About TMMC
The Thursday Morning Music Club is a group of people who love music, who enjoy studying and listening to it, and who seek ways to support it in our community.
We are adults of all ages who mostly live in or near the Wilmington area. Many are retired, but others still work - quite a few as professional performing musicians and music teachers. Many are involved in amateur musical activities including church choirs and instrumental groups, choral groups, local jam sessions, and the like.
All of us love what is commonly called classical music, but our musical interests are broad. Some of us are also into folk, bluegrass, Celtic, Broadway, jazz, and other genres.
We delight in supporting local and visiting professional musicians by attending live concerts when possible, or lately, by attending electronically when necessary. We have a close relationship with many local musicians and are honored when they take their time to give short, intimate performances at our Club meetings.
We take seriously our duty to foster musical development in young people through our club’s scholarship program, through the Club’s and our own personal donations to other worthy local programs, and with the dues and donations that our club pays to the North Carolina and the National Federations of Music Clubs, who support other state-wide and nation-wide youth music programs.
Our Mission
As stated in Article II of our Bylaws, the purpose of the Thursday Morning Music Club shall be the study and practice of music and the promotion of classical musical culture in the community.
Our History
The Thursday Morning Music Club of Wilmington, NC, was formally organized and federated with the national and state organizations in the spring of 1924. Four friends, Mrs. Horace Pearsall, Miss Agnes Chasten, Mrs. J.B. Fenley, and Miss Julia Post, met to launch a music club to encourage the continued study and performance of music. These four founders invited others to join them: Mrs. E.K. Bryan, Miss Katie Foard, Mrs. W.A. French, Mrs. R.C. Merritt, and Mrs. J.G. Murphy. Soon, these nine women, along with sixteen others, drew up a charter membership with Mrs. Murphy elected as president.
Most of the charter members were already active in the music department of North Carolina Sorosis, the state’s oldest Federated Women’s Club which had affiliated with the National Federation of Music Clubs in 1917. In 1924, when the Sorosis Music Department hosted the state convention of Federated Music Clubs, the young Thursday Morning Music Club joined them.
In 1925, Mrs. W.A. French was appointed chairman of the committee to divide the NC Federations of Music Clubs into districts. The Eastern District consisting of all federated music clubs in eastern North Carolina was created in January, 1927, at a meeting in Goldsboro.
Through the years, the Thursday Morning Music Club has continued to provide scholarships to deserving students in New Hanover, Pender, and Brunswick counties studying music at the high school and college levels.