NACUSAsf meeting Wednesday, January 27, 2005 at 7:00 PM in the Meeting Hall 
of Lori Griswold’s apartment complex.

Attending: Herb Gellis (President), Joanne Carey (Secretary), John Beeman, 
Dale Victorine, Lori Griswold and Ken Takara.

In the absence of Anne Baldwin, herb reported that our treasury is currently 
in the black with $3252 plus $574 worth of stock from our anonymous donor. 
The former figure includes $600 from NACUSA National because the National 
Board voted recently to distribute the surplus among the chapters. In 
response to a question from the floor, Herb said that the board meetings take 
place through e-mail.

Guitar Concert
The main topic for discussion was about our proposed guitar concert; how we 
fit it in and how we can afford it. Herb said that he would contact guitarist 
Michael Bautista, who was recommended by the Guitar Society and has expressed 
interest in playing our pieces, and ask him what he would charge us.

Next we discussed different strategies for programming guitar pieces. Herb 
thought we should consider how we could work with the Guitar Society for 
mutual benefit. Since we have only received promises for six pieces for guitar, 
so far, Herb suggested that we allow the guitarist to choose pieces he likes 
to play for the rest of the concert.

Another approach would be to include the guitar in our Fall CPE concert.
Herb pointed out that because we are switching the position of our CPE 
concerts from Spring to Fall, this year we would have two CPE concerts in 
a row. John expressed having more interest in writing for guitar along with 
the instruments available from our CPE.

Motion: Joanne Carey thought that was a good idea and motioned to include 
the guitar in our Fall CPE concert. John seconded the motion.

We did not vote, but discussed the issue some more. Ken objected. In his 
opinion, a whole concert for guitar and flute would be more unique and special 
and might attract new audience members. He concurred with Herb that it would 
be OK for the guitarist to include pieces by other composers if we didn’t 
provide enough music for a full concert.

Dale advised us to verify the playability of the pieces submitted and chosen 
well before the program becomes fixed. The guitar has certain limitations 
and these should be seriously considered by participating composers.


Herb brought up the problem of financing this separate concert along with 
our regular CPE in the Fall, which is expensive. Joanne suggested that we 
substitute a guitar and flute concert for the Fall CPE concert. This would 
be better for our budget and we wouldn’t have two CPE’s in a row.

Motion: Ken Takara moved to substitute a guitar/flute concert for the Fall 
CPE concert. Dale seconded the motion. All present (John Beeman had to leave 
earlier) agreed that this was the best solution.

Performing Group for June 2006 Concert
Herb expressed concern that we haven’t yet decided on a performing group for 
this end-of-season concert. Herb and others offered some suggestions, 
including:
• The Ives Quartet – Joanne offered to talk to Susan Frier, the second 
violinist (Herb thought they might also play as a trio).
• A Choir – Herb said there were several to choose from, including just hiring 
a subset of a choir.
• PACO or other larger ensemble – these groups need the music far in advance
• The Worn ensemble – suggested once before by Bob Hall
• A Wind Quintet – always a favorite if we can find one
• An SVAC group –

Although many composers have expressed interest in writing for a larger 
ensemble, in order to have a successful concert of this kind, the group would 
need the music a year or more in advance. Some groups to consider include: 
the Redwood Symphony, the Peninsula Symphony, the Nova Vista Symphony and 
the Winchester Band. Herb suggested collecting pieces and when we have enough 
first rate pieces, showing them to these larger performing groups. Ken 
mentioned the Woodside Village Band as another option in this category. Any 
large group, including choirs, needs the music sooner than smaller groups. 
Before leaving, Dale requested that we think about piano concertos, or 
concertinos. Herb responded that this may be too ambitious for our group, 
but offered to show quality piano pieces to John Nakamatsu, who he is 
currently working with; he has already given him Nurit’s “Mirage.” Summing 
up, Herb suggested trying to find an established group that has an audience.

Publicity
Ken asked what the price of an ad in the Palo Alto Weekly would cost. Lori 
or Herb didn’t know, but Herb had heard that little ads don’t reach people. 
We all agreed, however, that the P.A. Weekly does reach our target audience 
– they’re near-by, cultured and educated.

On-Line Data Base
We currently use our Data Base on Yahoo to print labels. However, this 
database needs to be maintained by everyone who uses it. Joanne said that 
many of us don’t know how to access it, so we can make changes to our own 
personal lists. Owen, who has been printing the labels, suggested dumping 
the list, while Herb thinks it could be useful to us. Herb said he would ask 
Owen to relay instructions to accessing the database. Herb mentioned that 
Nancy has her own audience list and prints them out herself. Herb said he’d 
like to have her list entered into our database.

Student Competition
Sondra is in charge of this, but she didn’t attend the meeting.

Rehearsal Coordinator
Herb said we need a rehearsal coordinator, since Michael Kimbell is resigning. 
No one present volunteered, but all thought Nurit was doing a great ad hoc 
job for this concert. Ken suggested that we find a coordinator du jour’ for 
each concert as it approaches.

Composer’s Concerts
Herb said that the low turn out of scores for our upcoming Composers and 
Friends Concerts tells us we need to make some changes in how we structure 
the submissions for these concerts. Also, February is too soon, because that 
pushes the submission deadline too close to everyone’s holiday vacation time. 
Another change would be to space them about a month apart and have separate 
submission deadlines. March and April would be the ideal months for these 
concerts.

In-house Performers
Ken requested that we try to set up an on-line data base that would provide 
a list of performers both inside and outside of NACUSAsf who would be 
interested in performing at NACUSA concerts. Herb said this is a good goal. 
We agreed, but there weren’t many of us left.

Meeting adjourned at 9:20.

Respectfully submitted,

Joanne D. Carey
Secretary to NACUSAsf