Quebec Music Educators' Association

Quebec Music Educators' Association

Quebec Music Educators' Association (QMEA). An association of English-speaking music educators of Quebec formed in 1968. Its origins date back to 1939 when Irvin Cooper, music supervisor with the Montreal Protestant School Board, gathered together a group of English-speaking music educators then working for the board. The following year an informal association was formed with Cooper as president. Membership broadened and English- and French-speaking music teachers from the Catholic School Commission of Montreal joined the organization.

In 1963 the group adopted the name Quebec Music Educators/Éducateurs de musique du Québec (QMEEMQ). Its objectives were to raise the level of music teaching in Quebec, promote the professional development of its members, provide a platform for the discussion of mutual problems, and, finally, to act as spokesman for musicians in all things pertaining to music education. Also in 1963, on the initiative of Horace White, a music consultant with the Catholic School Commission of Montreal, the Association of Catholic Music Educators (ACME) was founded in order to pursue essentially the same objectives among English-speaking Catholic music educators.

In 1966 the French-speaking members of QMEEMQ began joining the newly formed Fédération des associations de musiciens éducateurs du Québec (FAMEQ); in 1968 the two anglophone organizations merged to form the Quebec Music Educators' Association (QMEA). A revised constitution confirmed the association's objectives: to stimulate interest in music education and to collaborate with all who pursue the same goals, to acquire knowledge relating to music education, to disseminate such knowledge in order to improve the quality of music education in the province, to promote the professional growth of its members, to establish standards and a code of ethics for the profession, and to encourage the discussion of problems in music education. Beginning in 1968, it issued the bulletin QMEA Newsletter approximately five times a year. It became affiliated with the Canadian Music Educators' Association in 1975. In 1991 the association ceased its activities, but was revived in September 2004. During the hiatus, many English-speaking teachers in Quebec participated in events sponsored by the Ontario Music Educators' Association. The decision to re-establish the QMEA was prompted by the desire to create a local organizational body for English music educators in Quebec that was capable of offering greater opportunities for professional development to local teachers. In 2005 the QMEA established a classical music festival, and plans had been initiated to publish a newsletter.

Cooper (b Nelson, Lancashire, England, 16 Aug 1900, d Florida Nov 1971) won the Order of Merit (Quebec) in 1945 for outstanding service to education.