April 2021
Friends of Music Minutes
Meeting Date: April 19, 2021
Members Present: Sherri Watson, Jeri Cardiff, Nicole Kneer, Jamie Bennett, and Anthony Napolitano
The meeting was called to order at 7:02 pm
Old Business:
Nicole ordered the blankets for Ginger, Lily, Daniel, Holley, Kate, and Dylan this month. They should have arrived April 4th but unfortunately the blankets are stuck in transit. We have no idea when they will arrive.
Solo and Ensemble went really well. We had 19 events and 14 were 1’s and 5 were 2’s. For next year we would like to shorten the time blocks from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. We would like to keep the format of having Solo and Ensemble at Villa Grove for next year as well. We liked that the kids got more one on one feedback, and it was much less expensive than IHSA. We did find medals for them as well to hand out to the kids at the concert.
New Business:
We are going to decide the winners of the Thomas and Rachel "Ray" Watson scholarships this week. We only got two applications.
Ms. Cardiff and Mr. Napolitano talked about how to sell the coffee basket for an online auction. We have several different types of coffee in a nice basket ($70 value). We will have the auction start on a Tuesday, run through a Thursday, and have pick up on a Friday. We were thinking of doing this May 4-6.
May 13th is the Jr. High and High School choir concert The Jr. High choir will sing at 6:15 and then leave. Then everyone will leave, the janitors will fog the gym and then the High School choir will sing at 7:00pm. May 17th is the Jr High and High School band concert. Sixth grade band is performing at 6pm, the Jr. High band will perform at 6:50, and the High school band will be performing at 7:30. The janitors will fog between each group, each family unit is allowed two people (not including students that are performing) to be audience members. These concerts will be live streamed as well.
May 30th the High School choir is singing for graduation.
The Elementary concert (1st-3rd grades) is going to live stream on April 30th at 9am.
Treasurer’s Report:
The accounts are in good standing order.
We do not have an answer to Nicole’s questions about donating money for new band instruments as of yet.
Next Meeting: Nicole will email us in July to schedule a meeting in August. The meeting was adjourned at 7:42 pm
February 2021
Friends of Music Minutes
Meeting Date: February 23, 2021
Members Present: Sherri Watson, Jeri Cardiff, Nicole Kneer, Jamie Bennett, Ashley Kielhorn and Anthony Napolitano
The meeting was called to order at 7:01 pm
Old Business:
The birthday singers were given a $200 donation for FOM which was split among the 11 students who went to sing. She also gave them money for them to eat at Monical’s!
The Fannie May fundraiser went well. We sold 743 boxes and profited $453.44. The Jr. High band, H.S. band, and H.S. choir earned a pizza party.
The trip accounts and the Disney accounts have been updated since this fundraiser.
New Business:
6th grade band were going to record for the winter concert on February 26th which will now need to be rescheduled. The new date is to be determined.
We are hosting a solo and ensemble for only our band and choir students on April 10. If rules are followed we can have spectators at this event.
Disney is postponed until 2022. Disney is not allowing any performances right now and since this is the reason we go to on this trip we will now go in 2022. Another reason to wait until 2022 is because Disney is only at 25-50% capacity, park hoppers are more expensive, and 4 kids in a room is too close.
Treasurer’s Report:
The accounts are in good standing order.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be at 7:00 pm on March 15 over Google meet. The meeting was adjourned at 7:22pm
January 2021
Friends of Music Minutes
Meeting Date: January 19, 2021
Members Present: Sherri Watson, Jeri Cardiff, Nicole Kneer, Jamie Bennett, and Anthony Napolitano
The meeting was called to order at 7:04pm
Old Business:
Disney trip: Ms. Cardiff will call the tour guide the first week of February to see what we are going to do for this summer. If Disney says it is a no go then our Seniors will be offered to go next summer with us. The trip has to be scheduled by March to go this summer.
New Business:
The Fannie May fundraiser started on Thursday. This year we are hoping to have more sales because the customer can pay online for the order with a credit card. One student has already sold 65 boxes primarily through social media!
We will host our own Solo/Ensemble this year on Saturday, April 10th in the big gym. The judges will be Mr. Chesner for band and Mrs. Craddock for choir. This is much more economical because we just have to pay the judges (no entrance fees or transportation). This also allows the judges to work with the kids more since it will only be our students.
A question of how the students can earn service hours for Disney was brought up.
Ms. Cardiff said that they could get credit for helping to organize the Fannie May boxes for delivery, and setting up for the recording of the choir and band concerts.
This Friday, the choir will sing “Happy Birthday” and “God Bless America'' for a woman’s 95th birthday for a donation to FOM. This will also count for credits.
Next Friday the Jr. High choir and 7th and 8th grade band will record their winter concert at 11:30.
The scholarships that we will be giving this school year are the Thomas Watson Fine Arts scholarship ($250), the Rachel Watson Music scholarship ($250) and the Mr. Krecji Band scholarship ($250). The committee to decide the recipients of these scholarships is Jamie Bennett, Nicole Kneer, and Sherri Watson.
