Details on entries can be found here.

This summer will bring together music and Sinfonia like never before, and the competition represents a commitment to that goal.  Please help us inform all brothers about this opportunity so that this can be an exalted musical experience!

Please join us in this opportunity for chapters across the nation to display their individual talents in a fun, friendly environment!

Sign Up Your Group

To register your group for the Stepshow, click here and fill out the accompanying survey.

Be sure to review all rules and policies for those taking part in this program.  You can view the Rules & Regulations by clicking here.

The Fraternity’s history of commissioned works is one that stretches back decades.  Some of the biggest names in American music have written pieces specifically for or about Sinfonia.  We’re proud to add to that legacy by performing the premiere Holsinger’s work.

To read a recent Resonance article about another Holsinger work written for Sinfonians, click here.

All voting delegates will decide on these matters at Convention, and all brothers are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the proposed legislation.

To read the docket in detail, click here.

The Fraternity is pleased to welcome Operation Taps founder Tom Allen to Orlando this summer.  There, he will receive the National Citation for his work with Operation Taps, and will also be presenting on the organization.  All buglers, and indeed all men and musicians with an interest in our armed forces and veterans, owe it to themselves to be in attendance.

Operation Taps, along with its founder, was recently featured in the Fraternity’s alumni e-newsletter, the Resonance.  To read the full article, which delves into the history and importance of Taps as well as the current need for Taps buglers, click here.

The Charles E. Lutton Man of Music Award is the highest honor Phi Mu Alpha can give one of its members.  The award is given once every three years to a Sinfonian who, through performance, composition, or any other significant musical activity, has distinguished himself and thus furthered the cause of music in America and brought honor to the Fraternity.  Sinfonia’s Men of Music are: Thor Johnson (1952), Howard Hanson (1954), Earl Moore (1956), Sigmund Spaeth (1958), Joseph Maddy (1960), Van Cliburn (1962), Archie Jones (1964), Price Doyle (1967), Aaron Copland (1970), Pablo Cassals (1973), William Warfield (1976), James Levine (1979), Sherill Milnes (1982), Clark Terry (1985), W. Francis McBeth (1988), Dave Grusin (1991), William Revelli (1994), Leonard Slatkin (1997), Col. John R. Bourgeois (2000), Frederick Fennell (2003), Maynard Ferguson (2006), and Jamey Aebersold (2009).

At the 2012 National Convention, the Fraternity will be honored to include Brother Carlisle Floyd, Epsilon Iota (Florida State) ’57, among these distinguished Men of Music.

Born in 1926, Floyd earned degrees in piano and composition at Syracuse University.  He began his teaching career in 1947 at Florida State University, remaining there until 1976, when he accepted the prestigious M. D. Anderson Professorship at the University of Houston.  He is also the co-founder of the Houston Opera Studio, a training program for young singers and accompanists.  Floyd also received an honorary doctorate from FSU in 2005.

Brother Floyd is one of the most admired and widely performed opera composers and librettists of the last century.  He is credited with helping to create an American idiom in opera.  His works are often drawn from novels, and many are set in the south, including settings such as Louisiana and South Carolina.

Floyd’s most popular work, Susannah, has become one of the most performed American operas in history.  Having debuted in 1956, in 1957 it won the New York Music Critic’s Circle Award and subsequently was chosen to be America’s official operatic entry at the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair.  It has gone to achieve fame both in the United States and internationally.

Floyd’s other popular works include Of Mice and Men, based on the John Steinbeck novel of the same name, and Cold Sassy Tree, Floyd’s most recent work, written in 2000.

Among numerous others prominent distinctions, Floyd has been honored with The Citation of Merit by the National Association of American Conductors and Composers, the National Opera Institute’s Award for Service to American Opera, induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the White House National Medal of Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts as an honoree for lifetime contribution.  These honors and awards span decades, from the 1950s to 2008.  Much like the Man of Music Award, many of these distinctions are the highest granted by their respective organizations.

Join us in celebration of this great award, and the continuance of musical excellence within Phi Mu Alpha through the contributions of men like Brother Floyd.  We hope to see you in Orlando this summer, where this award will be presented to Carlisle Floyd, and where we can all enjoy and experience The Power of Music.

___

Below is a video of an interview of Floyd by the National Endowment for the Arts.  In it, Floyd discusses many of his influences, as well as his major works in the context of his career.

Some of the biographical information is reprinted by the kind permission of Boosey and Hawkes, Floyd’s exclusive publisher.  A full biography can be found at the publisher’s website by clicking here.

Perhaps it is appropriate that I sit to write this today.  Today I was able to spend roughly 8 hours on the drive back from CPR Convocation to consider what I want to say to those who will find themselves reading this post.  I realize however, that what I want to say to you and what I have been listening to, learning and experiencing over the last week must be the same thing – love.  I say “must” because it couldn’t be about anything else.  It has to be about love.

A brother whom I grew to respect immensely challenged me with a quote from Father Mills – ‘Are Sinfonians any better for being Sinfonians?  Do they leave our portals physically, mentally, morally stronger, cleaner, purer – in fact more worthy men than when they enter?’  If not, then the Sinfonia Fraternity has no excuse for existing and for making such large drafts on our time, our energy and our means.

