The NAMM Foundation Invites Music Educators to Music Education Days
The NAMM Foundation is inviting school music educators to attend the third annual Music Education Days event at the 2010 NAMM Show, held annually in Anaheim, Calif. in January. Although the NAMM show is closed to the public, the NAMM Foundation invites music educators on January 16th and 17th to learn about the instruments and accessories that can best help them teach their students how to learn and play music.
Music Education Days events provide an opportunity for music teachers to interact with each other and music products industry professionals and address mutual concerns about access to music education for all children. This year’s Music Education Days also feature a Best Tools for Schools program developed by Symphony Publishing that will allow music educators to identify music products and materials that provide innovative solutions and opportunities for music learning.
“School Band and Orchestra magazine is looking forward to presenting the Best Tools for Schools program,” said Sidney Davis, group publisher, Symphony Publishing. “Music teachers will make the product selections during the NAMM trade shows and a panel of their peers will present the items to the assembled educators on Sunday afternoon. The selected items will be profiled in SBO and serve as a guide to our readership of 20,000 band and orchestra directors in their selection of new items for their school music programs.”
Some of the event highlights of Music Education Days include: a welcome reception and orientation at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday at the Anaheim Convention Center; the Sandy Feldstein Music Industry Roundtable, presented by Crane School of Music, at 4 p.m. on Saturday; Idea Center Session: Trends In Music Education on Sunday at 1 p.m.; and Idea Center Session: Top Ten Best Tools for Schools, presented by SBO magazine/Symphony Publishing Group on Sunday at 2 p.m.
“The NAMM Foundation is very excited to be hosting music educators at the NAMM Show again this year as we celebrate their vital role as teachers, musical mentors and community leaders, ” said Mary Luehrsen, executive director of the NAMM Foundation. “The NAMM Show opens its doors to these music educators and encourages them to explore the instruments and musical products that could make a big difference in the lives and education for children and young people.”
Music Educators that wish to attend may register before Jan. 1, 2010. Non-member housing opens November 4th. For more information and to secure a hotel room during your stay in Anaheim, visit the following site before December 11th: www.namm.org.
New Report Links High School Graduation Rates to Arts Education
The Center for Arts Education (CAE) recently released a new study of New York City public schools entitled “Staying in School: Arts Education and New York City High School Graduation Rates” which found high school graduation rates and access to arts education to be closely linked. Based on data from more than 200 high schools over a two-year span, the study found the schools with the highest graduation rates offer the most access and resources to support arts education.
To download the full study, visit www.cae-nyc.org.
New York Virtuoso Singers 2010 Season
This season, conductor Harold Rosenbaum and The New York Virtuoso Singers are set to present an array of performances ranging from a celebration of one of today’s most respected and lauded composers to new works never before presented in public. Acclaimed by The New York Times as “New York’s outstanding concert choir,” The New York Virtuoso Singers’ lineup for 2010 reflects their role as New York’s preeminent leaders in contemporary American music.
Premieres featured in The New York Virtuoso Singers’ 2010 season include a modern opera setting of the story of Orpheus by Marie Nelson Bennet, the last student of Paul Hindemith, and the first American performance of the choral version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning work The Little Match Girl Passion by David Lang.
Featured guests include Grammy and Pulitzer Prize winner John Corigliano as well as Mark Adamo and Metropolitan Opera star Emily Pulley, who will join The New York Virtuoso Singers for a pre-concert lecture before a concert of their works, as well as the premiere saxophone ensemble The Rascher Saxophone Quartet, and clarinetist Richard Stoltzman.
For more information, visit www.nyvirtuoso.org
Muzak Heart Soul Foundation Awards Grants
The Muzak Heart Soul Foundation has awarded $100,000 in Music Matters grants to more than 30 school music programs across the United States. The Music Matters grants of $1,000 – $12,000 are awarded to qualifying school music programs to support and redefine music education. The recipient music programs will use the grants for enrichment activities and tools such as new musical instruments and electronics, vocal instruction, and band programs.
Studies show that children involved in music programs excel in their studies, especially in Science and Math. Involvement with music also contributes to social development and has been shown to benefit juvenile delinquent rehabilitation. The Music Matters grants make it possible for school programs to better serve students in all aspects of their education.
The Heart Soul Foundation will have an online auction located at beginning on November 2, 2009 and ending on Sunday November 15, 2009. Items include an acoustic Taylor Guitar autographed by Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift. All proceeds from this auction benefit Muzak Heart Soul Foundation. To participate in the auction, visit www.cmtauctions.com. The public can also help by donating at
Sweet Adelines Guinness World Record for Largest Singing Lesson
Sweet Adelines International set the Guinness World Record for largest singing lesson on Oct. 24, 2009. The record-setting event coincided with their 63rd annual International Convention and Competition held in Nashville, Tenn.
Music professional and past Sweet Adelines international quartet champion, Peggy Gram, led the lesson by demonstrating techniques for integrating the voice into the art form. The venue was filled with the sound as 6,651 singers demonstrated the techniques and sang simultaneously for the duration of the 10-minute lesson. Guinness World Records official adjudicator Danny Girton, Jr., presided over the certificate ceremony to validate the record and confirm that the achievement met the criteria set forth by the organization.
Sweet Adelines International is a nonprofit music education association and is headquartered in Tulsa, Okla., where it was founded in 1945.
For more information, visit www.sweetadelineintl.org.
Eric Whitacre’s Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings New York Premiere
Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) will present the New York premiere of the concert version of American composer and choral idol Eric Whitacre’s award-winning musical, Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings, at Carnegie Hall on June 15, 2010. The concert version combines trance, ambient, and techno electronic with choral, cinematic, and operatic traditions. Grammy Award-winning soprano, Hila Plitmann, will sing the lead role of the angel Extasis, and Whitacre himself will be conducting, complete with taiko drummers, electronic playback, and a supporting onstage choir. DCINY is looking for choral ensembles and individual singers of exceptional quality to comprise the choir.
To find out more, visit www.dciny.org.
