A Brief History Of the Club:

The 1920’s came in with a roar with great political and social change in our country.

Women’s lives particularly began to change dramatically in the 20’s.  The19th Amendment to our Constitution was ratified in August, 1920 giving women the right to vote.  It was into this tumultuous decade that Wednesday Music Club was born!

Eight young women in Charlottesville, Virginia began to meet in 1923. They were music lovers and enjoyed performing for one another. They eventually invited others to join them and chose Wednesday as the day they would meet.  By 1930 the WMC grew to 57 members paying dues of $1.25 which grew to 130 members in the 40’s.

Also by January 1930, the Wednesday Music Club had the support of many groups in the city— Rotary, Kiwanis, Young Woman’s Business & Professional Club, Young Men’s Business Club--all contributed funds for “Music Week”. In addition, music lovers who were not necessarily musicians were invited to join. 

Community outreach began pretty early. WMC helped raise money for a piano for the new Lane HS, bought a Victrola for the Coast Guard, and looked into assisting the Kiwanis with putting music in the public schools.  The last outreach goal had to be shelved until the 1950’s when, after much effort, WMC was finally successful in placing a stringed instrument program in the three Charlottesville elementary schools. By the end of 1953, the WMC was still entirely responsible for the program. The WMC paid the teachers, and bought, maintained, and insured the instruments of various sizes. The WMC also sponsored and directed children’s concerts and helped with the Tuesday Evening Concert Series each year. 

By 1955 our long-term project of orienting a stringed instrument program in the city and county schools came to a successful conclusion—the city and county both funded strings on the same basis as band.  Now, WMC could put more emphasis on scholarship and other outreach programs. Of course, in the midst of all the outreach WMC continued its tradition of exceptional musical programs for its members and provided ways for members to also enjoy making music together true to the spirit of our founders.

In the 1980’s we started our annual Competition for students.

Today, we’re over 165 strong with still very modest dues.

-Taken from Joyce Seibert's 95th Anniversary President's Speech on April 18, 2018