Take 5 for OMEA
November 2025 News from the OMEA
Welcome to the Oregon Music Education Association's monthly e-newsletter, "Take 5 for OMEA." This e-newsletter has the most current news and information all in a 5 minute or less read. You can view past e-newsletters by clicking here.
Please visit our website at www.oregonmea.org for the latest on news and information at OMEA. You can visit our calendar page by clicking here.
Dutch Bros, 2025-26 Title Sponsor
Dutch Bros Coffee's story began in 1992 with brothers Dane and Travis Boersma, who left their family's struggling dairy farm in Grants Pass, Oregon, to pursue a new venture. They purchased an espresso machine and a pushcart, setting up shop near the railroad tracks. The brothers, of Dutch ancestry, named their company Dutch Bros, honoring their heritage. They initially offered flavored coffee to friends and family before venturing into the community, quickly gaining popularity for their unique drinks and friendly service.
All-State 2026!
OMEA All-State is held at the OMEA State Conference, January 15 - 18, 2026 in Eugene.
November 20, 2025: All-State materials and details for students are sent directors.
2026 OMEA All-State Ensemble Conductors & Repertoire
2026 All-State Rehearsal Schedule – Elementary, Middle School, and High School Rehearsal Schedules
2026 All-State Merchandise – Order form for All-State event apparel and plaques.
2026 All-State Chaperone Application
***Per OMEA's policies, teachers who have students selected for All-State must register for OMEA's conference. Register by December 31 to take advantage of the discounted Pre Registration fee and banquet access!
All-State Information can be found at:
https://oregonmea.org/all-state/event-information/
Thank you for supporting your students through this process, and please let me know if you have any questions.
Kristi Stingle
OMEA All-State Chair
Portland State University Music & Theater, 2025-26 Gold Level Sponsor
The School of Music & Theater is located within the hub of musical and theatrical activity in the Pacific Northwest, only three blocks from the Portland Center for the Performing Arts. It maintains close ties to the Oregon Symphony, Portland Opera, Portland Jazz Orchestra, Portland Piano International, Portland Youth Philharmonic, Chamber Music Northwest, Oregon Repertory Singers, Artists Repertory Theater, Portland Center Stage, Milagro Theatre, and Third Rail Repertory Theater, among other organizations. Faculty and students alike interact with these performing organizations in various ways.
OMEA Conference Registration is OPEN!
OMEA 2026, "A Universal Language," will be held at the Graduate Hotel, Eugene on January 16-18th.
We are thrilled to welcome Reena Esmail as this year's Keynote Speaker!
***Per OMEA's policies, teachers who have students selected for All-State must register for OMEA's conference. Register by December 31 to take advantage of the discounted Pre Registration fee and banquet access!
Click here for the most up-to-date conference schedule!
Click here to find a list of nearby hotels in the Eugene/Springfield area.
Nominations are now open for OMEA Awards. Submit your nomination by December for consideration in this awards cycle. Information on awards can be found here: https://oregonmea.org/about/awards/
OMEA will host two events at the conference for our collegiate music education majors:
- A panel discussion on preparing for career / what you wish you knew before you started.
- Mock interviews 1:1 for future teachers in their final year before teaching.
If you are willing to participate in either of these, please reach out to Mari Schay.
If you are Interested in presiding over a session, reach out to conferencechair@oregonmea.org.
Elizabeth Soper
OMEA Conference Chair
Beacock Music, 2025-26 Silver Level Sponsor
Beacock Music has been a family- owned company since we first opened in 1976. In addition to Vancouver, we have two additional locations! Eugene opened in 2018 and Albany opened in 2022. They both have full service repair departments, full School Services Division, plus band and orchestra instruments, guitars, percussion, digital pianos, accessories, and print music!
From the OMEA President...