His challenge to himself was that by the end of the semester, he wanted to feel that he had given of himself so extensively, so absolutely that not only would Phi Mu Alpha have made substantial drafts of his time, energy, and means but in fact, drained him of those resources entirely.  He challenged me to do the same.  By the time he had finished, he had been hospitalized from exhaustion, made significant contributions to struggling brothers’ dues woes, and had collected boxes filled with his entire collection of Phi Mu Alpha related materials.  Not only did he offer the absolute entirety of his life to the group, but when he felt as though that offering had fallen short, tried to sacrifice himself for the betterment of the chapter. He believed that the purpose of the group was greater than the interests of himself.

I was reminded of this as the CPRs sat in a circle with no light other than that which shone from a single candle placed in the middle of the group.  As each person had his chance to speak, the candle continued to burn.  It was then that I realized that we, not only as collegiate leaders but as brothers in Phi, Mu, and Alpha, were not responsible for carrying the light to those in darkness but rather, our true challenge is to do what my chapter brother had challenged me to do ­– be willing to allow yourself to become completely devoured by something greater.

In our recent years, we have rediscovered Sinfonia’s identity.  We have been provided the candleholder so that we may stand straight and burn long.  Now we must be willing to work.  With our national convention just around the corner, I ask that you challenge yourself the same way that my chapter brother challenged me.  What will you sacrifice of yourself so that the flame of Sinfonia may continue to shine?  Will you give your extra (or only) trumpet to a small child so that he may develop a sense of discipline instead of a drug habit?  Will you give up your late Friday nights so that you can offer your early Saturday mornings helping the local community choir?  Will you sweat to earn money at a job that wont give you vacation time for convention?  Will you put in that same work to help pay for a brother in need to attend Convention?  Be a candlestick for the light of Sinfonia and let us gather together so that we may create a light so bright that brotherhood and music in America will never again be left in darkness.

Fraternally,

Ian

The Mills Music Mission has become an integral part of our overarching mission as a fraternity.  By advancing the Object in such a personal, musical manner, brothers are able to feel the Power of Music for themselves while bringing that gift to others in the process.

Depending on when brothers were initiated, the MMM can take on different meanings.  Brothers initiated before it became our official philanthropy may not be familiar with the history of the Mission, and how it relates to our ideals and Ritual as well as to the restoration of many ideas and symbols that the Fraternity has experienced in recent years.  And collegiate brothers may be looking for ways to improve their chapter’s MMMs, or expand on what they do currently.

Brother Mark Wilson, Delta Eta (Youngstown State) ’03, Director of Communications on the National Staff, will lead a breakout session on the Mills Music Mission at this year’s Convention.  It will aim to include discussion on a variety of topics pertaining to the MMM, so that all brothers will be able to benefit from candid talks that will deepen our understanding and appreciation of the Missions – what they mean and what they can become.

Perhaps nowhere is the theme of this Convention more prominent than in Mills Music Missions.  We hope many brothers in are able to attend this session, both to learn and to share their own experiences about what the MMM is and what it means on a personal level.

Dear Brothers,

While seeing the fraternal spark in the eyes of our chapter brothers is a joy like no other, imagine the feeling that comes from seeing that same care for you from hundreds of brothers, most of which you haven’t yet met.  That’s one of great memories I have of the last convention.  Nearly any hour of the day I could go to the convention hotel’s restaurant for instance, be welcomed at almost any table where I saw someone wearing letters, and eat and have fellowship with my brothers.  Even though I hadn’t met them until that point, I would nevertheless have an instant kinship and would have plenty to talk about as I ordered breakfast and laughed with them.

The feature of convention that tends to strike the participant the most often is that overall feeling of being a part of a larger body of brothers than we anticipated before going.  Our Fraternity has a unique mission among all organizations; it has teachings that take years to understand and talk about.  At a convention, we can expect to have meaningful conversations about our teachings with our brothers.  Through participating in the ensembles and other musical functions, we can expect to share in the power of music by making it together.  I know that as a result of these conversations and experiences I feel I left the last convention an improved man.  And i know that coming to convention will make you a better man as well.

Convention is a short paradise, where our true goal of “harmony among men” does happen for a few days. It allows us to see for ourselves what the world could be like if we all could learn to look for the best in others, care for their wellbeing, and learn the lesson that music has to teach us.

Fraternally,
Andrew

Brothers,

I would like to say I am honored to have the privilege of sharing my feelings about the importance of attending fraternity events like National Convention.  My first convention was in Orlando for the 2009 National Convention.  One of the greatest things about that week, and national events in general, is the brotherhood.  While it might sound obvious or cliche, it was a week of exalted experiences that I will never forget.

The resort at which the convention is being held is amazing.  The place where a countless number of memories occurred would be at the pool every night.  I remember huge groups of brothers that gathered in and around the pool to meet brothers from across the nation.  As with most events involving a gathering of Sinfonians, there were groups of brothers sharing their chapter songs with brothers from other chapters and provinces.  So whether you’re listening to a story, singing a song, getting to know a brother for the first time, or taking part in another event, it will be an unforgettable experience.

Fraternally,

Josh