The recruitment for 5th and 6th grade band for next year will be held before the end of the school year on two separate days so they can test for instruments.
There will be summer lessons online.
Upcoming events:
The elementary Spring concert will be on video as a virtual concert on Tuesday, April 27. Ms. Cardif will video each class and then it will be put together.
The Spring Band concert is scheduled for Tuesday, May 11. The Spring Choir concert is scheduled for Thursday, May 13.
Promotion will be May 27 and Graduation will be May 30.
Treasurer’s Report:
The accounts are in good standing order. We may want to move money from checking to savings in the Spring.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be at 7:00 pm on February 16th in the study hall and Google meet. The meeting was adjourned at 7:40pm
October 2020
Friends of Music Minutes
Meeting Date: October 26, 2020
Members Present: Sherri Watson, Jeri Cardiff, Nicole Kneer, Jamie and Jeremy Bennett, Ashley Hunter, and Anthony Napolitano
The meeting was called to order at 7:03pm
Old Business:
The coffee fundraiser is over and has been delivered. At this time we do not have the total profits but a lot was sold.
The Variety Show will be rescheduled to November 13th.
New Business:
Due to space limitations the Jr. High band will be split the following way: Mondays will be 6th grade and Thursdays will be 7th and 8th grade. Jr. High choir is practicing in the weight room and it is working well. Dan Sappenfield provided plastic domes that go under their masks to help with the ability to sing with a mask on.
Elections of officers: Ashley Hunter was nominated and voted unanimously for Treasurer. Jamie was nominated and voted unanimously for Vice President
Nicole Kneer is continuing as President and Sherri Watson is continuing as Secretary
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be at 7:00 pm on November 30th in the Elementary Music Room and Google Meet if needed. The meeting was adjourned at 7:22pm
September 2020
Friends of Music Minutes
Meeting Date: September 28, 2020
Members Present: Sherri Watson, Jeri Cardiff, Nicole Kneer, and Anthony Napolitano
The meeting was called to order at 7:04 pm
Old Business:
The coffee fundraiser is getting turned in today/tomorrow. He will fresh roast the beans when we turn it in. The orders should be in by mid October. The kids can earn a Disney event by helping to organize it.
We do need to have a Vice President and a Treasurer by next month. We absolutely need a treasurer to be able to do the Disney trip.
New Business:
A Variety Show will be done! Posters are going up this week and auditions will be the 2nd or 3rd week of October and the show will be October 30th. Ms. Cardiff will take the people in the show in the new gym with the performers in the audience and the one performing on the stage. Ms. Cardiff will video it and upload it into a google classroom, and then it can be shared with others.
The directors are allowing only high school students to audition for D5 because they can be eligible for All State. These auditions will be virtual (recorded).
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be at 7:00 pm on October 26th in the elementary music room and google meet if needed. The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 pm
August 2020
Friends of Music Minutes
Meeting Date: August 24, 2020
Members Present: Sherri Watson, Jeri Cardiff, Nicole Kneer, Becky Olson, Mr. Napolitano, and several parents.
The meeting was called to order at 7:05pm
Old Business:
We received a donation of $100 from Janet Oliver and Carolyn Case (first cousins to Ann Krejci) in honor of Ken Krejci.
We received a thank you note from Grace Hutchison for the VG friends of music scholarship.
District 5 is cancelled for this year. They can audition if they want but there is no festival.
We will need a new treasurer and a vice president. At our next meeting we will vote to fill these positions.
New Business:
The Disney trip was discussed with the parents. It is suggested that the students save the money for the trip themselves and give a total amount to the company in February (or whenever the deadline is) so that no money is lost if it is cancelled. The trip will be July 19-24, 2021.
We could do the coffee fundraiser this year as a fall fundraiser. It would be doable with the circumstances.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be at 7:00 pm September 28th in the study hall room or by Google meet. The meeting was adjourned at 7:45pm
February 2020
Friends of Music Minutes
Meeting Date: February 25, 2020
Members Present: Sherri Watson, Jeri Cardiff, Nicole Kneer, Jen Mahannah, and Becky Olson
The meeting was called to order at 7:08 pm.
New Business:
We sold 989 boxes of Fannie May candy for a profit of $5530.98!
Disney: We will have final prices in the next two weeks. Then we will mail letters home to all of the parents which will give them the date of the meeting for Disney.
Solo and Ensemble for High School is March 7th and Junior High is April 4th.
The Jr. High field trip is this Sunday.
New fundraiser: Easter Bunny for hire. The family would give us money to hide the Easter Eggs at night on Saturday, April 11. The money will be due on April 6. $20.00 for two dozen eggs.
Treasurer’s Report: All accounts in good standing.
We can use the school’s tax exempt i.d. because we are an organization of the school.
We also have a savings account, so we are going to move the majority of money to the savings account from the checking account.
We made $233.00 from our winter concession stands.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be at 7:00 pm on April 7 in the Elementary music room. The meeting was adjourned at 7:49 p.m.