ROPA Updates

The ROPA Leading Tone Newsletter

The Leading Tone is the official newsletter of the Regional Orchestra Players Association, a conference of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, and is published quarterly.The current issue of the Leading Tone newsletter can be found at the following link:

Fall 2025: Volume 39, Issue 3

EDI Workgroup: ROPA Tenure Review Recommendations and Ideas

The following items are suggestions from the ROPA EDI Workgroup, composed of musicians performing in ROPA orchestras across the United States, intended to support orchestras in developing and enhancing transparent, equitable, and constructive tenure review processes that clearly define expectations while fostering growth, communication, and success for all musicians (read more)

ROPA Audition Recommendations and Ideas from the ROPA EDI Workgroup

The following items are suggestions from the ROPA EDI Workgroup, which consists of musicians performing in ROPA orchestras around the United States, that orchestras can implement with goals to attract a larger applicant pool, ensure as far and unbiased of an audition process as possible, and hire the most qualified candidate (read more)

A Message from the ROPA EDI Committee

If you’re interested in learning more and positively advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in your orchestra, please join the ROPA EDI Workgroup! It’s open to any musician in any ROPA orchestra, and we meet every other month or so over Zoom to discuss how to improve and incorporate audition practices, the tenure review process, contract language and fellowships, unconscious bias training, advancing EDI, surveying conductors, and more. The ultimate goal is to provide resources and promote awareness, education, and activism to achieve measurable change and representation in ROPA orchestras. For more information or to join the Workgroup, please email chair Alana Wiesing at alana.drums@gmail.com.