Please read the Advocacy & Public Policy Newsletter. We are planning a STATE HILL DAY FOR THIS FEBRUARY and we want YOU on the planning committee. This is the kind of thing that fires folks up - I've spoken with administrators, Tri-M and collegiate chapters that are excited about this! We are looking for people in EVERY OMEA DISTRICT to help create materials and structure for this impactful event. Hope to see you at our next meeting November 18th - just an hour a month, folks!
Erika Lockwood
OMEA President
Linfield University, 2025-26 Silver Level Sponsor
Linfield’s Department of Music offers creative opportunities for musicians of all levels and skill sets regardless of major.
Whether you’re here to major or minor in music or participate in one of our ensemble groups, you will work closely with world-class faculty and perform side-by-side with professional musicians.
Our undergraduate program will prepare you for lifelong engagement with music as performers, educators, conductors, composers, thinkers, listeners, and writers.
OMEA Advocacy & Public Policy
Please click here to read the latest on OMEA Advocacy & Public Policy.
In this issue:
- 📅 Mark You Calendars: Hill Day & MIOSM®
- Advocacy Committee – It’s Not Scary! 👻
- Immediate Action Needed: Contact Your Federal Officials!
- NAfME: Music In Our Schools Month Composition Contest
- Resource Highlight: Get To Know Your School Board
- Links 🔗
Federal education programs are on the chopping block – let your officials know that you support Title I, Title II, and Title IV-A. It takes five minutes and your elected officials need to hear from you!
Support Federal Funding Impacting Arts Education
https://nafmeorg.quorum.us/campaign/121747/
ADVOCACY COMMITTEE – COME JOIN US!
This year, OMEA is resuscitating our Advocacy Committee! The goals of this committee are:
Collaborate statewide on advocacy challenges and successes
Collect real-time information to be shared with decision makers, and share templates for contacting decision makers on a monthly cycle
Discuss best practices for local level advocacy
Plan logistics about two major advocacy events
Oregon Hill Day, February 2026
Music In Our Schools Month ®, March 2026
Meetings have already been scheduled and are listed on the OMEA website calendar (it’s easy to add to your google calendar from there!). All are welcome and PDUs are available to those to attend. All meeting will be held on Google Meet at this link: https://meet.google.com/ykw-gsrd-twk
Tuesday, November 18, 5:30-6:30pm
Monday, December 15, 5:30-6:30pm
Tuesday, January 20, 2026, 5:30-6:30pm
Monday, February 23, 5:30-6:30pm
GET TO KNOW YOUR SCHOOL BOARD
Your school board may be welcoming new members – now is the time to get to know them! If you take one step in these next few weeks, figure out who to talk to about getting on the schedule to perform with your students.
Additionally, this document from the Human Rights Campaign is an incredible resource for understanding and demystifying school board structures and processes. It’s full of checklists to help you get started.
School Boards Matter: A Guide to Effectively Advocating At The School Board Level
School board information is listed on each individual school district’s website. Each district has different timelines for signing up to speak or perform, so check carefully with your local guidance.
LINKS 🔗
Program Standards for Music in Oregon Schools (working on updating, stay tuned!)
National Music Standards One-Pager
Please read previous OMEA Advocacy & Public Policy newsletters:
Need advocacy support? Contact us!
Laura Arthur
OMEA Public Policy Chair
Stephen Marshall
OMEA Advocacy Chair
251 Realty, 2025-26 Bronze Level Sponsor
Travis Moddison is a real estate broker dedicated to serving southern Oregon with professionalism and value. He also runs a YouTube channel providing information on Oregon, and updates on news/events impacting Oregonians. In addition to real estate, Travis is an active musician with the Rogue Valley Symphony and raises ducks as a hobby. He loves to have evening jam sessions with his wife and three sons.
OMEA Mentorship Program
Are you in your first 5 years of teaching music in Oregon?
Or, are you an experienced educator ready to support our new teachers?
Start the year strong - Join our new OMEA Mentorship Program!
Give the gift of support to yourself, a new teacher, or someone who just moved to Oregon.
