History



      Chords of Distinction Music Society



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In the beginning, the music society Chords of Distinction was just a group of young women inquiring to know about Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity for Women. The organization of Sigma Alpha Iota had been foreign to the majority of us. Therefore, spreading the word about the possibility of chartering such an organization seemed very distant. A few of us through research discovered that there was indeed a member of Sigma Alpha Iota on campus. This instructor, Melissa M. Hendricks, taught Music History in the music department. Being that many of us had previously and or currently been a student of hers, contacting her about our proposal was not difficult.





So through word-of-mouth the first initial meeting was held on Tuesday, November 14, 2000 at 7:00 pm. At this meeting, questions about the organization were answered. The process of chartering a chapter was brought to the attention of the attending students. The music club known as Chords of Distinction began here. The next months that followed were not easy. They involved weekly meetings where we discussed service projects, musicals/recitals, and fund raising ideas.





Musique a service project that began in the spring of 2001 was the name voted upon for a big sister mentoring program in which junior high school aged females were brought to the school to be taught about music. These girls would receive private training in voice, piano, or an instrument of choice by one of the members of Chords of Distinction. The girls came from inner city schools that lacked the benefit of having an active music program. Musique was brought to a close with a recital in which students and C.O.D. members (Chords of Distinction) participated.





The fall semester arrived in no time! This would be the semester in which serious fundraising would be completed, and the real work, the petition, would begin. This is where or complications would begin. Due to the input of grades from the following semester, we would loose some members. However, this did not greatly affect or numbers so we continued on. At the start of the semester, it was brought to our attention that our faculty advisor for the pre-petitioning process, Melissa Hendricks, would not be instructing anymore at the university.

This would leave us at a stand still until we could find a replacement advisor. C.O.D decided that we had come too far to quit. The search for a new advisor had begun. Through research we discovered that there was another member of S.A.I. in the music department. We contacted her immediately and asked her to be our advisor. Her name is Dr. Alice Dillon, and she was a new voice instructor on faculty. She accepted our plea for her to be our new advisor. As a result, we were able to finish our weekly meetings on campus. Fundraising this semester proved to be successful, it was time to plan another recital. This would be a recital used to conclude the fall semester.





The theme voted upon was Christmas and the Holiday season. It brought us together as one last time before the semester came to an end. The recital was lucrative and even the new chartering members of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America (a music organization for men founded in 1898)were in attendance. This season we would bring the petitioning process to a close with the submittal of our petition for S.A.I. It was through hard work that the ladies of Chords of Distinction came this far, and it will be through hard work that we will continue on. The Kappa Xi Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota was Chartered on May 25, 2002 at Morgan State University.