Society of Composers, Inc.

Dedicated to the promotion of composition, performance, understanding, and dissemination of new and contemporary music.

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SCI Student Chapters

A message from the Student Chapter Coordinator

We are excited to be working on some new initiatives that will provide even more opportunities for student composer development.

These include:

  • “Snapshot Conferences” – establishing a series of micro-conferences between composition departments at neighboring schools; providing recital and performance opportunities, score exchanges and networking between performers and peer composers
  • Growing the SCI student chapters – the regional representatives will help reach out to schools within each region and encourage participation, networking and interaction between the student chapters
  • Regional Mixtapes – through the student representatives, each SCI region is encouraged to create a mixtape of student works. These recordings will be curated into a collection and made available on the SCI website, to promote and highlight the depth and variety of new music being created and performed nationwide

These exciting projects offer a great potential to all student composers for the performance and promotion of their works. In these ways, the SCI can provide a strong professional platform for young composers to build upon as they establish their professional careers.

As always, our greatest ideas come from our members and we would love to hear your thoughts, initiatives, questions and comments. How can the SCI better support you as a young composer? What resources would you like to see made available? If you have a great idea that you would like to see implemented, please let us know.

We are working towards the next SCI Student National Conference (further details to come) and are excited about the growth of the Snapshot Conferences, the Mixtape project, and increasing the networks of student composers. Many other opportunities exist. We are all out there doing some great musical things – together, we can shape an invigorated network of creative minds.

SETTING UP A CHAPTER

To establish an SCI Student Chapter, you will need:

  1. A group of students with a nominated student representative (president);
  2. A faculty advisor/sponsor.

All members of an SCI Student Chapter pay yearly membership dues to SCI. This Student Chapter Rate is cheaper than individual student membership. Student Chapters are not required to have by-laws, although many chapters do. 

STEPS TO CREATING A CHAPTER

  1. Gather a group of interested student composers;
  2. Nominate a student president. This person will be the chapter “contact,” the go-between for the chapter and SCI;
  3. Find a faculty advisor and ask them to sponsor your group (“sponsor,” meaning general support);
  4. Send the name of the chapter, along with the student contact’s name (usually the president of the chapter) and the name of the faculty sponsor to the SCI General Manager (secretary@societyofcomposers.org). At this point, your chapter name will be added to the list of available chapters on the membership application. The SCI Student Chapters Coordinator will also be copied on this information;
  5. Inform your members that they may now join SCI as student chapter members. On the application page they should click on the “Student Chapter Membership” button and then select their chapter from the drop-down menu. The faculty advisor should join as a full member (or joint or lifetime member), and they must also select the chapter name from the drop-down list;
  6. Any of your members (including the faculty sponsor) who are already members should email the General Manager (secretary@societyofcomposers.org) to inform them that they are chapter members so their mySCI accounts can be updated accordingly; 
  7. The student contact or faculty sponsor can always check on the membership of their chapter by logging in and clicking on “MySCI Account” and then “Show Student Chapters.” After selecting their chapter, the complete membership of the chapter will be displayed along with the student contact and the faculty sponsor. If a name is missing, it is because they have not yet joined SCI or they did not check their chapter name from the chapter drop-down menu when they joined. This is a valuable tool for monitoring your chapter membership.

ALTERNATIVELY – sometimes a chapter pays all the SCI membership dues for its members. If this is the case for your chapter, then replace step #5 above with:

Send a check for all memberships to

Society of Composers, Inc.
PO Box 551
Fredonia, NY 14063

Make checks payable to Society of Composers, Inc. Include a list of all member names and their email addresses. The memberships will be created from this list, and members may login later and add their physical addresses, populate their MySCI file, etc. Remember to specify the student contact and faculty sponsor.

CHAPTER RECOGNITION BY SCI

Once you send your chapter-setup request to the SCI (see above) the General Manager will establish the chapter on the SCI website. The membership records will be coded so that the individuals will appear on the Chapter Profile page within the main SCI website. The contact person for the chapter will also be coded so they can access the database to update that profile page with photos, announcements, etc. You can also design and set up your own chapter website and link to the SCI page. Once the chapter is established, student members can simply join online and will only need to check the chapter name from a drop-down list.

FACULTY ADVISOR

It is the students’ responsibility to find a faculty advisor. In some cases, the faculty advisor may even initiate the chapter. It is highly encouraged that the faculty advisor be a member in good standing with SCI. There are instances from time to time, however, where the faculty advisor is not an SCI member or they let their membership lapse. SCI has recognized such chapters, but it would be useful to alert the Student Chapter Coordinator, if a faculty advisor is not a current member in good standing with SCI. 

DUES

Chapter members can pay their dues individually on the SCI website, or a chapter may collect dues from their members and send one payment, being sure to include names and contact information of the chapter members. Note that dues notices are sent to individuals, not to the institution or chapter. An existing SCI member can be transferred over to an SCI student chapter if they are a student, registered with that chapter. Dues may be remitted by check (along with a downloaded application form) or may be remitted via the Internet using PayPal (there is an additional $2 charge for this option). For more information about membership options please visit the SCI website.

NOTE: if you pay membership via PayPal, a welcome letter containing your login information will be emailed to the address PayPal shows for your account. If you wish this letter and all other SCI emails to go to a different address, be sure to indicate the new email address in the instructions to the vendor (within PayPal).

CHAPTER ACTIVITIES

The SCI Student Council can help you plan and organize a number of activities for Student Chapters, such as:

SNAPSHOT Conferences: a gathering of 2-4 schools within close proximity, to exchange scores, give presentations and/or hold informal recitals of new works;

Regional Mixtapes: are a collection of recordings gathered from each region by the SCI Student Council, for promotion on the SCI website. 

Other suggested activities:

  • Host concerts or recitals of members’ works, encouraging the creation and promotion of new music on and/or off campus;
  • Sponsor an SCI National Conference;
  • Provide support for attending national or regional conferences or even host such a conference;
  • Hold composition “Reading Sessions” in conjunction with academic studios on campus.

We encourage student chapter members to find creative ways for their music to reach the widest possible audience.

CAMPUS RECOGNITION

SCI has no control over campus recognition of a SCI student chapter at specific colleges, conservatories, or universities; however, most higher education institutions officially recognize a wide variety of student groups. It is the individual chapter’s responsibility to obtain such recognition from their school. This is highly encouraged by SCI and should be one of the very first agenda items of any newly formed SCI Student Chapter. As an officially recognized club/organization the chapter may be eligible for university funds to support various activities. They may also be in better shape to assist faculty in hosting a Regional or National SCI Conference. There is another important reason for a chapter to receive official recognition by its school. If the chapter is not officially a university activity, any donations the chapter might bring in will not be tax deductible to the donor. Without the school’s official recognition there is usually no blanket tax exemption or deductibility.

KEEPING IN TOUCH

SCI has appointed student council members from across the country. To find your region’s current student council member, check here. These officers can assist with information about student chapter activities and answering questions. 

The SCI Student Council is also available to all SCI student members, for questions, support, and networking.