Find out more and apply HERE
Bandworld, 2025-26 Bronze Level Sponsor
Bandworld features the American Band College of Central Washington University hosted in southern Oregon each summer. WIBC's ensembles are auditioned and meet annually in the fall in SeaTac.
OMEA Small Schools Advocacy News
Music Educators!
Please find us on Facebook by clicking here.
Excitingly, NAfME has recently put together a Small Schools Initiative. The website for this initiative is full of useful videos and information provided by small schools music educators from around the country. You can find those resources by clicking here.
The Oregon Small Schools Task Force has been hard at work putting together a newsletter to welcome folks to the new year and as a starting place for sharing resources. The Oregon Small Schools Newsletter is the first of its kind in that its primary goal is to bring to the forefront small schools music educators and our experiences.
Please click here to view October's Oregon Small Schools Newsletter!
Melissa Jmaeff
OMEA Small Schools Chair
Canter Flute Repair, 2025-26 Bronze Level Sponsor
Your flute should never stand in the way of your music. Our mission is to care for your instrument with the highest skill and precision, so it responds with true resonance and reliability, letting your artistry take center stage. And when it’s time to discover something new, we’ll help you find the right fit among our selection of new and used flutes and piccolos.
OMEA Elections and Awards, 2025-2026
Elections will be held in January for OMEA's next President. This is a six-year commitment:
2026-28, 1st Vice President
2028-30, President
2030-32, Past-President
We are seeking candidates of all backgrounds, teaching levels, and disciplines! If you are interested in serving or would like to nominate someone, please reach out to Ben Lawson.
OMEA Awards
Please visit our nomination website for OMEA Awards. Contact Ben Lawson if you have any questions.
Ben Lawson
OMEA Past President
Music Camps at Wallowa Lake, 2025-26 Bronze Level Sponsor
Each Summer, thousands of young musicians set out to expand their musical education through exciting programs where they can learn and grow amongst their friends and peers. One such program is the Music Camp at Wallowa Lake.
Over 100 young musicians travel each year to Wallowa Lake for their Brass and Woodwinds Camp!
Oregon Orchestra News
Dear Orchestra Colleagues,
Join OBDA (especially high school directors): It is cheap, and our orchestra voice is getting stronger with voting rights and board representation!
Register for the Conference this year! We have a lot of fabulous clinicians, colleagues wanting to connect, and student musicians to support. I look forward to seeing everyone in January!
I have begun adding information received to a google doc, since things come in throughout the month and frequently have time-sensitive deadlines. I’ll keep it as a running document so everyone will have access throughout the year, and will have it linked in this newsletter monthly.
Please continue sending me edits to the contact list and information you would like to share with the greater Oregon Orchestra community! As I receive things, I’ll add them to this rolling document:
If you’d like anything added to the document in November, send me the details!
As always, let me know if you have anything to share with the orchestra community.
Brigid Mayer
OMEA Orchestra Chair
Northwest Band Camp, 2025-26 Bronze Level Sponsor
Oregon Choir News
Attention all previously certified Oregon Adjudicators: Are you sad your certification has lapsed? Have you missed hearing those state qualifying sets? Join us in November for a one-day workshop where you can recertify and get back on the adjudication circuit. The day will include training in all areas of the rubric including sight reading. We will conclude with a practice exam using the rubric in real time.
What: A training day to recertify adjudicators whose certifications have lapsed.
When: Saturday, November 15th 2025
Time: 9-3pm
Where: George Fox University, 1009 E. North St., Newberg, OR 97132
We will be in Ross 208, the building next to the football field and Bauman Auditorium.
Parking is free.
Cost: $55 (lunch is provided)
Link to register: Certification Registration Link
Kathy Briggs
OMEA Choir Chair
Oregon Symphony, 2025-26 Bronze Level Sponsor
The Oregon Symphony was founded as the "Portland Symphony Society" in 1896, it is the sixth oldest orchestra in the United States, and oldest in the Western United States. Its home venue is the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in downtown Portland's Cultural District.
