The 59th Annual TBA Convention/Clinic will begin Friday July 21 and continue through Monday, July 24. The Board and staff have put together a full schedule of clinic sessions, concerts, a huge trade show as well as activities designed to let you mix with fellow TBA members. We hope you take full advantage of all there is here in San Antonio over the next few days.

The schedule of events for the Convention/Clinic is printed on pages 14-20 of this Bandmasters Review. We have designed clinics for all levels of education-middle school directors, high school directors, college students as well as booster club members.

Remember that you can register online for the Convention / Clinic for yourself as well as your spouse and students. The pre-registration cutoff date is July 1.

The Convention/Clinic completes a full year of offering TBA members many professional growth opportunities. We began in September 2005 with implementation of Successful Techniques for Exemplary Teaching in San Antonio. In October, TBA presented Fundamentals in the Middle School Band in Huntsville. We started 2006 out with Sight Reading 101: What To Do With Your Time in the Sight Reading Room presented in Tyler. We just completed an engaging and educational Symposium June 9-11 on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso.

The first TBA Symposium: "The Art of Teaching Band," was a great success. We had attendees from all across Texas and New Mexico and from as far away as Boston, Massachusetts and San Diego, California. The clinics were wonderful, with master teachers from around the country. Tim Lautzenheiser, Alfred Watkins, along with our own Paula Crider and Eddie Green, headlined a stellar cast of characters that took us through the ins and outs of excellent teaching. Nearly half of the people attending had never been to a TBA event. We were pleased to see many old friends, and so many new colleagues. In every way it was an inspiring event. The University of Texas at El Paso was a wonderful host. I want to express my deepest thanks to President Diana Natalicio and Dr. Lowell Graham, Chairman of the Music Department, for their gracious hospitality The partnership between TBA and UTEP has tremendous potential. We hope to develop this into a significant event for music educators in the future.

As I review this year, I am very excited about the direction TBA is taking. We will be offering more Professional Development sessions next year. They will cover a diverse number of topics and will be offered across the state, mostly in partnerships with universities. They will also be sponsored by the commercial music community who are continuing to support TBA wholeheartedly I really appreciate the number of our loyal sustaining members who realize that supporting music education is good for all of us.

I believe that the most important of the many things that TBA does is to provide opportunities for teachers to grow as music educators. We do this by sharing knowledge and experience across generational and geographic lines. This happens in clinics, this happens in concerts, this happens in the exhibits-as well as at the Barbeque. TBA provides us a place to interact with each other and learn. Most of us learned to teach by following the example of successful veterans and by spending hours with others "talking band." TBA is the ultimate place to do that. I encourage you to share your strengths, successes, hopes and dreams with each other at the 59th annual Convention/Clinic.