA member, and who is going on in music at an institution of higher learning;
  4.  To have a website where the public can learn about the member teachers and the events we sponsor; and, perhaps most importantly:
  5.  To pool our efforts toward making music lessons available to all who want them. The CVMTA is an unregistered, not-for-profit organization. Members contribute dues to cover our website and advertising costs. We hold fundraising events, such as Teacher Concerts (usually titled “I Played This Better At Home”) and the “Wine and Chocolate Evening” featuring our adult students and other community performers. The funds raised from these events make it possible for us to achieve many of our goals. In recent years, the CVMTA has donated to:
  •  The Cowichan Valley Performing Arts Foundation, [$1,000-$1500] which assesses financial need and distributes bursaries accordingly
  • The Cowichan Music Festival [$300] for awards to students selected by the adjudicators
  • The “Judith McIvor” Memorial Scholarship [$650] (formerly “David Walden”) 
  • Organizing Canada Music Week concerts, at no cost to students or audience.  The CVMTA also encourages young students, and keeps music education visible in the  community, through our “Young Musician of the Week” column in The Cowichan Valley Citizen.

Donations may be made to the CVMTA’s direct-deposit account: CVMTA.bursaries.fund@mail.com . Regretfully, although we gratefully acknowledge donations, we cannot provide tax receipts, as we are not a registered charity.
Meticulous financial records are always kept current, and could be made available for review to a major donor.

We welcome all local music teachers to join us! Membership dues of $30 per year cover July 1st through June 30th. Please contact Ann Mendenhall annmend2014@outlook.com for more information.

 

HISTORY and ACTIVITIES OF THE CVMTA

Since its inception, the CVMTA’s goals and activities have been many and varied. Throughout, we have aimed:

  1.  To gain fellowship and enjoyment through gathering to share music, laughter, food, and friendship, and to increase the quality of our music teaching by exchanging ideas and teaching experience; 
  2. To organize performing events for music students, such as Pianofest (2005 through 2019), Melody Marathon (2008, 2011),  Masterclasses in piano and strings, and our biannual Canada Music Week concerts;
  3.  To organize educational workshops, inviting clinicians to share their expertise in Eurhythmics (2005) and in five western Music History eras: Medieval (2006), Renaissance (2008), Baroque (2010), Classical (2012), and Romantic (2014);
  4. To encourage students to attend live music performances, and to listen frequently to great music on recordings and the internet, and also to share our enthusiasm, and enhance music listening by providing frequent “Preludes to the Symphony”;
  5. To motivate and inspire music students through special recognition in the form of Festival awards, and through our yearly Scholarship to a graduating senior who is going on in music at an institution of higher learning, and to feature students in the “Young Musician of the Week” column in The Cowichan Valley Citizen;
  6.  To have a website to inform the public about member teachers and our events;
    And, closest to our hearts:
  7.  To pool our efforts to reduce the financial barriers which make private music lessons out of reach for many talented and deserving students. We strongly believe that the joy, healing, and soul-expanding powers of music should be available to all