As you know last year Oregon Band Directors Association voted to add orchestra teachers as voting members of OBDA. We are currently looking to add an Orchestra committee and are searching for current orchestra teachers to head that committee. If you or another orchestra teacher would be interested, please let our current president Frank Petrik know. Any voting member or person on a committee needs to be a member of the OBDA.
Our middle school commission chair, Travis Freshner, would like some input from members going into the next commission project. Please complete the survey on the OBDA Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1YZgRDUcXc/? or contact Travis at travisf@sthelens.k12.or.us to share your ideas..
Jen Bell
OMEA Band Chair
Pacific Lutheran University, 2025-26 Bronze Level Sponsor
Distinguished teachers, talented students, and supportive public: these are the people who make the Department of Music at PLU a nationally recognized center for musical learning, serving, and sharing.
Oregon Jazz News
Hi Everyone! I'm looking for feedback from you on this year's new Jazz All State audition material. If you have a moment, please click HERE for the survey. You can answer anonymously if you'd prefer.
Also, check out Dawn Clement's (our All State Jazz conductor's) new album, Delight. I'm unsure if we've ever had a female all state jazz conductor before, so this is a special occasion!
Lastly, the Adjudicator Database is still live and taking submissions. You can find links to both on the OMEA website.
The Oregon Jazz Adjudicator Database is up and running! The purpose of this resource is to provide festival coordinators with a comprehensive and diverse list of professionals who are interested in adjudicating and providing jazz education in a festival setting. Each person on the list provided their own biography, experience, preferences, etc.
The current Jazz Adjudicator Database can be found HERE.
Those accessing the database should be able to filter and organize the list however they'd like (by location, instrument, race/gender, etc.), but won't be able to alter the spreadsheet's contents.
It is not too late to be added to this list! Submit requests to be added to the spreadsheet by filling out THIS FORM.
Jeff Chang (Washington MEA Jazz Chair) is compiling a list of jazz festivals in the Northwest for the 25-26 school year to publish. If you are hosting a jazz festival (not a league contest) where schools from Washington and Idaho would be welcome to attend, please reach out to Jessika directly for the link to the spreadsheet. You can find these events on OMEA calendar as well.
Jessika Smith
OMEA Jazz Chair
Portland Orff Association, 2025-26 Bronze Level Sponsor
The Portland Orff Schulwerk Association serves music educators in Oregon and Southwest Washington, promoting and supporting the teaching and enjoyment of music for the whole individual. Join us! Membership in POSA comes with benefits: reduced admission to workshops, use of our instrumentarium, and the knowledge that you are doing your part to spread the word about Orff Schulwerk in the Pacific Northwest. POSA is a chapter of AOSA, the American Orff Schulwerk Association.
Changes to OMEA Student Composition Contest
Thank you for your submissions to this year's OMEA Student Composition Contest! We look forward to showcasing the winners at the 2026 OMEA Conference!
Click below for previous composition contest winners.
2024-25 Composition Contest Winners
2023-24 Composition Contest Winners
2022-23 Composition Contest Winners
2021-22 Composition Contest Winners
2020-21 Composition Contest Winners
2019-20 Composition Contest Winners
2018-19 Composition Contest Winners
Kathy Briggs
Traditional Composition
Jason Rodgers
Electronic, Songwriting, and Loop-based Music
Young Musicians & Artists, 2025-26 Bronze Level Sponsor
YMA's mission is to provide young people with a unique personal experience in the visual and performing arts, where they share creative interests in a positive environment that builds confidence, enhances self-esteem and reinforces a sense of community.
Cauble, Furr & Beguin
Whatever area of law we are engaged in on behalf of our clients, our well-honed skills as trial lawyers, estate planning attorneys and administrative law attorneys come into play.
