Present:  John Cosgriff, Charlene Ledoux, Marjorie Nelson, Muriel Orcutt (later), Steve Organek, Laurie Strubbe, Tony Varga, Larry Veal, Melissa Waterhouse, Alison Yankowskas.

1.  Minutes Correction.  Minutes from the March 28, 2009 Annual meeting are corrected.  The business meeting at the National Conference which Charlene Ledoux  attended, was  for the states’ Presidents only. It was the largest national conference attendance ever.  Two new changes:  a member can now pick any state chapter to join (not just the state wherein he resides).  An individual state chapter will get no rebate from the national board if it does not sign the Chapter Affiliation Agreement.
John Cosgriff apologizes for missing last October’s Adult Chamber Workshop.  He wishes that someone had called him.

2.  Treasurer’s Report.  Our current balance is $10,378.  Our CD is currently $2,185.  Laurie will call Chris Nourse and find out what options we have with the CD, and report back at our September meeting.

3.  Bylaws.  Charlene Ledoux has extensively researched our Bylaws.  At the National Conference, Charlene found out that our Chapter can go by the National Bylaws, or make up our own.  We need to update our own bylaws every two years.  On the web, Gillespie has updated the national bylaws.
Our assignment is to read the National Bylaws on line at www.astaweb.com by June 29th, and e-mail Charlene at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   about whether or not we are in favor, as a chapter, to be under the National Bylaws, rather than having our own separate bylaws.
The chapter MUST have insurance.

4.  Reviewing and signing the ChapterAffilation Agreement.  We need to decide if we want to sign the Chapter Affiliation Agreement, to be under the umbrella of the National Organization, which will include income tax exemption as a not-for-profit corporation.
If we want more information, we can contact Jeffrey Solow at tel. 215-635-0809 at home, or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or www.jeffreysolow.com for more information. 
The Board decides to sign the agreement.
Melissa Waterhouse will look into whether the state will automatically send us a bill (@$20) every five years to renew our incorporation status, due in 2010.
NHASTA was incorporated under the New Hampshire Corporation Division, with Business  ID 61142.  It was first created December19, 1977, then dissolved on January 2, 1986.  Then on December 29, 2006, it was reinstated.  The phone is (603) 271-3244 for the NH State Corporation Division.

5.  Membership Officer Clarification:  New roster of officers is:
President:  Steve Organek This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ,
President Elect:  Tony Varga This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , (603) 429-1350, Cell: (603) 305-3931
Past President:  Charlene Ledoux
Secretary:  Marjorie Nelson
Treasurer:  Laurie Strubbe
Members at Large:  John Cosgriff, Larry Veal, Melissa Waterhouse
Stringenda Editor:  Lynn Roman
Stringfest Chairperson:  Alison Yankowskas
Stringfest Host:  Muriel Orcutt
Librarian:  Bozena O’Brien

The National Office regularly sends a membership list.  Stacie Pratt is our State Services Representative:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Ask her questions about anything from the National Office.

6.  High School Orchestra Day.  This will take place on Saturday, October  24, 2009, in the Strafford Room at UNH, at the MUB (Memorial Union Building).
The last movement of the Shostakovich Symphony #5 will be studied.  Members of the UNH orchestra will also play. Chris Hill will direct, assisted by Larry Veal, and organized and chaired by Charlene Ledoux.
Teachers participating in StringFest will be contacted, and Alison Yankowskas will draft a letter for the teachers.  The official title:  “NHASTA High School UNH Orchestra Festival”.
Information regarding this will be given to the eighth graders at next year’s StringFest.
Marjorie Nelson will resend minutes of our January meeting to Alison, wherein details of the day were discussed.
Larry Veal will talk to Chris Hill about a minimum level piece to go along with the Shostakovich.  Chris will be paid $300 to conduct the orchestra.  There may be an additional charge to transport equipment building to building.  September 30, 2009 is a good deadline for teachers to respond by.  Charlene Ledoux will do posters for music schools to put up.
Larry Veal’s contact info:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it is best e-mail to use; cell is (603) 289-5087.

7.  Ad Chairman.  The ad chairman sends out an e-mail to renew ads, or solicit ads, and then collects the money to give to the Treasurer.
Melissa Waterhouse will assume this responsibility, sending out billing for ads going from September to June.

8.  Stringenda.  John Cosgriff will write a column for the next Stringenda:  “John’s Joustings”.
We will have a New Member’s Corner now in the Stringenda. Tony Varga will place a paragraph here in the next Stringenda, which comes out in September, March, and June.
The President will contact the National Office for a list of members, which we include in the March issue every year.
Marjorie Nelson will e-mail Lynn Roman the corrected March minutes to be included in September.

9.  Finalize NHASTA Calendar 2009-2010.  Our next meeting will take place on September 19, 2009 at 9:30 am, wherein we will play through the StringFest music.  We must physically perform the music ourselves to really get a feel for the pieces, and to prevent ourselves from choosing music that is too difficult or inappropriate for any orchestra level.
October 24, 2009  at the NHASTA High School UNH Orchestra Festival, in place of our November meeting.
January 23, 2010, at 9:30 am.
March 27, 2010, the annual meeting at StringFest.
June 5, 2010.

We can go to www.NHMEA.org for MENC information concerning All-State dates.

10.  Stringfest  2010 details.
Alison Yankowskas is again the StringFest Chair this coming year, with the following slate of conductors:
Orchestra 4 conducted by Tony Varga
Orchestra 2 conducted by John Cosgriff
Orchestra 3 conducted by Steve Organek
Orchestra 1 conducted by Sally Wituszynski

The deadline for choosing music is July 31st this year.  Muriel Orcutt says that Stringfest will be recorded again this year (again by Chris Mega).

11.  New Business.  John Cosgriff says that most successful ASTA chapters have most of their students coming from public schools.
Oyster River does not have a string program, but the Superintendent is very interested.
The String Project at UNH already has a group of parents with a vested interest in a string program.  Next year is their fourth year (starts with third graders).  Sally Wituszynski will take over as Master Teacher from Louise Pajak.  There is high attrition, but the program is not growing.  Many go into band or sports rather continue with strings.
Nashua also has no strings, but the Superintendent is in favor of a strings program.

Marjorie Nelson reports that about two dozen teachers attended our jointly co-sponsored workshop in April at the NHMEA Conference, with Julie Lyonn Lieberman.  The workshop was excellent and enjoyed by all who attended!  The Board is interested in again co-sponsoring a workshop with NHMEA at next year’s April Conference.

We need to ask Stacie Pratt of the National Board about our use of the logo with NHMEA.  Marjorie will ask Josh DesRochers about a possible co-sponsorship of Mary Eckstein as a clinician at their Conference on April 10, 2010.

Meeting is adjourned at 12:15 pm.  Next meeting is on September 19, 2009, location TBA.

Respectfully submitted,
Marjorie Nelson, Secretary