As presiding officer of the International Double Reed Society for the second year, I view with great pleasure the work being done by the Executive Committee and those members of the Society working directly with us. I have had the opportunity to participate in this activity since the beginnings, and have watched the membership blossom from an original forty-eight in December of 1971 to our total of almost eleven hundred for the Membership year 1975. Hopefully, 1976 will see a strong continuation of this growth.
During the summer 1975 Evanston Meeting, the membership voted to extend the tenure of office for the Executives of the Society by a period of approximately eight months in order to solve a major problem. With the Executive Committee changing as of January 1st of each year, it meant attempting to continue work already partially completed by the departing Executive body. This created many problems, most of which were concerned with the Convention planning for the summer Annual Meeting. By the simple expedient of one extension period, our Committee will now work from Convention to Convention thus allowing each group to finalize the events which it plans.
This extension of office tenure has in itself created a problem, for one of the Committee members had expected to finish work as of January 1st of 1976 and then be relieved of office. Noah Knepper, our Treasurer for a number of years, did ask to be relieved at that time, and consequently a replacement for him became necessary. As President, I appointed Lowry Riggins as our Treasurer to fill out the remainder of this term. I wish to thank Noah for his untiring efforts, and I know that he will remain a staunch member of the Society. I also wish to thank Lowry for taking over this most time-consuming task, so there will be no break in the continuity of the position. As most of you know, Lowry had been Corresponding Secretary, so that position was now vacant. I requested that Edwin Lacy, our Recording Secretary, assume the additional duties of Corresponding Secretary, thus combining both jobs to the title of Secretary. In addition to the above, I have legislated one other office into being for the remainder of this term. James Burton volunteered to act as our Business Liaison and Advertising Agent. In the past, we have had two persons appointed to this task, but they were not members of the Executive Committee, thus had no vote in the proceedings. I appointed Jim Burton Second Vice-President in charge of Business Liaison and Advertising, so he is now a member of the Committee with a vote. The members of the Executive Committee have worked long and hard together, and I can strongly recommend their retention in office to continue the work of the Society.
Our Vice-President, Christopher Weait, is also Host and Chairman for the meeting in Toronto, August 16-18, 1976. Chris has a terrific program lined up for us, and I'm sure we will benefit from it. See the following article for complete details of our plans to date for the Fifth Annual Meeting of the IDRS in TORONTO, CANADA. Let me remind you that last summer's Evanston Convention authorized a convention fee not to exceed $25 to be charged at succeeding conventions to help defray costs. The fee for the Toronto Convention has been set by the Executive Committee at $20 (twenty dollars). When you glance at the schedule of guests and events, I don't visualize any of us receiving greater benefit for a twenty dollar bill than this!
Our Library situation needs attention. We need to use it, and we need to see that it is supplied with appropriate materials. Any members of the Society who wish to make a contribution may do so. Such contributions may be monetary or may be in the form of books, recordings and music. For further information contact IDRS Librarian, Dr. Bruce Degen, 1006 N. Howard, Indianola, Iowa 50125.
As stated earlier, the Society's growth has been quite impressive, yet we must continue to grow. The Executive Committee continues to assist increasing the membership through advertising our existence in the trade magazines and journals. We ask you to help in this endeavor. Discuss the work and goals of the IDRS with your students and double reed associates. Carry our Treasurer's address with you at all times and discuss the organization. I know it helps. Our Treasurer is Lowry Riggins, School of Music, Northeast Louisiana University, Monroe, Louisiana 71201.
We continue our attempts to solve our newsletter problems, particularly the bassoon newsletter. I am assured by Gerald Corey that they will be up to date by the time of the Toronto Convention. While Dan Stolper, Editor of TTWO has not indicated a serious problem in these lines, Jerry has pointed out the increasing difficulty of locating new articles for the TTWB newsletter. With our membership, we should not be having troubles of this kind. Many of us are conducting research in the double reed area which will certainly be of interest to the Society. Others are supervising graduate students in research. Still others of you have expertise about which you can write. Let's make the effort to get this material to Dan and to Jerry, so that we can keep the membership aware of the latest information and keep them supplied with sufficient articles for the newsletters and the Journal.
I am looking forward to the meeting at Toronto in August and hope to see all of you at that time. May all your reeds be concert caliber!
Earl L. Clemens
President, IDRS