Chamber Music Northwest
Enjoy exceptional chamber music with Chamber Music Northwest's digital concerts available virtually at CMNW.org and live concerts in Portland, Oregon.
The Columbians
The Columbians Drum & Bugle Corps is a 501c3 non-profit organization serving the youth in the Tri-Cities, Washington, and surrounding areas.
NAfME Professional Learning
Looking for more professional development opportunities? See all of the NAfME webinars on their Professional Learning Calendar.
Need advocacy support? Contact advocacy@oregonmea.org
Educational Travel Services, Inc
When teachers want to take their students on a new travel experience or a specific subject is being explored, ETSI can help design the perfect trip suited to your needs.
Eugene Ballet
Eugene Concert Choir
The Eugene Concert Choir is an enduring, vital part of the community which gives adult avocational singers the opportunity to perform at a professional level so that the beauty and power of choral singing is enjoyed and appreciated by all.
OMEA Equity News
We are the Oregon Music Educators Equity professional learning community! If you have a brilliant resource, song, approach, or idea that you want to share with other music educators, please share it here.
Equity Highlight - Check out the NAfME Equity Resource Center
NAfME DEIAB Resources from the Diversity Equity Inclusion Access and Belonging Resource Center -
NAfME offers position statements, legislative information, webinars, academic journal articles, blog posts, and more to help answer your questions and guide your decisions as a music educator. Featured Resources are - Fact sheets, guides, webinars, talking points, reports and more to equip music educators with the tools you need to succeed in the classroom and to help advance the profession.
Click below and log into NAfME to view the Resource Library. Search the NAfME Resource Library with the terms Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, or Access for more related resources.
Cynthia Navarro
OMEA DEI Chair
J.W. Pepper
Metropolitan Youth Symphony
Music-ade, LLC
OMEA Survey
Are you teaching music technology? Curious or planning to? Are you being directed to add this to your curriculum or offer a class? The OMEA is gathering data on the current status of music technology classes in our schools: what’s being offered, what’s being planned, and what resources teachers have or need. Your insights will help guide future support, training, and collaboration opportunities across the state.
Click here to access the survey.
Jason Rodgers
OMEA Secondary General Music Chair
Oregon Children's Choir
The Oregon Children's Choir has served kids in Lane County for over 40 years. We offer excellent singing opportunities for kids in 1st through 12th grade.
Oregon Coast Youth Symphony Festival
Peripole
Tri-M
A Tri-M® Music Honor Society chapter opens up a world of opportunities for students who have already shown themselves to be academically capable and musically gifted. Through performance and community service, they’ll develop confidence, creativity, critical thinking, compassion, and a host of other leadership skills sure to serve them well in school and beyond.
Portland Youth Philharmonic
Is is the mission of the Portland Youth Philharmonic Association to prepare young people for success through musical excellence. High-quality music education is accessible to all young people in our culturally diverse community.
Quartet Violin Shop
Southern Oregon University
OMEA Publications
Please click here to access OMEA publications. Issuu will now archive all OMEA publications dating back to 1948. These older editions will be posted as access becomes available for scanning.
Please contact JJ Sutton if you are interested in submitting an article for future publications.
University of Portland
Western Oregon University
Follow OMEA on Social Media!
Follow OMEA on Instagram at "oregonmusiceducation."
You can also follow OMEA on Facebook by liking "Oregon Music Education Association."
OMEA social media is a great way to receive news and updates in real time!
Yamaha Corporation, USA
Yamaha aims to contribute to the “Well-Being of People around the World.” With our unique expertise and sensibilities, gained from our devotion to sound and music, we are committed to creating excitement and cultural inspiration together with people around the world.
NAfME
OMEA
Vision: OMEA will serve as the trusted source for music advocacy in Oregon and will strive to increase the quality and accessibility of music education in our state.
Misson: OMEA supports music educators and advocates for equitable access to a high-quality and comprehensive music education for all students in Oregon.
