There are a number of items to discuss at this time, but first--a reminder that the Sixth Annual Meeting of the International Double Reed Society will be held August 15 -17, 1977, in Evansville, Indiana. Our Host-Chairman for the event will be Edwin Lacy. Ed is being very secretive about his plans but has let the cat out of the bag as to the double-barreled main events. He is attempting to secure George Goslee, principal bassoonist of the Cleveland Orchestra, and Robert Sprenkle, solo oboist of the Rochester Philharmonic and oboe professor at the Eastman School of Music. As of this writing Ed has not confirmed the above, but he tells me that many other events are now secure. In the near future he will mail a brochure to all IDRS members detailing the convention schedule of events and room reservation information (see Ed Lacy's Conference Announcement--following. Ed.).
Our membership remained rather static this past year. The end-of-the-year totals gave us 1100 members, just about equal to the total of the preceding year, 1975. Of these totals we have quite a group of new members, for which we are very thankful. However, we lost a goodly number of former members, the great majority of them being bassoonists. We also know that the reason for this was that our editor of "To The World's Bassoonists" had gotten behind on publications to the point that a number of newsletters were late.
This situation has now been fully corrected and we are now completely up to date on all publications. Consequently, we ask to be forgiven by all former members and sincerely hope they will return to the Society for the many benefits which can be derived.
In addition, we need to attract many new members. Our last Annual Meeting in Toronto was more expensive than we anticipated, and the costs of publishing and mailing our newsletters and Journal have doubled in the past two years! If every member of IDRS were to talk with others not members of the Society and each one secured just one new member -- we would solve all our financial problems yet this year. Unless this kind of increase in our membership can be achieved, we will be forced to increase our yearly membership dues, or combine our newsletters, or decrease the number of publications per year or some combination of the above. I have asked in previous years that each member of the Society carry the name and address of our Treasurer with him/her at all times (Lowry Riggins, IDRS Treasurer, NLU School of Music, Monroe, Louisiana 71201) --and talk International Double Reed Society. I do, and I know I have brought dozens of new members into the Society. If we all get behind this and exert the effort, we can do it.
In the meantime, a repetition of my former request: our Editors (Dan Stolper and Gerald Corey) constantly need new articles for our publications. Many of us are doing research ourselves or are supervising the research of our Graduate students. Send this information to our Editors so that all of our members may share the benefits of your efforts.
At the Toronto Meeting it was suggested by the Nomination Committee that this year's Nominating Committee be appointed before the convention, so they would have more time for the selection of a slate of officers. By the time this President's Letter is published, I hope to have the new committee at work. In the meantime I will strongly recommend the retention in office of those of us who are currently doing the work of the Society. I have not contacted any of them to confirm their availability, but I assure all of you that we have a very active group in the Executive Committee.
Looking toward the future: Don Christlieb has invited the IDRS to hold the 1978 Annual Meeting in California. He will be ably assisted by bassoonist Norman Herzberg. We have discussed holding the 1979 convention in England and find that it would not only be quite expensive to the Society, but locating an individual to act as Host-Chairman is proving to be quite difficult. This person must be able to set up the program, contact those who will participate, and make all arrangements for performance and display rooms at a convenient location. And he must also arrange sufficient accommodations for those expected to attend. Since university professors are part-time teachers and full-time performers in Europe, the task of finding the ideal person is quite difficult. We would be very interested in hearing from anyone in Europe who would be willing to undertake this responsibility.
In the meantime, we have an invitation from William Baker of Ohio State University, inviting us to come to Columbus in 1979. They are currently building a new arts facility, and they would like to share it with us. This invitation will be presented in greater detail at our Evansville Annual Meeting.
I am looking forward to the Meeting in Evansville this August, and hope to see all of you at that time. Meanwhile, secure a new member for the Society and invite him to join us in all ways.