Alberta Registered Music Teachers' Association

Alberta Registered Music Teachers' Association

Alberta Registered Music Teachers' Association (ARMTA). Founded in Edmonton 15 Dec 1932 by Clara King, Florence Teets, and other teachers. Its immediate goals were to promote and support instruction by qualified music teachers within the province, to organize musical events, and to entertain visiting performers and adjudicators. It was incorporated in 1934 as the Alberta Music Teachers' Association, its name until 1947 when "Registered" was added. In 1935, along with fellow associations from British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, it helped found the Federation of Music Teachers' Associations (later the CFMTA). In 1991 the ARMTA had 400 members, chapters in Calgary, Edmonton, Grand Prairie, Lethbridge, Lloydminster, Medicine Hat, and Red Deer, and another chapter catering to members-at-large. The Lloydminster branch holds dual membership in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The Calgary, Edmonton, and Lethbridge branches each publish a quarterly newsletter; a provincial newsletter is distributed biannually. In 1986, the ARMTA established a head office in Edmonton.

The ARMTA participates in the CFMTA's Young Artists Series and Creative Music Writing Competition and in 1977 it established its own Provincial Scholarship Competition. The ARMTA holds annual conventions and hosted the CFMTA convention in Edmonton in 1989, which included performances and lectures by Igor Kipnis, Hugh McLean, Marek Jablonski, Violet Archer, Alexandra Munn, and Alfred Fisher. In 1990, the ARMTA joined with the Alberta Choral Federation, the Alberta Band Association, and the Alberta String Teachers and Players Association to present the Alberta Music Conference, a gathering of institutional and community-based educators.

Presidents of the ARMTA have been Florence Teets 1932-3, Ella Walker 1933-6, Eliza A. Hamilton 1936-8, 1939-40, 1942-3, PhyllisChapman Clarke 1938-9, Brenna Reed 1940-1, Helen K. Robinson 1941-2, 1947-8, 1956-7, Aileen Jones 1943-4, 1955-6, Leonard H. Nichols 1944-5, G. Alex Kevan 1945-6, Velva Pickett Brough 1946-7, Mollie Pierce Hamilton 1948-9, Elsie Wright 1950-1, Thelma Osborne 1952-3, J.S. Peter Bach 1953-4, Arthur Newcombe 1954-5, Robert Pounder 1957-9, Joyce Hackett 1959-61, A.K. Putland 1961-3, Florence Gillespie 1963-5, Anne Campbell 1965-7, Thelma O'Neill 1967-9, Betty Ferguson 1969-71, Anna Bray 1971-5, Eileen Daly 1975-6, Betty-Lou Beatty 1975-7, Hedy Klause 1978-80, Lucien Needham 1981, Lois-Jean Gardenits 1982-4, Carol Mellors 1985-7, and Ava Rich 1987-9, succeeded in 1989 by Patricia Markley.